Subfamily Heliconiinae.: A largely pantropical group, with one of the five tribes found in the Holarctic Region.
​
Tribe Acraeini: There are two Afrotropical genera contained within this tribe; Telchinia and Acraea, both represented at Semuliki. There are 138 described Afrotropical species within this tribe with 104 species recorded in Uganda. At Semuliki a total of 45 species from both genera have been recorded: 25 from the genus Telchinia and 20 species of Acraea, contributing to a third of the Ugandan species total.
Genus Cymothoe: There are 15 species of the Afrotropical genus Cymothoe so far recorded at Semuliki from a.continent total of 78 (Williams, 2018) and a Ugandan total of 17 (Williams, 2015) or 90% of Uganda's total. The two Ugandan species not being recorded at Semuliki being C. distincta and C. indamora, but with both these species being recorded either in the Ituri Forest or Semliki Valley (Ducarme, 2018) it is a distinct possibility that they will also be found in Semuliki. Only three species are frequently sampled in traps and these are C. sangaris, C. cyclades and C. confusa. This genus has been categorised into clades nd the most commonly trapped species C. confusa had a distinctly clumped distribution within Semuliki. Species from this genus were observed more in the forest midstorey as compared to the preference of the forest floor for the genera Bebearia, Euphaedra and Euriphene.
Genus Cymothoe: There are 15 species of the Afrotropical genus Cymothoe so far recorded at Semuliki from a.continent total of 78 (Williams, 2018) and a Ugandan total of 17 (Williams, 2015) or 90% of Uganda's total. The two Ugandan species not being recorded at Semuliki being C. distincta and C. indamora, but with both these species being recorded either in the Ituri Forest or Semliki Valley (Ducarme, 2018) it is a distinct possibility that they will also be found in Semuliki. Only three species are frequently sampled in traps and these are C. sangaris, C. cyclades and C. confusa. This genus has been categorised into clades nd the most commonly trapped species C. confusa had a distinctly clumped distribution within Semuliki. Species from this genus were observed more in the forest midstorey as compared to the preference of the forest floor for the genera Bebearia, Euphaedra and Euriphene.
BUTTERFLY
Research, Conservation and Education
Semuliki National Park, Uganda
Genus Charaxes
The genus Charaxes is a predominantly Afrotropical genus containing 186 described species with a further eight species recorded from the Oriental region. There are 64 species recorded from Uganda, with 41 recorded so far for Semuliki, contributing to 62% of all Ugandan Charaxes species.
The taxonomic groupings below will follow the phylogeny (genetic analysis) as proposed by Aduse-Poku et al. (2009). This merged the historically typical three genera make-up (Charaxes, Polyura and Euxanthe) of the Charaxini into a monophyletic grouping, under a single genus Charaxes. This single genus was then divided into five subgenera which were then split into 24 species groups. ​The latest systematic revision (Bouyer, 2023) proposes a nine genera grouping comprising the genus Charaxes and a reinstatement of the two genera, Euxanthe and Polyura merged by Aduse-Poku. In addition, three genera were revised (Zingha, Eriboea and Viridixes): a further three new genera were described (Ydeali, Laodice and Setechin). The Euxanthe genus was also split into two subgenera and a further 26 species groups are detailed for the remaining eight genera.
​
The Metamorphosis publication 'The butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidia) of Semuliki National Park, western Uganda', Forbes (2018) lists Charaxes smaragdalis ssp. as caerulea - this should be amended to smaragdalis.
Subgenus Charaxes
There are 10 Afrotropical groups within this subgenus.
Jasius species group. There are five species recorded at Semuliki within the Jasius group: Charaxes epijasius, C. brutus, C. pollux, C. eudoxus and C. castor. C. epijasus was sampled only once and in the grassland patch. C. brutus was also rare and trapped only once. C. eudoxus was recorded from a specimen from The National Museum of Scotland (entomology collections dept.) but was never trapped at Semuliki. C. pollux was frequently sampled in the nets but never in abundant numbers. C. castor was never trapped but was sampled by Davenport (1996).
Charaxes epijasius (Reiche, 1850)
Charaxes epijasius (upper and underside, sexes similar)
Charaxes brutus angustus (Rothschild, 1900)
-ink.jpeg)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes brutus (upper and underside, sexes similar)
Charaxes pollux pollux (Cramer, 1775)
A-ink.jpeg)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes pollux (upper and underside, sexes similar)
Charaxes eudoxus mechowi (Rothschild, 1900)
Charaxes eudoxus (waiting on field images)
Charaxes castor castor (Cramer, 1775)
Charaxes castor (waiting on field images)
Hadrianus species group. There are two species within this group and one has been recorded at Semuliki: C. hadrianus. Only one specimen was ever recorded in the fruit-traps and then only recorded 200 m from the main sampling transect within the forest interior.
Charaxes hadrianus (Ward, 1871)
-inkA.jpeg)
-inkA1-ink%20(1).jpeg)
Charaxes hadrianus (upper and underside, sexes similar)
Zingha species group. There is only one species within this group: Charaxes zingha. Only two specimens were ever recorded in the fruit-traps and both were sampled along the forest margins.
Charaxes zingha (Stoll, 1780)
-ink.jpeg)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes zingha (male, upper and underside)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes zingha (female, upperside)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes zingha (female, underside)
Tiridates species group. There are 20 species within this group and seven have so far been recorded at Semuliki: C. numenes, C. tiridates, C. bipunctatus, C. smaragdalis, C. imperialis, C. ameliae and C. pythodoris. The relatively common species sampled in the traps are C. numenes, C. tiridates, C. ameliae and C. imperialis. Two species were sampled only once: C. bipunctatus and C. smaragdalis.
Charaxes smaragdalis smaragdalis (Butler, 1866)
-ink.jpeg)
-ink-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes smaragdalis (female, upper and underside)
Charaxes pythodoris pythodoris (Hewitson, 1873)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes pythodorus (male, upper and underside)
-ink%20(1).jpeg)
Charaxes pythodorus (female, upperside)
-ink%20(1).jpeg)
Charaxes pythodorus (female, underside)
Charaxes bipunctatus ugandensis (van Someren, 1972)
-ink.jpeg)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes bipunctatus (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes numenes aequatorialis (van Someren, 1972)
A-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes numenes (male, upper and underside)
B-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes numenes (female, upperside)
C-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes numenes (female, underside)
Charaxes tiridates tiridates (Röber, 1936)
-inkB-ink.jpeg)
-inkD-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes tiridates (male, upper and underside)
E-ink.jpeg)
-inkA-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes tiridates (female, upper and underside)
Charaxes imperialis ugandicus (van Someren, 1972)
Charaxes imperialis (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes imperialis (female, upperside)
Charaxes imperialis (female, underside)
Charaxes ameliae victoriae (van Someren, 1972)/Charaxes ameliae ameliae (Doumet, 1861)
.jpeg)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes ameliae (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes ameliae (female, upperside)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes ameliae (female, underside)
A-ink.jpeg)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes ameliae (female, uppersides - discal band colour variation - white, ssp. ameliae and ochre, ssp. victoriae)
Charaxes ameliae (female, upperside)
Candiope species group. Only one of this species group has been recorded at Semuliki: C. candiope. Only one specimen was ever sampled in the fruit-traps.
Charaxes candiope (Godart, 1824)
-inkB.jpeg)
B-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes candiope (female upper and underside, sexes similar)
Varanes species group. Three species have so far been recorded from Semuliki: Charaxes acuminatus, C. varanes and C. fulvescens. Only C. fulvescens could be described as common while C. cuminatus was never sampled and C. varanes was rarely trapped.
Charaxes varanes vologeses (Mabille, 1876)
-inkA-ink.jpeg)
FA1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes varanes (male, upper and underside)
A-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes varanes (female, upperside)
A-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes varanes (female, underside)
Charaxes fulvescens monitor (Rothschild, 1900)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes fulvescens (male upper and underside, sexes similar)
Charaxes acuminatus kigezia (van Someren, 1963)
Charaxes acuminatus (waiting on field images)
Cynthia species group. Two of the seven species within this species group have so far been recorded from Semuliki: C. cynthia and C. protoclea. Only C. cynthia was relatively frequently sampled in comparison C. protoclea was only trapped once.
Charaxes cynthia kinduana (Le Cerf, 1923)
A-ink.jpeg)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes cynthia (male, upper and underside )
Charaxes cynthia (male, upperside)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes cynthia (male, underside variation)
C-ink.jpeg)
C1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes cynthia (female, upper and underside)
Charaxes protoclea nothodes (Jordan, 1911)
A-ink.jpeg)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes protoclea (female, upper and underside)
Lucretius species group. Only one of the four species described in this group has been recorded at Semuliki: Charaxes lucretius. This was a rare species and only one male was sampled.
Charaxes lucretius maximus (van Someren, 1971)
A-ink.jpeg)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes lucretius (male, upper and underside)
Etesipe species group. Only one of seven species described in this group has been recorded at Semuliki: Charaxes etesipe but this has never been trapped.
Charaxes etesipe etesipe (Godart, 1824)
Charaxes etesipe (waiting on field images)
Subgenus Euxanthe
There are two species groups within this subgenus: euxanthe and lycurgus.
Euxanthe species group. There are three species recorded at Semuliki from the six species described within this group: Charaxes eurinome, C. crossleyi and C. trajanus. These three species were net sampled and not recorded within the fruit traps. Each of these species were predominantly sampled along the forest margins.
Charaxes eurinome lequeuxi (Turlin, 2009)
A-ink.jpeg)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes eurinome (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes crossleyi magnifica (Rebel, 1914)
A-ink.jpeg)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes crossleyi (male upper and underside, sexes similar)
Charaxes crossleyi (male upper and underside, pattern variation)
Charaxes crossleyi (male upper and underside, pattern variation)
Charaxes trajanus vansomereni (Poulton, 1929)
A1-ink.jpeg)
A-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes trajanus (female, upper and underside)
Lycurgus species group. There are two recorded species from this group: Charaxes lycurgus and C. zelica. Only C.lycurgus was trapped during sampling, while C. zelica was identified from a specimen from The National Museum of Scotland (entomology collections department).
Charaxes lycurgus (Fabricius, 1793)
A-ink.jpeg)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes lycurgus (male, upper and underside)
B-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes lycurgus (female, upperside)
B1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes lycurgus (female, underside)
Charaxes zelica depuncta (Joicey and Talbot, 1921)
Charaxes zelica (males, left)
Charaxes zelica (waiting on field images)
Subgenus Polyura
There are two Afrotropical species-groups within this subgenus.
Pleione species group. There are only two species recorded from Semuliki within this group: Charaxes paphianus and C. pleione. Both species were uncommon and trapped solely within the forest margins.
Charaxes paphianus subpallida (Joicey and Talbot, 1925)
Charaxes paphianus (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes pleione bebra (Rothschild, 1900)
A-ink.jpeg)
B-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes pleione (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes pleione (female, upperside)
Image by Thijs Valkenburg (original posted on inaturalist)
Zoolina species group. There is only one species recorded at Semuliki within this group: C. khaldeni. This was trapped by Tim Davenport in his census of 1996 and the collected specimens provided to Makerere University in Kampala. The species was never observed during the sampling periods.
Charaxes kahldeni (Homeyer & Dewitz 1882)
Charaxes kahldeni (waiting on field images)
Subgenus Eriboea
There are six Afrotropical species groups within this subgenus.
Eupale species group. There are only two species recorded at Semuliki within this group: Charaxes eupale and C. minor.
Charaxes eupale latimargo (Joicey & Talbot, 1921)
A1-ink.jpeg)
A-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes eupale (upper and underside, sexes similar)
Charaxes minor (Joicey and Talbot, 1921)
Charaxes minor (male undersides, sexes similar)
Anticlea species group. Of the six species described within this clade only one is found at Semuliki: Charaxes anticlea. Again an uncommon species which was only trapped once along the forest margins.
Charaxes anticlea adusta (Rothschild, 1900)
A-ink%20(2).jpeg)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes anticlea (female, upper and underside)
Hildebrandti species group. Only one species has been described in this group: Charaxes hildebrandti. Three subspecies have been recorded of which a specimen of C. hildebrandti katangensis recorded from Semuliki is within the National Museum of Scotland Collections Dept. The nominate subspecies C. hildebrandti hildebrandti has been recorded from both the Central Forest Block and the Ituri Forest of the DRC (Ducarme, 2018) and has also been recorded from western Uganda.
Charaxes hildebrandti katangensis (Talbot, 1928)
Charaxes hildebrandti (waiting on field images)
Etheocles species group. This group includes the 'black Charaxes' of which there are six species recorded at Semuliki: Charaxes virilis, C. viola, C. catachrous, C. etheocles, C. baumanni and C. cedreatis. The males are difficult to differentiate and so species presence is often determined by female occurrence. The female (which can also have many forms) will be displayed along with a male, based on descriptions from 'The Charaxinae Butterflies of Africa' by Stephen Henning.
Charaxes viola picta (van Someren and Jackson, 1952)
B-ink.jpeg)
B1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes viola (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes viola (female, upper and underside)
Charaxes etheocles carpenteri (van Someren & Jackson, 1957)
B-ink.jpeg)
A-ink.jpeg)
A1-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes etheocles carpenteri (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes etheocles carpenteri f. carpenteri (female, upperside)
Charaxes etheocles carpenteri f. carpenteri (female, underside)
Charaxes etheocles carpenteri f. pallidimacula (female, upper and underside)
Charaxes etheocles carpenteri f. pallidimacula (female variation, upperside)
Charaxes catachrous (van Someren & Jackson, 1952)
-ink.jpeg)
B-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes catachrous (male, upper and underside)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes catachrous (female, upperside)
-ink.jpeg)
Charaxes catachrous (female, underside)
Charaxes cedreatis (Hewitson, 1874)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Charaxes cedreatis (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes baumanni bwamba (van Someren, 1971)
Charaxes baumanni (male, upper and underside)
Charaxes virilis lenis (Henning, 1989)
Charaxes virilis (waiting on field images)
Subgenus new
A new subgenus to incorporate only one species, Charaxes nichetes.
Nichetes species group. Charaxes nichetes was identified from the National Museum of Scotland, entomology collections department as being recorded from Semuliki.
Charaxes nichetes nichetes (Grose-Smith, 1883)
Charaxes nichetes (waiting on field images)
Specific genus site links, references and bibliography
Aduse-Poku, K., et al., (2009), Out-of-Africa again: A phylogenetic hypothesis of the genus Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based on five gene regions. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 53(2): 463–478.
​
Bouyer, T., (2023). The genera of the tribe Charaxini (Papilionoidea, Nymphalidae, Charaxinae). Metamorphosis 34: 59–78.
​
Henning, S. F., (1988). The Charaxinae Butterflies of Africa, Aloe Books, Johannesburg.
​
Nymphalidae.Net provides a detailed taxonomic overview of the Tribe Charaxini. Tribe Charaxini (Wahlberg, N).
​
Savela, M. Charaxes Ochsenheimer [1816]. Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Excellent online resource.
​​
Turlin, B., (2005). Butterflies of the World. Part 22, Nymphalidae 10. (Text Supplement 10), Bauer and Frankenbach, Keltern.
​
Turlin, B., (2007). Butterflies of the World. Part 32, Nymphalidae 12. (Text Supplement 12), Bauer and Frankenbach, Keltern.
​
Turlin, B., (2007). Butterflies of the World. Part 28, Nymphalidae 14. (Text Supplement 14), Bauer and Frankenbach, Keltern.
​
Turlin, B., (2009). Butterflies of the World. Part 32, Nymphalidae 17. (Text Supplement 17), Bauer and Frankenbach, Keltern.
Turlin, B., (2011). Butterflies of the World. Part 34, Nymphalidae 19. (Text Supplement 19), Bauer and Frankenbach, Keltern.
​
Turlin, B., (2013). Butterflies of the World. Part 38, Nymphalidae 22. (Text Supplement 21), Bauer and Frankenbach, Keltern.
​
Turlin, B., (2014). Palla and Euxanthe. Butterflies of the World, Part 40, Nymphalidae 24. (Text Supplement 23), Bauer and Frankenbach, Keltern.
​
Williams, M.C., (2020). Genus Charaxes. A section of Afrotropical Butterflies (17th Edition). Publication is available from Lepidopterists' Society of Africa website https://www.lepsocafrica.org/?p=publications&s=atb.