Bematistes macaria

Bematistes macaria, the black-spot bematistes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Ghana.^[3]

Bematistes macaria
In Adalbert Seitz's Fauna Africana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Bematistes
Species:	B. macaria
Binomial name
Bematistes macaria (Fabricius, 1793) [1] [2]
Synonyms
Papilio macaria Fabricius, 1793 Acraea macaria (Fabricius, 1793) Acraea (Acraea) macaria

Description

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

P. macaria F. (57 ). The spots of the transverse band of the fore wing in cellules 1 b and 2 are deeply incised distally or occasionally quite cleft; the hindwing above at the base as far as the apex of the cell dark brown to blackish, then with a distinct light yellowish (male) or white (female) median band. In the male the upperside of the forewing is nearly black in the basal part as far as the transverse band; hence the dark yellow transverse band, which is about 7 mm. in breadth, is sharply defined basally; it forms in the apex of the cell an irregular spot, which usually encloses a rounded spot of the ground-colour. In the female the white transverse band of the fore wing completely fills up the base of cellule 3 and occasionally also forms 1 or 2 spots in the cell; it may be best distinguished from the female of [related] species by having the white median band of the hindwing very distinct, rectilinear and very sharply defined against the dark basal area. Sierra Leone. ^[4]

Biology

The habitat consists of wetter forests.

The larvae feed on Adenia species.

Taxonomy

See Pierre & Bernaud, 2014 ^[5]