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Euphaedra harpalyce
female E. p. palyce
male E. p. palyce both in Kakum National park, Ghana'
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Euphaedra
Species:	E. harpalyce
Binomial name
Euphaedra harpalyce (Cramer, 1777)
Synonyms
Papilio harpalyce Cramer, 1777 Euphaedra (Euphaedrana) harpalyce Romaleosoma lakuma Butler, 1870 Euphaedra harpalyce var. fasciata Staudinger, 1886 Romaleosoma spatiosa Mabille, 1876 Euphaedra losinga ab. impunctata Bartel, 1905 Euphaedra spatiosa ab. saphirina Neustetter, 1927 Euphaedra spatiosa ab. bipunctata Dufrane, 1933

Euphaedra harpalyce, the common blue-banded forester, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea Gabon, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia.

Description

E. harpalyce Cr. Both wings above uniform black-brown, with small white apical spot on the forewing and a bright blue transverse band on the hindwing, which is broad at the anal angle, anteriorly becoming narrower terminates at vein 6 or 7 and is sometimes continued more or less far on the forewing also. The under surface is rather uniform light green or grey-green with 1–3 black dots in the cells. In the type-form the subapical band of the forewing is entirely absent in the male and very narrow and yellowish in the female. Sierra Leone to Cameroons. In ab. lakuma Btlr. the subapical band of the forewing is very narrow in the male but in the female 4–5 mm. in breadth.

E. spatiosa Mab. Both wings above uniform dark olive-brown, in the apical half of the fore wing blackish with yellow subapical band and white apical spot. The under surface is green with one black dot (occasionally 2 or 3) in the cells and two dull, dark, not very distinct transverse bands beyond the middle; the subapical band of the forewing only shows through faintly. The female may attain an expanse of 100 mm. and is the largest of all the Euphaedra species. Cameroons to the Congo and Uganda.

Biology

The habitat consists of lowland forests, riparian forests and secondary forests.

Both sexes are attracted to fermenting fruit.

The larvae feed on Phialodiscus unijugatus, Paullinia pinnata, Blighia sapida, Lecaniodiscus cupanioides, Deinbollia fulvotomentella, Blighia unijugata and Allophylus species.

Subspecies

• E. h. harpalyce (Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, western Cameroon)
• E. h. dowsetti Hecq, 1990 (Rwanda)
• E. h. evanescens Hecq, 1995 (Nigeria: Mambilla Plateau)
• E. h. serena Talbot, 1928 (Democratic Republic of the Congo: Shaba, Zambia)
• E. h. spatiosa (Mabille, 1876) (Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, north-western Tanzania)
• E. h. sudanensis Talbot, 1929 (southern Sudan, northern Uganda)
• E. h. vana Hecq, 1991 (Bioko)

Gallery

• E. h. spatiosa
• E. h. spatiosa
• male E. p. palyce
  Kakum National park, Ghana
• female E. h. spatiosa
  Kibale National Park, Uganda

References

1. "Euphaedra Hübner, [1819]" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
2. Afrotropical Butterflies: Nymphalidae - Tribe Adoliadini
3. Aurivillius, 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.

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