Butterflies and skippers of the afrotropical region

Recorded, in error, from West Africa and Angola by Trimen & Bowker (1887).

“Larva. About 1¼ in. long; with strong branched spines. Dull brownish-ochreous, closely striped with black transverse streaks: the incisions of segments and a line down the back pale-ochreous; a broad ochreous band, not crossed by the black streaks, on each side, above the legs, which are of a bright shining yellow; head shining-black. On the second segment are two, and on the last four black branched spines; on each of all the other segments, six similar spines.” Pupa. About ¾ in. long, rather slender; head blunt, hardly bifid; lateral angles at bases of wing-covers prominent and acute; back of thorax not ridged, rather blunt and rounded; abdomen considerably elongate, curved inwardly towards its extremity. Pale-creamy, with a tinge of ochreous: wing-covers streaked with black along the position of the nervures; two curved black streaks from eyes to angles at bases of the wings; two black, short, longitudinal streaks on back of thorax; a transverse black streak at junction of thorax and abdomen; on each side of the back, a row of large, united, black, ochre-yellow-centered spots; each row united by thin, black lines to a row of similar spots below it, on side of abdomen; a shorter row of similar, more contiguous spots along middle of under side of abdomen. Attached to leaves and stems of plants, palings, walls, etc. The silk to which the tail is attached often covers an area of an inch in diameter. The butterfly emerged, in most instances, eight or nine days after the disclosure of the pupa.”

Repeats the description given in Clark & Dickson, 1952.

“On the 22^nd of January 1984, while scouting about the granite hills south of a place known as Ogams Fountain on a patrol in Koakoland, I came across several Acraea hypoleuca. The insects were feeding on flowers of Calicorema capitata and a few perfect specimens were captured between 11h00 and 12h30. After a short lunch break I returned to the area of granite outcrops to search for the foodplant of this “common” acraea! Luck was on my side this particular afternoon for the first specimen observed was fluttering about the large bulbous plant Adenia pechuelli of the family Passifloraceae, which grows fairly prolifically in the above-mentioned area. It seemed as if this particular insect was investigating the plant with the intention of ovipositing and on closer observation I found the ‘ultimate sight’, three large larvae peering at me from the top of the upright stems. After searching through several other plants, a few more larvae were collected. Only four of the larvae pupated and all emerged within ten days. No egg cases could be found, but small batches of newly hatched larvae of between 8 to 15 were found together on the buds and shoots of the foodplant, normally placed low down near the bulbous ‘foot’ of the plant.

The final instar larvae are pale silvery grey with four large purplish black spots across each segment. The spines arise from tubercles situated on these spots. The spines are quite long with small branches and are pale ochreous brown in colour with the branches being dark brown. The head is orange with pale ochreous marks dorsally and a small brown lateral dot near the mouthparts, which are dark brown. The legs and prolegs are ochreous. The pupa is white. The abdomen has two dorsal and one lateral row of black-ringed ochreous spots connected by black marks. On the ventral surface are two closely aligned rows of black marks. The veins on the wing-covers and the markings on the thorax and head are black.”
Pringle, et al., 1994: 83.
Larval food:

Adenia pechuelli (Engl.) Harms (Passifloraceae) [Braine & Henning G., 1984: 6].

Acraea (Acraea) igati Boisduval, 1833
Acraea igati Boisduval, 1833. Nouvelles Annales du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris 2: 177 (149-270).

Type locality: Madagascar: “Sainte-Marie and Grande-Terre”.

Distribution: Madagascar, Comoro Islands.

Habitat: Forest (Lees et al., 2003).

Early stages: Nothing published.

Larval food: Nothing published.

Acraea (Acraea) insignis Distant, 1880
Acraea insignis Distant, 1880 in Godman and Distant, 1880. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1880: 184 (182-185).

Acraea isignis isignis. Male. Left – upperside; right – underside. Wingspan: 51mm. Amani, Tanganyika. VII.1936. G. van Son. (Transvaal Museum - TM3479).
Type locality: Tanzania: “Magila, East Africa”.

Distribution: Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.

Common name: Black-blotched acraea.

Habitat: Forest.

Habits: On the Holdenby Reserve it flies on the edge of the riverine forest growing along the Pungwe River, disappearing as soon as the sun is obscured (Cookson teste Van Son, 1963). Both sexes feed from flowers (Pringle et al., 1994).

Flight period: Probably all year (Pringle et al., 1994). Type series captured in September and May (Van Son, 1963).

Early stages:
Van Someren & Rogers, 1925: 128 [(ssp. insignis)].

“Eggs creamy, long oval, slight striations on long axis and transeversely. Young larva dark brownish moulting to orange brown at third instar; underside blackish. Spines long, the base of each reddish. Pupa: golden to orange lined with black. Wing cases lined over the base. Thorax heavily marked above and entirely black below. Two dorsal black lines on abdomen composed of contiguous diamond-shaped spots, each with an orange centre. The orange on the fifth large. Lateral line of spots with yellow centres. Two ventral rows of small black spots with no yellowish centres.”

“Upperside ground colour light brick-red, similar to A. insignis f. siginna Suff., from which it differs in smaller size and in the shape of the black basal area of hindwing which is larger in proportion, extends further along the anal area than in siginna, and is not invaded anteriorly by the ground colour (in siginna, there is always a distinct wedge of the ground colour in the distal part of the anterior side of the cell); the black area bulges slightly in area Cu₂ (in siginna it does so in area M₁). Female very similar to male, except that the ground colour is less bright and is slightly more extensive in both fore- and hindwings, the latter being more elongate than in the male. The black marginal band of the hindwing is narrower than in the male, and the veins traversing the black basal patch are tinged with the ground colour.”

Old records from Sierra Leone are erroneous (Larsen, 2005a).

“The eggs are laid in groups or clusters on a creeper with a coarse fibrous leaf [unnamed] usually on the underside of the leaves, but often on the main stem. They are creamy at first but become orange as they mature. They are rather longer in shape than most acraeine eggs and rather pointed. The newly hatched larva is blackish or brownish, changing through brown to the reddish brown of the full fed caterpillar. A mature larva is terracotta above and white below, with a narrow white lateral line. The legs are yellowish, with black ends. The spines are fairly long with short barbs. The head is ochre-yellow. The pupa is white with heavy black markings, those on the wing cases particularly so. The abdominal segments have the usual orange spot encircled with black. The thorax is dorsally marked with two inverted U’s, the lower being joined up to the two black lines from the spines of the head-piece.”

“All the caterpillars of the Acraeas that I have seen are thickly studded with spines, that of A. rabbaiae being bright red with black spines, and make elegant suspended pupa coverings, through which the future wings can be most plainly distinguished, more so than in any other species I have seen.”

“The eggs of this species are long, barrel-shaped, slightly more tapering at the upper end. There is a slight trace of longitudinal and transverse ribs. They are laid in clusters or groups on the underside of the leaves of two species of creepers (as yet unidentified). Newly laid eggs are creamy, but they rapidly turn greyish brown. When the larvae are in their first stages they are greyish brown, becoming in the third and last instar reddish brown on all the segments except the first three and last. These are dull yellowish. The spines are long and branched. Fore legs yellowish, hind black. Underside of body dull whitish. Head glossy black. The pupa is elongate, thicker in the region of the wingcases and tapeing at the tail end. The colour is variable but is generally whitish or cream, inclining to buff on the wingcases. The thorax is angled posteriorly and laterally, a black line arises from the apex of each projection and is carried inward and forward to meet in a common line on the dorsum. The wing cases are finely lined in black. The abdominal segments are decorated with two dorsal, one lateral and one ventral, rows of contiguous spots, one to each segment, each bearing a large orange spot in the centre.”

Misattributed to the Madagascar fauna by Mabille [1887] (Lees et al., 2003).