Charaxes bipunctatus
Charaxes bipunctatus, the two-spot blue charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania. A local and uncommon butterfly.
Description
Ch. bipunctatus Rothsch. is another close ally of tiridates, distinguished chiefly by the very short, tooth- like tails of the hindwing. Both sexes above coloured and marked like those of tiridates; the blue spots, however, in the male in part indistinct or absent and the marginal streaks of the hindwing thick, ochre-yellow and not interrupted. Ashanti to Aruwimi.A full description is also given by Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan, 1900 Novitates Zoologicae volume 7:287-524. page 390
Differs from Charaxes tiridates and Charaxes numenes in that there are only two hindwing postdiscal spots and in the continuous yellowish distal margin
Biology
The habitat consists of lowland evergreen forests and sub-montane forests at altitudes between 1,200 and 1,500 meters.The larvae feed on Blighia unijugata.
Taxonomy
Charaxes tiridates groupThe supposed clade members are:
- Charaxes tiridates
- Charaxes numenes similar to next
- Charaxes bipunctatus similar to last
- Charaxes violetta
- Charaxes fuscus
- Charaxes mixtus
- Charaxes bubastis
- Charaxes albimaculatus
- Charaxes barnsi
- Charaxes bohemani
- Charaxes schoutedeni
- Charaxes monteiri
- Charaxes smaragdalis
- Charaxes xiphares
- Charaxes cithaeron
- Charaxes nandina
- Charaxes imperialis
- Charaxes ameliae
- Charaxes pythodoris
- ? Charaxes overlaeti