Acraea aglaonice
# Acraea aglaonice

Acraea aglaonice, the clear-spotted acraea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in KwaZulu-Natal, Mozambique, Transvaal, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

## Description

The wingspan is 43–49 mm for males and 45–55 mm for females. A. aglaonice Westw. Both wings above red-yellow nearly to the base with the usual black dots; the discal dots of the hindwing, however, are smaller than usual and discal dots 3 to 6 on the forewing are normally placed far beyond the apex of the cell, opposite to the origin of vein 10; the fore wing above without definite dark apical spot, only with narrow black marginal line as at the costal and distal margins; veins at the distal margin black; hindwing above with black, unspotted marginal band 2 to 3 mm. in breadth; wings beneath lighter, hindwing at the base with red spots and in the marginal band with streak-like whitish marginal spots. It is peculiar to this species that the forewing has nearly always in cellules 4 and 5 (and 6) small hyaline spots, just distally to the discal dots; in the female these spots are often whitish instead of hyaline. Natal; Transvaal; Mashonaland; Manicaland; Delagoa Bay. -ab. albofasciata ab. nov. Fore wing in the basal third blackish, in the middle black-grey and more or less transparent whitish, before the distal margin for a breadth of about 5 mm. grey-yellow with black veins; at the apex black for about 3 mm.; black marginal band only 1 mm. in breadth. Hindwing above black with a white median band 7 mm. in breadth, which encloses the comparatively large discal dots. Under surface light grey-yellow with yellow streaks on the interneural folds; forewing only with very fine black marginal line; hindwing with marginal band 2 mm. in breadth, enclosing large semicircular whitish marginal spots. Manicaland. Should probably be regarded as an extreme rainy-season form.

## Biology

Adults are on wing year round, with peaks in early summer and autumn. There are multiple generations per year. The larvae feed on Passiflora edulis and Passiflora incarnata.

## Taxonomy

Acraea caecilia species group See also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014

