Charaxes porthos explained

Charaxes porthos, the Porthos untailed charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Tanzania.^[1]

Description

Ch. porthos Smith. male Hindwing above with a blue transverse band 4–5 mm. in breadth, placed in the middle and continued on the forewing almost straight to vein 6 or 7, but then becoming gradually narrower and breaking up into spots. female unknown [at that date]. Cameroons to the Congo; very rare.^[2]

Biology

The habitat consists of lowland evergreen forests and drier forests.

Notes on the biology of porthos are given by Congdon and Collins (1998)^[3]

Subspecies

• C. p. porthos (eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ubangi, Mongala, Uele, Tshopo, Kinshasa, Sankuru)
• C. p. dummeri Joicey & Talbot, 1922^[4] (Uganda, north-western Tanzania)
• C. p. gallayi van Someren, 1968^[5] (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, western Nigeria)
• C. p. katangae Rousseau-Decelle, 1931 ^[6] (Democratic Republic of the Congo: Lualaba)

Taxonomy

Charaxes porthos is a member of the species group Charaxes lycurgus. The supposed clade members are:

Clade 1

• Charaxes lycurgus - nominate
• Charaxes porthos
• Charaxes zelica

Clade 2

• Charaxes mycerina
• Charaxes doubledayi

References

• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1974 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part IX. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology) 29 (8):415-487. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127336#page/511/mode/1up also as dunkeli

External links

• Images of C. p. dummeri Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
• Images of C. p. porthos (Albertine Rift Project)
• Images of C. p. katangae (Albertine Rift Project)
• Charaxes porthos images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• C. p. porthos images at BOLD
• C. p. dummeri images at BOLD
• C. p. galayi images at BOLD

Notes and References

1. Web site: Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini . 2012-05-25 . 2013-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131109071734/http://atbutterflies.com/downloads/nymphalidae_charaxini.doc . dead .
2. 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.
3. Congdon, C., & Collins, S. 1998. Kielland’s butterflies of Tanzania. Supplement. African Butterfly Research Institute & Union des Entomologistes Belges, Nairobi & Tervuren, 143 pp.
4. Joicey, J.J., & Talbot, G. 1922. New forms of the genus Charaxes (Nymphalidae) from Africa and Malaya. Bulletin of the Hill Museum, Witley. 1: 335-338.
5. van Someren,V.G.L. 1968. Charaxes porthos Grose-Smith. A brief review of its distribution and subspeciation. Bulletin de l’Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire 30: 221-225.
6. Rousseau-Decelle, G. 1931. Une nouvelle espece de Charaxes africain. Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 1931: 87-90.