Neptis melicerta
| Neptis melicerta | |
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| Male, figure 1 | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Neptis |
| Species: | N. melicerta
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| Binomial name | |
| Neptis melicerta | |
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Neptis melicerta, the original club-dot sailer or streaked sailer, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Uganda.[2] The habitat consists of forests.
Description
[edit]The white longitudinal stripe in the cell of the forewing with a very prominent, small, free, triangular white spot at the end. Discal spot 4 on the forewing is small and triangular and placed quite free on the first marginal line. The marginal lines of the forewing more or less broadly interrupted in cellule 3.Discal spots 5 and 6 on the forewing narrow and completely separated or only touching at the inner angle; median band of the hindwing 3—-4 mm. in breadth; the second marginal line on the underside of the hindwing much thickened. A common species, occurring from Sierra Leone to Angola and Abyssinia. — ab. melicertula Strand [now subspecies] differs in the purer white markings and the somewhat larger discal spots on the forewing. Cameroons 48a [3] Images BOLD
Biology
[edit]The larvae feed on Acacia ataxacantha, Dalbergia hostilis, Abrus canescens, Abrus pulabellus and Allophylus species
Taxonomy
[edit]Species groups sensu Seitz melicerta Group. The cell of the forewing is entirely filled up with white or has a white longitudinal stripe, which follows its hindmargin and leaves the anterior part of the cell free. Discal spot 4 on the forewing is absent or quite small; hence the discal band of the forewing always consists of three separate divisions, a hindmarginal spots, two spots in 2 and 3 and two or three at the costal, margin in 5, 6 and 9. The species may be divided into two subgroups. -Subgroup A. The white longitudinal stripe in the cell of the forewing without free white spot at the end.
Subgroup B. The white longitudinal stripe in the cell of the forewing with a very prominent, small, free, triangular white spot at the end. Discal spot 4 on the forewing is small and triangular and placed quite free on the first marginal line. The marginal lines of the forewing more or less broadly interrupted in cellule 3.
Species groups sensu Richardson
It is the nominotypical member of the melicerta Species group The members of the melicerta group are
- Neptis melicerta
- Neptis agouale
- Neptis carcassoni
- Neptis goochii
- Neptis nicomedes
- Neptis quintilla
- Neptis nicobule
- Neptis nina
References
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- ^ "Neptis Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
- ^ Afrotropical Butterflies: Nymphalidae - Tribe Limenitidini
- ^ 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.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Richardson, I.D. 2019. Revision of the genus Neptis (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) in the Afrotropical Region: Currently described taxa. Metamorphosis 30: 69‒221
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