De rerum: an acknowlegement and explanation.
INDEX: Linnaean

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Amauris albimaculata




The Layman, told from our other three SA Amauris spp. by the broad hind wing band being a light ochre,  but the fore wing patches all white.
At top, a male in our garden showing off his sex brands. Below is the underside of an individual nectaring on the flowers of a Combretum molle at Cumberland. The elongated white patch on the palp also distinguishes it from A.echeria. As is common to other Danainae, food plants are from the Asclepiadaceae, and being distasteful to predators,this butterfly acts as a model for various Batesian mimics (e.g. Papilio dardanus, Hypolimnas anthedon f.mima)

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