Bematistes aganice

Bematistes aganice, the wanderer, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern and south-eastern Africa.

Wanderer
Original illustration (figure 6) in Hewitson's Illustrations of New Species of Exotic Butterflies
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Bematistes
Species:
B. aganice
Binomial name
Bematistes aganice
(Hewitson, 1852)[1]
Synonyms
  • Acraea aganice Hewitson, 1852
  • Planema montana Butler, 1888
  • Acraea bertha Vuillot, 1891
  • Planema meruana Rogenhofer, 1891
  • Planema chanleri Holland, 1896 named for William A. Chanler.[2][3]
  • Planema aganice nicega Suffert, 1904
  • Planema aganice r. nyassae Carpenter, 1920
  • Planema aganice orientalis Ungemach, 1932
  • Bematistes aganice ugandae van Someren, 1936

The wingspan is 60–65 mm for males and 70–75 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round, but are more common from the end of October to March.[4]

The larvae feed on Passiflora edulis, Passiflora incarnata, Passiflora caerulea and Adenia gummifera.

Subspecies
  • B. a. aganice (Cape to KwaZulu-Natal, Transvaal, southern Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe)
  • B. a. montana (Butler, 1888) (from eastern Kenya to northern Tanzania)
  • B. a. nicega Suffert (southern Tanzania, southern Zaire (Shaba), north-eastern Zambia, northern Malawi)
  • B. a. nyassae Carpenter (southern Malawi)
  • B. a. orientalis Ungemach (south-western Ethiopia, southern Sudan, northern Uganda)
  • B. a. ugandae van Someren, 1936 (northern shore of Lake Victoria)

References
  1. Bematistes Archived May 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. Orator Fuller Cook, East African Diplopoda of the suborder Polydesmoidea, collected by Mr. William Astor Chanler, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1895.
  3. William Jacob Holland, List of the Lepidoptera collected in East Africa, 1894, by Mr. William Astor Chanler and Lieutenant Ludwig von Höhnel, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1896.
  4. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
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