Charaxes smaragdalis, the western blue charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found from Senegal to Somalia, from Angola to Kenya and from Sudan to Egypt.

The butterfly's wingspan is 85 to 100 mm.

Description

Ch. smaragdalis Btlr. Both wings above from the base to the apex of the cell black with greenish or bluish reflection, then follows in the male a blue half-band, about 10 mm. in breadth, between the hindmargin and vein 2 or 3 and in each cellule from 3—7 two very widely separated spots, all blue except the distal ones in cellules 6 and 7; in the female there is in the middle a white transverse band, 7 mm. in breadth, running obliquely from the costal margin towards the hinder angle and reaching vein 1; the outer row of spots, which runs almost parallel with the distal margin in the male, is almost identical in the female. The hindwing has behind the apex of the cell a blue transverse band 12 (male)—15 (female) mm. in breadth and is black at the distal margin with blue-white submarginal spots and marginal line. The under surface is dark grey-brown, marked almost as in bohemanni. Niger to Angola and Uganda. — The blue transverse band on the upperside of the hindwing is narrower and everywhere completely separated from the blue marginal line. Sierra Leone to the Gold Coast.Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart. See External links for the original description by Arthur Gardiner Butler published in 1866 in The Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London.

Biology Its habitat is (lowland rainforest in the west, gallery forest in the south, and patches of lowland and montane forest in the east).Henning, S.F. 1988 . The Charaxinae butterflies of Africa. Aloe Books, Johannesburg, 1-457

Taxonomy Charaxes tiridates group.

The 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 For a full list see Eric Vingerhoedt, 2013.

Subspecies C. s. smaragdalis (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Congo, Zaire) C. s. butleri Rothschild, 1900Rothschild, W. 1900 in Rothschild, W., & Jordan, K. 1900. A monograph of Charaxes and the allied prionopterous genera. Novitates Zoologicae 7: [i-iv], 287-524. (Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia) C. s. caerulea Carpenter & Jackson, 1950Carpenter, G.D.H., and Jackson, T.H.E. 1950. New butterflies from East Africa and the Ituri Forest. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (B) 19: 97-108.Jackson, T.H.E. 1951. Notes on some new or rare Rhopalocera from eastern Africa. Revisional notes and descriptions of some new East African Rhopalocera. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (B) 20: 91-105. (eastern Zaire, south-western Uganda) C. s. elgonae van Someren, 1964van Someren, V.G.L. 1964. Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part II. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 15:181-235. (Uganda) C. s. gobyae Plantrou, 1988C. s. gobyae Plantrou, 1988 Plantrou, J. 1989. In: Henning, 1989. The Charaxinae butterflies of Africa 165 (457 pp.). Johannesburg. (south-eastern Sudan) C. s. homonymus Bryk, F. 1939Bryk, F. 1939 in Stichel, 1939. In: Bryk, F., Lepidopterorum Catalogus 30 (91): s’Gravenhage 444 (375-542. (south-west Kenya, north Tanzania) C. s. kagera van Someren, 1964 (north-western Tanzania, south-western Uganda) C. s. kigoma van Someren, 1964 (Tanzania) C. s. leopoldi Ghesquière, 1933Ghesquière, J. 1933. Variations et aberrations de Lepidopteres (suite). Sur deux races nouvelles de Charaxes smaragdalis Btlr. (Nymph.). Lambillionea 33: 3-6.(northern Angola, eastern Congo, south-western Zaire) C. s. metu van Someren, 1964 (south-western Sudan, northern Uganda) C. s. toro van Someren, 1964 (western Uganda) C. s. allardi Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, 1997 Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, E. 1997. Description d’une nouvelle sous-espece de Charaxes smaragdalis Butler, 1865 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). Entomologia Africana 2 (2): 32-33, 36-39.

References

Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31 Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1964 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part II. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)181-235. Van Someren, 1969 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part V. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)75-166. Additional notes

External links

Original description Images of C. s. allardi Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project) Images of C. s. caerulea (Albertine Rift Project) Images of C. s. kagera (Albertine Rift Project) Images of C. s. kigoma (Albertine Rift Project) Images of C. s. leopoldi (Albertine Rift Project) Images of C. s. smaragdalis (Albertine Rift Project) "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms Charaxes smaragdalis images at Bold C. s. allardi images at BOLD C. s. butleri images at BOLD C. s. caerulea images at BOLD includes verso C. s. elgonae images at BOLD C. s. homonymus images at BOLD