Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Nymphalidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Charaxes | |
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Similar Charaxes virilis, Charaxes doubledayi, Charaxes etheocles, Charaxes lactetinctus, Charaxes pythodoris | ||
Charaxes viola, the savanna demon charaxes, is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. It is found in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. The habitat consists of dry savanna and dry forests.
Contents
Adults are attracted to fallen mangoes.
The larvae feed on Entada gigas, Acacia mellifera, Albizia adianthifolia, Albizia coriaria, Entada abyssinica, Acacia amythethophylla, Albizia gummifera and Entada sudanica.
Description
Female. Upperside — front wings brown; outer margin reddish; a broad ferruginous band near the hind margin, interrupted above by a brown patch and by the nervures. Hindwings, basal half brown, apical half white tinted with blue green; outer margin brown, with orange upper edging, green below the outer tail; a submarginal row of violaceous lunules; two black spots at the anal angle. Underside only differs from C. ethalion in the brighter red of the submarginal lunules, in the central white band being only indicated by a paler shade of brown, and the less distinct black markings.
Taxonomy
Charaxes viola is a member of the large species group Charaxes etheocles.