Acraea hypoleuca

Acraea hypoleuca, the Namibian acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Namibia.[3]

Acraea hypoleuca
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Acraea
Species:
A. hypoleuca
Binomial name
Acraea hypoleuca
Trimen, 1898 [1] [2]
Synonyms
  • Acraea (Acraea) hypoleuca

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

A. hypoleuca Trim. Expanse about 60 mm. Wings above orange-red; forewing above with dark marginal band, which encloses 8 large light marginal spots; discal dots in 1 b to 6, all rounded, that in 1 b near the distal margin, those in 2 to 4 in a line, those in 4 to 6 also in a line, placed almost vertically to the preceding; beneath as above, but with whitish subapical band. Hindwing above with white-spotted marginal band 2 mm. in breadth and distinct discal spots, beneath marked as above but with whitish ground colour and larger white marginal spots. Seems to be nearly allied to A. chilo and Acraea zetes. The only known specimen probably came from German South-West Africa.[4]

Biology

The habitat consists of gullies and granite outcrops.

Adults have been recorded feeding on the flowers of Psilocaulon species and Calicorema capitata. They are on wing from December to June.

The larvae feed on Adenia pechuelli. The final instar larvae are pale silvery grey with four large purplish black spots across each segment. The head is orange with pale ochreous marks.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the Acraea zetes species group - but see also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014 [5]

References
  1. Trimen, R. 1898. On some new or little-known species of African butterflies. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1898: 1-16.
  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 Grosschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Grosschmetterlinge, 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.
  5. Pierre & Bernau, 2014 Classification et Liste Synonymique des Taxons du Genre Acraea pdf
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Acraea hypoleuca.
Wikispecies has information related to Acraea hypoleuca.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.