Pseudacraea boisduvali

Boisduval's false acraea
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Pseudacraea
Species:	P. boisduvali
Binomial name
	Pseudacraea boisduvali; (Doubleday, 1845)[1]
Synonyms
	Diadema boisduvalii Doubleday, 1845; Pseudacraea trimenii Butler, 1874; Pseudacraea boisduvali f. beatricia Stoneham, 1965; Pseudacraea boisduvali f. westwoodi Stoneham, 1965; Pseudacraea boisduvali f. marsabitensis Carpenter and Jackson, 1950; Pseudacraea colvillei Butler, 1884; Pseudacraea boisduvali var. deficiens Karsch, 1897;

Pseudacraea boisduvali, or Boisduval's false acraea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It has an extensive range which includes much of the tropics and subtropics of sub-Saharan Africa.

Description

Male and female of the southernmost race, P. b. trimenii, illustrated in Seitz (1910)

The wingspan is 65–70 mm for males and 75–88 mm for females. A large and most beautiful species. As in hostilia, the hindwing is yellow-red to red-yellow with black, red-spotted marginal band, but that of boisduvali has in the basal part large rounded black spots. Fore wing in the distal part more or less semitransparent with thick black longitudinal streaks between the veins, at least in cellules 2 and 3; the black spots in the basal half are large and rounded and are present both in the cell and in cellules 1a–2; it should be specially noted that one of these spots is placed on vein 2. The species is considerably larger than Acraea egina, but mimics it almost exactly and has also local races corresponding to those of egina.

Biology

Adults are on wing year round, with a peak from January to May.[2]

The larvae feed on the foliage of various members of the Sapotaceae, namely Chrysophyllum, Mimusops (including M. obovata and M. zeyheri), Manilkara discolor and Englerophytum (including E. magalismontanum and E. natalense).

Subspecies

Male P. b. trimenii basking on foliage in Lekgalameetse Provincial Park, South Africa

Pseudacraea boisduvali boisduvali — Sierra Leone to Zaire, Angola, Uganda, Sudan, western Kenya
Pseudacraea boisduvali trimenii Butler, 1874 — Port St Johns to KwaZulu-Natal, Eswatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, eastern Kenya
Pseudacraea boisduvali sayonis Ungemach, 1932 — southern Ethiopia
Pseudacraea boisduvali marsabitensis Jackson & Howarth, 1957 — Marsabit, Mount Kulal, Mount Nyiro (all in Kenya)
Pseudacraea boisduvali pemba Kielland, 1990 — Pemba Island

Mimicry

Pseudacraea boisduvali is, with Acraea egina and Graphium ridleyanus, a member of a mimicry complex.

References

"Pseudacraea Westwood, [1850]" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.

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[1] "Pseudacraea Westwood, [1850]" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms

[2] Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.