Acraea acara explained

Acraea acara, commonly known as the acara acraea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae which is native to East and southern Africa.

Description

See Acraea zetes for diagnosis The wingspan is 55–66 mm for males and 60–72 mm for females.

Range and habitat

It is found in South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Katanga in the southern DRC, Malawi, Tanzania, and eastern Kenya. In South Africa its range has expanded southwards since 2014, becoming more widespread in the Eastern Cape.^[1] The habitat consists of forests and woodland.^{[2] [3]}

Subspecies

There are two subspecies:

• Acraea acara acara – eastern Kenya, Tanzania, DRC: Shaba, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini, South Africa: Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape
• Acraea acara melanophanes Le Cerf, 1927 – northern Namibia

Taxonomy

It is a member of the Acraea zetes species group- but see also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014 ^[4]

External links

• Images at BOLD

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rautenbach. Fanie. Lepimap: 646300. ADU Virtual Museum . Animal Demography Unit . 23 April 2018 . 27 April 2018.
2. Web site: Afrotropical Butterflies: Nymphalidae - Tribe Acraeini . 2012-05-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120810134550/http://atbutterflies.com/downloads/nymphalidae_acraeini.doc . 2012-08-10 . dead .
3. Web site: Underhill. Les. #citizenscience. Facebook. Animal Demography Unit. 27 April 2018.
4. Pierre & Bernau, 2014 Classification et Liste Synonymique des Taxons du Genre Acraea pdf