Acraea asema

Acraea asema, the speckled orange acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae which is native to the southern subtropics of Africa.

Speckled orange acraea
A. asema in Seitz (1925)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Acraea
Species:
A. asema
Binomial name
Acraea asema
Synonyms
  • Acraea (Acraea) asema
  • Acraea empusa Butler, 1894
  • Acraea asema f. despecta Le Doux, 1922
  • Acraea asema f. angustifasciata Le Doux, 1922
  • Acraea asema f. aspectasemoides Le Doux, 1922
  • Acraea asema f. dissimiloides Le Doux, 1922

Range

It is found in Angola, Zimbabwe, central and south-eastern Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and southern Tanzania.[3]

Description
For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

A. asema Hew. (55 a) is very similar to the preceding species,[ A. violarum ] but on an average somewhat smaller, 36-52 mm., with duller, more grey-yellow ground-colour and smaller black dots, the submarginal dots of the forewing in particular being smaller and rarely all present. Angola, Manicaland, Mashonaland and Nyassaland.

  • f. gracilis Wichgr. [now forma of Acraea violarum] only differs in having the marginal band of the hindwing narrow, 1 mm. in breadth. Mashonaland.[4]

Biology

The habitat consists of dry deciduous woodland.

Adults are on wing year round.

The larvae feed on Tricliceras species.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the Acraea cepheus species group.

References
  1. Hewitson, W. C., 1877 Descriptions of four new species of Acraea from Lake Nyassa Ent. mon. Mag. 14 : 51-52
  2. "Acraea Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. "Afrotropical Butterflies: Nymphalidae - Tribe Acraeini". Archived from the original on 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
  4. Aurivillius, [P. O.] C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13). Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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