Puneet Varma (Editor)

Bematistes epaea

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Insecta

Family
  
Nymphalidae

Rank
  
Species

Phylum
  
Arthropoda

Order
  
Lepidoptera

Genus
  
Bematistes

Bematistes epaea httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Bematistes epaea, the common bematistes, is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. The habitat consists of forests and dense Guinea savanna.

Both sexes are mimicked by Elymniopsis bammakoo, Pseudacraea eurytus and Mimacraea darwinia, while the female is also the model for the female of Papilio cynorta. Acraea jodutta is probably a co-mimic.

The larvae feed on Lindaeckeria schweinfurthii, Lindaeckeria dentata and Adenia cisampelloides.

Subspecies

  • B. e. epaea (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Angola, western Democratic Republic of the Congo, north-western Tanzania, Zambia)
  • B. e. angustifasciata d'Abrera, 1980 (central and southern Uganda, western Kenya)
  • B. e. bicolorata (Le Doux, 1937) (south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • B. e. epitellus Staudinger, 1896 (coast of Kenya, coast of Tanzania)
  • B. e. homochroa (Rothschild & Jordan, 1905) (southern Ethiopia)
  • B. e. insulana Ackery, 1995 (Bioko)
  • B. e. kivuana (Jordan, 1910) (Democratic Republic of the Congo: east to Kivu)
  • B. e. lutosa (Suffert, 1904) (eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda: west to the Bwamba Valley)
  • B. e. melina (Thurau, 1903) (south-western Tanzania, Malawi: north to the shores of Lake Malawi)
  • B. e. paragea (Grose-Smith, 1900) (Sudan, western Uganda, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania)
  • References

    Bematistes epaea Wikipedia