Acraea boopis
Species of butterfly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Acraea boopis, the rainforest acraea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in KwaZulu-Natal, Eswatini, from Mozambique to Kenya and in Tanzania.
| Acraea boopis | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Acraea |
| Species: | A. boopis |
| Binomial name | |
| Acraea boopis | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The wingspan is 45–52 mm for males and 49–58 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round, with peaks from November to March in southern Africa.[3]
The larvae feed on Celastraceae species, including Cassine tetragonal, Maytenus acuminate, Maytenus heterophylla and Rawsonia lucida.
Subspecies
- Acraea boopis boopis (South Africa in Afromontane and higher lowland forest in Eastern Cape, then along the escarpment through KwaZulu-Natal, also in Mpumalanga and Limpopo)
- Acraea boopis ama Pierre, 1979 (Kenya, northern Tanzania)
- Acraea boopis choloui Pierre, 1979 (Malawi) May be a full species.
Taxonomy
It is a member of the Acraea terpsicore species group - but see also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014 [4]
