Butterflies of
Africa
Forest Pearl
Charaxes
Charaxes fulvescens
AURIVILLIUS, 1891
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
CHARAXINAE
Tribe - CHARAXINI
Charaxes fulvescens senegala,
Amedzofe, Likpe Hills, Ghana
Introduction
The Charaxinae are a
group of robust, medium to large Nymphalids characterised by having a rapid and
powerful flight, stout bodies, triangular forewings, and a habit of feeding
at dung and carrion.
They
are represented in the neotropics by genera including
Consul, Memphis, Prepona
and Agrias;
in the Oriental and Australian regions by
Polyura
and Charaxes,
and in Africa by Charaxes, Palla
and Euxanthe.
The
genus Charaxes
contains 179 African species, one of which,
C. jasius,
extends it's range as far north as the Mediterranean coast of Europe. Most are
forest-dwellers, but several are adapted to savannah or
Acacia scrub habitats.
Charaxes
fulvescens is found throughout tropical Africa from Senegal to Zambia. The illustrated subspecies senegala flies
from Senegal to Nigeria.
The upper surface of the wings
of fulvescens are a shimmering orange colour,
darkening to deep brown at the wing edges. The basal area of the wings is
yellowish-white.
Habitats
This species inhabits primary and degraded rainforest at altitudes from sea
level to about 800m.
Lifecycle
The larval foodplant is
Allophylus (
Sapindaceae ).
Adult behaviour
Males aggregate with other Charaxes
species at mammalian dung, from which they obtain vital salts
which are passed to the females during copulation. Both sexes fly
to forested or open hilltops where courtship and copulation take
place, after which they return to the valleys and plains.
At night, or in overcast or rainy
weather the butterflies roost under tree branches.
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