Charaxes xiphares
Charaxes xiphares, the forest king emperor or forest king charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is native to Afromontane forest in the eastern and southern Afrotropical realm.
The wingspan is 65–80 mm for males and 70–95 mm for females.
The larvae feed on Craibia brevecaudata, Scutia myrtina, Rhamnus prinoides, Cryptocarya woodii, Chaetachme aristata, and Drypetes gerrardii.Subspecies
Listed alphabetically:
- C. x. bavenda van Son, 1935 – South Africa: Soutpansberg in Limpopo province
- C. x. bergeri Plantrou, 1975 – DRC
- C. x. brevicaudatus Schultze, 1914 – southern Tanzania
- C. x. burgessi van Son, 1953 – DRC: Kivu, south-western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi
- C. x. desmondi van Someren, 1936 – Kenya: south-east to the Taita Hills
- C. x. draconis Jordan, 1936 – Swaziland and South Africa: Mpumalanga province
- C. x. kenwayi Poulton, 1929 – South Africa: north-eastern Limpopo province
- C. x. kiellandi Plantrou, 1976 – northern Tanzania
- C. x. kilimensis van Someren, 1972 – northern Tanzania
- C. x. kulal van Someren, 1962 – Kenya: north to Mount Kulal
- C. x. ludovici Rousseau-Decelle, 1933 – northern Malawi, north-eastern Zambia
- C. x. maudei Joicey & Talbot, 1917 – north-eastern Tanzania
- C. x. nguru Collins, 1988 – eastern Tanzania
- C. x. occidentalis Pringle, 1995 – South Africa: Western Cape province
- C. x. penningtoni van Son, 1953 – South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal province
- C. x. sitebi Plantou, 1981 – north-western Tanzania
- C. x. staudei Henning & Henning, 1992 – South Africa: north-east and north-west slopes of Blouberg in Limpopo province
- C. x. thyestes – South Africa: Eastern Cape province
- C. x. upembana Plantrou, 1976 – DRC
- C. x. vumbui van Son, 1936 – eastern Zimbabwe
- C. x. walwandi Collins, 1989 – Kenya, Tanzania
- C. x. wernickei Joicey & Talbot, 1926 – Cameroon
- C. x. woodi van Someren, 1964 – southern Malawi
- C. x. xiphares – South Africa: Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces
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.
