Charaxes antiquus

Historical attempts to assemble a cluster of presumably related species into a "Charaxes jasius Group" have not been wholly convincing. More recent taxonomic revision,^[4] corroborated by phylogenetic research, allow a more rational grouping congruent with cladistic relationships. Within a well-populated clade of 27 related species sharing a common ancestor approximately 16 mya during the Miocene,^[5] 26 are now considered together as The jasius Group.^[4] One of the two lineages within this clade forms a robust monophyletic group of seven species sharing a common ancestor approximately 2-3 mya, i.e. during the Pliocene,^[5] and are considered as the jasius subgroup.^[4] The second lineage leads to 19 other species within the Jasius group, which are split into three well-populated subgroups of closely related species.

The jasius Group (26 Species).^[4]

Clade 1: the jasius subgroup.

Clade 2: contains the three well-populated additional subgroups (19 species) of the jasius Group, called the brutus, pollux, and eudoxus subgroups.^[4]

• the brutus subgroup (4 Species)
• Charaxes brutus
• Charaxes antiquus
• Charaxes junius
• Charaxes andara

Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing Charaxes taxa is required to improve clarity.

• Charaxes antiquus images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• African Butterfly Database Range map via search

This article related to members of the butterfly subfamily Charaxinae is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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