Charaxes (Eriboea) aubyni aubyni van Someren and Jackson, 1952

Henning 1989: 350 (4 figs). Kielland 1990: 281 (1 fig.). d ’ Abrera 2004: 482 (3 figs). SI: Figure 15a – f.

Forewing length: male 34 – 39.5 mm [mean (n = 9) 36.28 mm, SD = 1.232]; female 39.5 – 45.5 mm [mean (n = 6) 42.17 mm, SD = 1.483]. van Someren (1966, p. 77) gave male forewing length as 35 – 37 mm, female 43 – 45 mm.

Note: The name of this butterfly is sometimes incorrectly attributed to Poulton, 1926 – who originally introduced the name aubyni as a female (infrasubspecific) form of C. etheocles (Cramer, 1777). Charaxes aubyni was first made available as a species group name by van Someren and Jackson (1952, p. 272), when they recognized it as a distinct, separate species (this may be of significance in assessing the primary type material). The discal bands of the females vary from pale cream to ochreous; as noted by Henning (1989, p. 351), an extreme of the latter type was named ‘ female f. ochrefascia ’ by van Someren and Jackson, and it is arguable that the females should be considered dimorphic.

Records

Known in Tanzania from Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Kwaraha, and the Lossoganeu, Pare, Usambara, Uluguru, North Nguu, Nguru, Ukaguru and Rubeho mountains (Kielland 1990, p. 96), to which Henning (1989, p. 351) adds Monduli. The BMNH includes specimens from Lindi, Amani, and one male from West Kilimanjaro, collected at 4000 – 5000 ft by Cooper. Not encountered by Liseki (2009). According to Kielland (loc. cit.), it occurs in submontane and montane forests at 400 – 2400 m. Cordeiro (1990, p. 34) records it from Lake Manyara National Park. Beyond Tanzania the nominate subspecies also occurs in Kenya: the Taita Hills (including the type locality, Mt Dabida, and the Sagala Hills) and Mbololo (Henning 1989, p. 351). The two other recognized subspecies of C. aubyni occur elsewhere in Kenya, and in southern Tanzania and Malawi (Ackery et al. 1995, p. 434).