Charaxes tectonis

Charaxes tectonis, the mountain silver-barred charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Nigeria and Cameroon.^[3] The habitat consists of sub-montane and montane forests.

Charaxes tectonis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Charaxes
Species:	C. tectonis
Binomial name
Charaxes tectonis Jordan, 1937[1][2]
Synonyms
Charaxes druceanus tectonis Jordan, 1937 Charaxes druceanus nebularum Darge, 1977

Subspecies

• Charaxes tectonis tectonis (eastern Nigeria, Cameroon: west to the Bamenda Forest and Mount Oku)
• Charaxes tectonis nebularum Darge, 1977.^[4] (Cameroon: Manengouba massif)

Related species

Historical attempts to assemble a cluster of presumably related species into a "Charaxes jasius Group" have not been wholly convincing. More recent taxonomic revision,^[5] 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,^[6] 26 are now considered together as The jasius Group.^[5] 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,^[6] and are considered as the jasius subgroup.^[5] 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):^[5]

Clade 1: jasius subgroup (7 species)

Clade 2: contains the well-populated three additional subgroups (19 species) of the jasius Group: called the brutus, pollux, and eudoxus subgroups.^[5]

• the eudoxus subgroup (11 species):
• Charaxes eudoxus
• Charaxes lucyae
• Charaxes richelmanni
• Charaxes musakensis
• Charaxes biokensis[stat.rev.2005]^[5]
• Charaxes ducarmei
• Charaxes druceanus
• Charaxes tectonis
• Charaxes phraortes
• Charaxes andranodorus
• Charaxes andrefana[stat.rev.2025]^[5]

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