Russian
English
Charaxes protoclea(Charaxes protoclea)
Phylum —arthropoda
Class —insecta
Order —lepidoptera
Family —nymphalidae
Genus –charaxes
Appearance
The wingspan is 65–70 mm in males and 75–95 mm in females.
Seen from above, the lower central portions of the female’s wings are white-hot; the wingtips display a range of yellow-to-orange spots, and a strip of brilliant orange frames each wing. The males’ wings are a muted brownish-black, but also bordered in fiery orange.
From below, charaxes are much more toned down, colored in muted browns and grays with a single dark eye spot. Male butterflies are a subtle maroon-brown in color, while females are light tan, with a single wide, white stripe midwing. The different coloring on the wing patterns of each sex is known as sexual dimorphism, and is fairly common in butterflies.
Habitat
Charaxesprotoclea is distributed across the forested tropics of Africa from Senegal to Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia.
Behavior
Charaxesprotocleafound in tropical forest spending most of their time flying in the upper canopy of the forest.Because there are multiple generations each year it is possible to find adults in flight almost all year round.
The males are territorial so they take regular flights to patrol for invading males.
Diet
The larval foodplants include Afzelia, Brachystegia, Berlinia, Bussea, Cassia, Julbernardia and other Fabaceae. Also Syzygium (Myrtaceae) and Oxytenanthera (Poaceae).
Not being big nectar feeders the adults usually feed on rotting fruits and tree sap. The males can occasionally be found taking up nutrients from wet sand or dung.
Reproduction
For their reproduction you need a terrarium with a size of 50 x 50 x 70 cm. Females lay eggs one at a time on the leaves of the forage plant. The eggs are yellow.
It is better to keep the caterpillars in mesh terrariums of 6-8 pieces.In the terrarium, you need to place a branch of a forage plant. Forage plants should be replaced every 3-4 days. The temperature is 22-26oC. The humidity is 60-70%.
Butterflies live approximately for 15 days.
In captivity
The mesh cage with a size of 50 × 50 × 70 mm is suitable for keeping butterflies. Room temperature is necessary. Daylight time is 12 hours. You can feed butterflies an overripe banana or with honey syrup diluted with boiled water in a ratio of 1:10.
