Charaxes Butterflies

Facts about Charaxes butterfly, the Charaxes butterflies are called by their genus name called Charaxes that comes from the Nymphalidae family. The Charaxes butterfly belong to the subfamily of brush footed butterflies or the leafwing butterflies called Charaxinae. Charaxes butterfly are tropical butterflies of Europe, Africa and Asia, and they are so far the highest variety of sub-Sahara parts of Africa, a smaller quantity from South Asia to Australia and Melanesia, and a single variety in Europe. Charaxes butterfly are of about 179 varieties and they extend their range as far as the northern part of the Mediterranean coast of Europe. Most of the Charaxes butterfly are forest inhabitants, but a number of the Charaxes butterfly are personalized to savannah and dry Acacia thorn scrub homes. Generally, Charaxes butterfly are strong flyers and extremely popular amongst butterfly collectors.

Features

Charaxes butterfly have a strong thorax and stomach, with a wingspan, ranging from (8 cm to 10 cm) when fully grown. The ground colors of their wing uppersides range from yellowish-brown to black with whitish. Wing marks may be bars, spots or bands of orange, white or blue color. Some varieties of Charaxes have metallic blue marks and some others have an overall sparkling, metallic shine. Among the varieties of Charaxes butterflies, the Charaxes Eupale is light green in color and the Zingha variety is partly red in color. The male butterflies of the Charaxes Etheocles complex are mostly black and are called as the Black Charaxes.

The external margin of the forewing of Charaxes differs from being almost straight to deeply curve in. Their back wing is abdominally longer than costally at all times, and in nearly all varieties presents a triangular form. The teeth on the outer border of both wings of the Charaxes butterfly differ greatly, according to the groups of species, and are also not completely stable within a species. The anal angle in several species is more well-defined than the external border between the tails.

The outline of the upper side of Charaxes is often extremely different in the genders and in the different species. The female Charaxes butterfly can be set consistent with the pattern of the upper side of the front wing into different groups.

Sexual dimorphism is extremely common among Charaxes such that both male and female species differ greatly in terms of shape and color. The female Charaxes butterfly have broader wings than that of the male ones. The hind wing of the female butterflies is less triangular and their tail is wider than that of the male butterflies. Some male Charaxes have only one tails, whereas the female ones have two tails.

Diet

Charaxes usually feeds the nectar of the flowers of a variety of wild plants and their caterpillars feed on the leaves of those plants. Usually, male butterflies encounter individually while feeding at droppings or fermenting fruits on the forest ground.

Behavior

Male Charaxes butterflies combined with other butterfly varieties at animal dung, from which they get vital salts that are passed to the female butterflies at the time of copulation. Both male and female Charaxes butterfly fly to open or forested hilltops where courtship and copulation will take place, following which they go back to the plains and valleys. At nighttime or in overcast or showery climate the Charaxes butterfly roost beneath the branches of a tree.

The average lifespan of Charaxes butterflies is less than 3 weeks irrespective of their species. Charaxes butterfly are insects. A Charaxes butterfly is a herbivore; Meaning that as a caterpillar its first food is its own eggshell and than it will eat the leaves of the plant on which it is hatched. When it becomes a butterfly, it will feed mostly on nectar from flowers, rotting fruit and water with a "proboscis" - a long narrow tube in their mouth that looks like a straw.

Life cycle of a Charaxes butterfly comes in four stages, egg, larva "caterpillars", pupa "chrysalis" and adult Butterfly.
A Charaxes butterfly will attach its eggs to leaves with a special glue.

When caterpillars become fully grown they will attach to an appropriate leaf or small branch, than they will shed the outside layer of their skin and a hard skin underneath known as a "chrysalis" will be their new look
An adult Charaxes butterfly will come out from the "chrysalis" than it waits a few hours for its wings to dry and fill with blood, before it takes its first flight.

Charaxes butterfly can see yellow, green, and red. An adult butterfly average life span is from a week to a year
The top flight speed of a Charaxes butterfly is 12 miles per hour (19 Km/ph) and some moths can fly up to 25 miles per hour (40 Km/ph).
A Charaxes butterfly is cold-blooded, which means the body temperature is not regulated on its own. A Charaxes butterfly can't fly or eat if their body temperature is below 82 degrees fah (28 cel). Charaxes butterfly are often basking in the sun with their wings open to gain heat and than the veins in the wings carry the heat to the body.
A Charaxes butterfly has sense organ, on their feet or tarsi, for tasting
The estimate is between 15000 and 20000 different species of butterfly.

A Charaxes butterfly has a small body, made up of three parts – the head, abdomen and thorax. A Charaxes butterfly has two large eyes, which are made up of many small parts which are called "compound eyes".
A Charaxes butterfly has two antenna's on the top of their heads, which they use to smell, hear and feel. A Charaxes butterfly mouth is a long tube a "proboscis" - a long narrow tube in their mouth that looks like a straw when its done eating, it rolls the tube back up.

A Charaxes butterfly has three pairs of legs and their feet have little claws that help them stand on flowers. The butterfly's wings are made up of hard tubes that are covered with a thin tissue. The Charaxes butterfly wings are covered with fine dusty like scales. A Charaxes butterfly has four brightly colored wings having distinctive patterns made up of tiny scales. The bright patterns scales sometimes have hidden ultraviolet patterns for attracting mates. The bright colors are also used as camouflage to hide them or scare off predictors.