Acraea pentapolis
Acraea pentapolis, also known as the scarce tree-top acraea or eastern musanga acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in western and central Africa.
Habitat and food
The habitat consists of forests, and the larvae feed on Myrianthus holstii.Description
In 1912, Harry Eltringham wrote:Description in Seitz
A. pentapolis has the hindwing hyaline or transparent at the costal margin, in cellules 5 to 7 as far as the cell and in lc to 4 at the distal margin; thus only the cell, cellules 1a to 2 nearly to the distal margin and the base of cellule 3 are scaled; the marginal streaks are often only distinct in cellules 1c to 3. Larva dark umber-brown above with a white spot at each side on segments 4 to 12; head red-brown. Spines black, the one on segment 2 elongated. Pupa whitish with black markings; abdomen dorsally with short, obtuse elevations.pentapolis Ward. Transverse band of the fore wing dull and little distinct; scaling of the hind wing very thin, pale yellow to whitish. Sierra Leone to the Congo and Uganda, aberratio form thelestis Oberth.. Scaling of the hindwing red-yellow. Among the type-form. epidica Oberth.. Transverse band of the forewing deep black and sharply defined, often much widened; scaling of the hindwing lemon-yellow; distal margin of both wings often broadly darkened. German East Africa.Subspecies
- Acraea pentapolis pentapolis — Cameroon, Gabon, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, western Kenya
- Acraea pentapolis epidica Oberthür, 1893 — Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe