Libythea labdaca

African Snout Butterfly
L. l. labdaca, Kakamega Forest, Kenya
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Libythea
Species:	L. labdaca
Binomial name
Libythea labdaca Westwood, 1851
Synonyms
Libythea laius Trimen, 1879

Libythea labdaca the African Snout Butterfly,Lobed Beak,Southern Beak is a member of the butterfly subfamily Libytheinae found in Western and Central Africa,Southern India.

It forms vast migratory swarms (over 1 billion butterflies were estimated in Ghana). The butterflies move south in the Spring and north in the Autumn.

The larvae feed on Celtis species (including Celtis kraussiana and C. sayauxii).

Subspecies

• Libythea labdaca labdaca (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Bioko, Sao Tome & Principe, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, western Kenya, western Tanzania)
• Libythea labdaca laius Trimen, 1879 (Ethiopia, eastern Kenya, eastern and northern Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland)
• Libythea laius lepitoides Moore, 1903(Southern India)

Sources

• Kawahara, A. Y. 2006. Biology of the snout butterflies (Nymphalidae, Libytheinae), Part 1: Libythea Fabricius. Transactions of the lepidopterological Society of Japan 57:13-33.
• Kawahara, A.Y., 2013: Systematic revision and review of the extant and fossil snout butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Libytheinae). Zootaxa 3631 (1): 1-74. preview: [1].

External links

• Libytheana page at Tree of Life