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Forest king emperor
	Male
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Charaxes
Species:	C. xiphares
Binomial name
	Charaxes xiphares; (Stoll, [1781])
Synonyms
	Papilio xiphares Stoll, 1781; Charaxes xiphares bavenda f. ochremacula van Son, 1935; Charaxes xiphares bavenda f. cyanescens van Son, 1935; Charaxes cithaeron var. brevicaudatus Schultze, 1914; Charaxes desmondi van Someren, 1939; Charaxes xiphares draconis f. candida van Son, 1953; Charaxes xiphares kenwayi f. lutea van Son, 1953; Charaxes kulal van Someren, 1962; Charaxes maudei Joicey & Talbot, 1918; Charaxes xiphares xiphares f. occidentalis van Son, 1953; Charaxes xiphares penningtoni f. luminosa van Son, 1953; Charaxes xiphares staudei f. arikae Henning and Henning, 1992; Charaxes xiphares staudei f. louisae Henning and Henning, 1992; Papilio thyestes Stoll, 1790; Charaxes xiphares reducta Rothschild, 1929; Charaxes xiphares elatias Jordan, 1936; Charaxes xiphares walwandi f. namukanae Collins, 1989 in Henning, 1989;

Charaxes xiphares, the forest king emperor or forest king charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is native to Afromontane forest in the eastern and southern Afrotropical realm.^[2]

Description

The wingspan is 65–80 mm for males and 70–95 mm for females.^[3] Ch. xiphares Cr. male: the forewing marked almost exactly as in nandina, but the spots blue with the exception of the first two in the distal row; the basal part is tinged with blue, but usually not so distinctly as in the figure. The blue median band of the hindwing is placed further distad, is broader and distally deeply incised at the veins or even almost broken up into spots; small blue submarginal dots and blue or yellowish marginal spots. The female is very different from the male; the forewing is brown-black without blue markings, but with four white discal spots (in the middle of cellule 2, before the middle of 3 and at the base of 4 and 5) and 2 or more white spots behind the middle; small yellowish marginal spots in cellules lb and 2. The hindwing above in the middle between veins 2 and 7 with a very broad (about 15 mm.) ochre-yellow transverse band, distally irrorated with dark, which covers the basal half of cellules 2–6; streak-like blue submarginal spots and narrow yellowish marginal streaks. On the under surface the light spots of the forewing are larger and the hindwing has in the middle an irregular white band, proximally bordered with yellowish; the female is much larger than the Cape Colony, Kaffirland, Natal and Transvaal. Larva green with two whitish, red-centred and black-margined dorsal spots, the larger on segment 6 and the smaller on segment 8.^[4]

Biology

The larvae feed on Craibia brevecaudata, Scutia myrtina, Rhamnus prinoides, Cryptocarya woodii, Chaetachme aristata, and Drypetes gerrardii.^[2]^[3]

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:^[2]

C. x. bavenda van Son, 1935^[5] – South Africa: Soutpansberg in Limpopo province
C. x. bergeri Plantrou, 1975^[6] – DRC
C. x. brevicaudatus Schultze, 1914^[7] – southern Tanzania
C. x. burgessi van Son, 1953^[8] – DRC: Kivu, south-western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi
C. x. desmondi van Someren, 1936^[9] – Kenya: south-east to the Taita Hills
C. x. draconis Jordan, 1936^[10] – Eswatini and South Africa: Mpumalanga province
C. x. kenwayi Poulton, 1929^[11] – South Africa: north-eastern Limpopo province
C. x. kiellandi Plantrou, 1976^[12] – northern Tanzania
C. x. kilimensis van Someren, 1972^[13] – northern Tanzania
C. x. kulal van Someren, 1962^[14] – Kenya: north to Mount Kulal
C. x. ludovici Rousseau-Decelle, 1933^[15] – northern Malawi, north-eastern Zambia
C. x. maudei Joicey & Talbot, 1917^[16] – north-eastern Tanzania
C. x. nguru Collins, 1988^[17] – eastern Tanzania
C. x. occidentalis Pringle, 1995^[18] – South Africa: Western Cape province
C. x. penningtoni van Son, 1953^[8] – South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal province
C. x. sitebi Plantou, 1981^[19] – north-western Tanzania
C. x. staudei Henning & Henning, 1992^[20] – South Africa: north-east and north-west slopes of Blouberg in Limpopo province
C. x. thyestes (Stoll, 1790)^[21] – South Africa: Eastern Cape province
C. x. upembana Plantrou, 1976^[22] – DRC
C. x. vumbui van Son, 1936^[23] – eastern Zimbabwe
C. x. walwandi Collins, 1989^[17] – Kenya, Tanzania
C. x. wernickei Joicey & Talbot, 1926^[24] – Cameroon
C. x. woodi van Someren, 1964^[25] – southern Malawi
C. x. xiphares (Stoll, [1781]) – South Africa: Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces

Taxonomy

Charaxes tiridates group.

the supposed clade members are:

Charaxes tiridates
Charaxes numenes – similar to next
Charaxes bipunctatus – similar to last
Charaxes violetta
Charaxes fuscus
Charaxes mixtus
Charaxes bubastis
Charaxes albimaculatus
Charaxes barnsi
Charaxes bohemani
Charaxes schoutedeni
Charaxes monteiri
Charaxes smaragdalis
Charaxes xiphares
Charaxes cithaeron
Charaxes nandina
Charaxes imperialis
Charaxes ameliae
Charaxes pythodoris
? Charaxes overlaeti

For a full list see Eric Vingerhoedt, 2013.^[26]

References

^ Stoll, C . [1781] in Stoll, C. [1780-2]. Die Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie waerrelddeelen Asia, Africa en America 4 [part]: 171 (29-252). Amsteldam & Utrecht.
^ ^a ^b ^c Savela, Markku. "Charaxes xiphares (Stoll, [1781])". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
^ ^a ^b Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
^ Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ van Son, G. 1935. New butterflies from South Africa. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 15: 485-489.
^ Plantrou, J. 1975. Note sur Charaxes xiphares Cramer (lepidoptere - Nymphalidae) avec la description d’une nouvelle sous-espece du Zaire. Lambillionea 75 (Jubilee Volume): 102-105.
^ Schultze, A. 1914. Eine neue Charaxes form aus Deutsch=Ostafrika. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 79 (A.8.): 3.
^ ^a ^b Van Son , G. 1953. A revision of the subspecies and forms of Charaxes cithaeron Felder and Charaxes xiphares (Cramer). Annals of the Transvaal Museum 22 (2): 219-230.
^ van Someren, V.G.L. 1939. New and little-known Lepidoptera from Kenya and Uganda.Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society 14: 172-180.
^ Jordan, K., 1936 . On two South African Charaxes (Lepid., Nymphalidae). Novitates Zoologicae 39: 330-333.
^ Poulton, , E.B. 1929 in Eltringham, H., Poulton, E.B., Riley, N.D., & Talbot, G. 1929. African Rhopalocera: descriptions and notes. Transactions of the Entomologial Society of London 77: 475-504.
^ Plantrou, J. 1976 Notes on Charaxes xiphares Cramer (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) and a description of a new subspecies. Proceedings and Transactions of the British Entomological and Natural History Society 9 (3-4): 94-97.
^ van Someren, V.G.L. 1969. Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part V. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 23: 75-166.
^ van Someren, V.G.L. 1962. A new Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from the Northern Frontier Province of Kenya. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (B) 31: 44-46.
^ Rousseau-Decelle, G. 1933. Notes sur quelques formes nouvelles des genres Papilio et Charaxes [Lep.]. Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 38: 269-273.
^ Joicey , J.J., & Talbot, G. 1918. New butterflies from Africa and the east. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1917: 271-272
^ ^a ^b Collins, S. C in Henning, S.F. 1988 [1989]. The Charaxinae butterflies of Africa. Aloe Books, Johannesburg, 1-457.
^ Pringle, E.L. 1995c. A new subspecies of Charaxes xiphares (Cramer) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Metamorphosis 6 (4): 176-179.
^ Plantrou, J. 1981. Description d’une sous-espece de Charaxes xiphares (Cramer) recemment decouverte en Tanzanie et revision de la liste systematique de l’espece. Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 86 (5-6): 159-166.
^ Henning, S.F., & Henning, G.A. 1992. Descriptions of two new subspecies of Charaxes Ochsenheimer (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from the Blouberg in the Northern Transvaal, South Africa. Metamorphosis 3 (3): 115-120.
^ Stoll, C. [1787-1790]. Die Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie waerelddeelen Asia, Africa en America [supplement]: viii + 1-184. Amsterdam.
^ Plantrou, J. 1976. Nouvelle note sur Charaxes xiphares Cramer (Lepidoptera – Nymphalidae) avec la description d’une nouvelle sous-espece du Zaire. Lambillionea 76 (7-8): 64-66.
^ van Son , G. 1936 Description of a new race of Charaxes xiphares (Cr.) from Southern Rhodesia (Lepid.). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (B) 5: 201-207.
^ Joicey, J.J., & Talbot, G. 1927 New forms of Lepidoptera Rhopalocera. Encyclopedie Entomologique (B.3 Lepidoptera) 2: 1-14.
^ van Someren, V.G.L. 1964. Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part II. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 15:181-235.
^ "African Charaxes/Charaxes Africains Eric Vingerhoedt, 2013". Archived from the original on 2013-06-27.

Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1964 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part II. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 181–235.[1]
Van Someren, 1969 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part V. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 75–166.[2] Additional notes
Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1972 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VIII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 215–264.[3] Further notes
Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31