The genera of the tribe Charaxini (Papilionoidea, Nymphalidae, Charaxinae)
Creators: name: Bouyer, Thierry
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy

description: Key to genera
1 - Length of the sawtooth present at the basal third of the forewing costa greater than the width of the scale’s rows, visible on the underside just in the area along the costa (in a ratio from 1.33 to 2.5) (Fig. 10, first column) ………. genus Charaxes
- Length of the sawtooth present at the basal third of the forewing costa approximately the same as the width of the scale’s rows, visible on the underside just in the area along the costa (Fig. 10, second and third column) ………. 2
2 - Underside and upperside ground green colour, with triangular apex zone darker; underside with silver markings (Fig. 7) ………. genus Viridixes - No green ground colour on either side ………. 3
3 - Veins R1-R2 of forewing anastomosed with Sc vein; tarsus of foreleg of the male short and bluntly rounded, about ¼ the length of the tibia; mid and hind tibiae and tarsi with long spines (Fig. 3) ………. genus Euxanthe - Veins R1-R2 of forewing not anastomosing with Sc vein; tarsus of foreleg of the male long and slender, but slightly shorter than the tibia; mid and hind tibiae and tarsi with short spines ………. 4
4 - Anal lobe of hindwing between veins 2A and Cua1, produced into two small marginal lobes (Fig. 9) ………. genus Zingha
- Anal lobe of hindwing between veins 2A and Cua1, not produced into two lobes, sometimes anal angle stretching limited at the end of 2A vein ………. 5
5 - Hindwing with margins entire or weakly dentate, always untailed in male and occasionally with a spatulate tail at M3 vein in female; forewing apex stretched and rounded, never angled or pointed; forewing external margin sinuous ………. 6
- Hindwing with the margins with at least a distinct tail in male ………. 7
6 - ground color orange on both sides with brown patterns (Figs 15-18) ………. gen. nov. Setechin
- ground color black with blue patterns on the upperside and brown patterns on the underside (Figs 13-14) ………. gen. nov. Laodice
7 - Hindwing underside and upperside with general white color, with a large orange anal patch; hindwing always with two tails in both sexes (Figs 11-12) ………. gen. nov. Ydeali
- Hindwing underside without a large orange anal patch; hindwing sometimes with only one tail ………. 8
8 - Forewing underside with a double large black, round patch in the tornus between veins 2A and CuA2; rarely with upper black patch vestigial (as in E. hildebrandti) (Fig. 2) ………. genus Eriboea - Forewing underside without a double large, black round patch in the tornus between veins 2A and CuA2; when black-patches are present, they are neither complete nor large, being the vestiges of ocellus margins and often lunulate (Fig. 5) ………. genus Polyura
Note about character 1 of the genera key. Charaxes is characterised by an apomorphy illustrated in Fig. 10. The costal edge of the forewing is saw-shaped, composed of segments that are dentate at their end and that vary in length along the costa, being longer at around the third basal. In this area, the length of the segment (represented by a green bar in Fig. 10) is always longer than the length of the scales (represented by a red bar in Fig. 10). In all other genera of Charaxini and Pallini, the length of the sawtooth is equal to length of the scales. This character correlates with the genetic cluster of Aduse Poku et al. in their subgenus Charaxes (Charaxes).
description: Published as part of Bouyer, Thierry, 2023, The genera of the tribe Charaxini (Papilionoidea, Nymphalidae, Charaxinae), pp. 59-78 in Metamorphosis 34 (1) on pages 63-64, DOI: 10.4314/met.v34i1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/14119408