Charaxes fulgurata, the lightning charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in northern Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Lualaba, Lomami), north-western Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Description Forewing above with large marginal spots and 3—7 strongly curved submarginal spots, the extremities of which reach the marginal spots; in addition with 2 or 3 discal spots and a spot in the cell. Hindwing with fine postdiscal lunules and thick marginal streaks, in cellules 4—6 dotted with red. Under surface light reddish brown. AngolaAurivillius, [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. There are at least two distinctive female forms.Pringle et al, 1994. Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa, 2nd edition
Biology The habitat consists of Brachystegia woodland and savanna woodland.
Adults have been observed feeding on elephant dung.
The larvae feed on Erythrophleum africanum and Amblygonocarpus andongensis.
Taxonomy Charaxes fulgurata is a member of the large species group Charaxes etheocles.
References
Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1966 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part III. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 45-101.
External links Charaxes fulgurata images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life Images of C. fulgurata Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)