Euriphene


Euriphene is a butterfly genus in the subfamily Limenitidinae. The 70 or so member species are confined to the Afrotropical realm. They are found mainly in the Guinean Forests of West Africa and the Congolian forests.

Description

Euriphene species resemble Bebearia. The upperside ground colour of the males of some species is grey overlain with a metallic steely-blue sheen. In other species the ground colour is reddish brown. All the species have distinctive dark bars in the forewing cell and suffused dark markings on the rest of the wings. Many have an apical arc of small white spots. The head is wide with long, erect palpi. The antennae are very long, with a gradually-formed, robust club. The thorax is robust and woolly. The wing characters are forewings moderately large; costa very much arched; apex rather acute; hind-margin nearly straight. Hindwings sub-oval; hindmargin entire, or not strongly scalloped. The abdomen is rather small.

Taxonomy

The type species of the genus is Aterica tadema Hewitson.

Species

Listed alphabetically within species groups: