Belenois creona
Appearance
African common white | |
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Female in wet season | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Pieridae |
Genus: | Belenois |
Species: | B. creona
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Binomial name | |
Belenois creona (Cramer, 1776)
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Subspecies | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
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Belenois creona, the African common white or African caper, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in the Afrotropical realm.
Description
The wingspan is 40–45 mm. The sexes are dimorphic.
Males
Uppersides are white with black or brown marginal borders and veins in forewing apex. A black spot exists in the upperside cell instead of a bar as in the brown-veined white (B. aurota).
Females
Females have broader dark upperside borders on both wings. Underwings are yellow during the wet season.[1]
Ecology
The larvae feed on Capparis and Maerua species.
Subspecies
The following subspecies are recognised:[2]
- B. c. creona (Senegal to Nigeria, Sudan, east Ethiopia)
- B. c. benadirensis (in Somalia)
- B. c. boguensis Ethiopia
- B. c. elisa (on the Comoros)
- B. c. leucogyne (on the Arabian Peninsula)
- B. c. prorsus (on Madagascar)
- B. c. severina (South Africa to east Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Belenois creona.
- ^ Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
- ^ Belenois at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
External links
- Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 13
- Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 12