Acraeini
Niklas Wahlberg and Andrew V. Z. Brower
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close boxIntroduction
Acraeini is a diverse group of unpalatable tropical butterflies. The center of diversity is in Africa, where there are hundreds of species involved in mimicry complexes that make their taxonomy a great challenge. It is not clear based upon the most recent data (Silva-Brandão et al. 2008) that any of the genera as currently circumscribed are monophyletic. The neotropical genera Abananote and Altinote are embedded within Actinote in the current scheme.
References
Silva-Brandão, K. L., N. Wahlberg, R. B. Francini, A. M. L. Azeredo-Espin, K. S. Brown Jr., M. Paluch, D. C. Lees and A. V. L. Freitas. 2008. Phylogenetic relationships of butterflies of the tribe Acraeini (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Heliconiinae) and the evolution of host plant use. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46(2):515-531.
Information on the Internet
- Le site des Acraea de Dominique Bernaud. This website, compiled by Dominique Bernaud, contains an enormous amount of taxonomic, biogeographical and life-history information, as well as original descriptions and photos of African Acraeini.
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Acraea natalica |
|---|---|
| Location | Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania |
| Specimen Condition | Live Specimen |
| Identified By | Dominique Bernaud |
| Behavior | "Puddling" on lakeshore |
| Sex | Male |
| Life Cycle Stage | Adult |
| Copyright |
© 2009
|
| Scientific Name | Acraea horta |
|---|---|
| Location | South Africa |
| Specimen Condition | Live Specimen |
| Source | Butterfly |
| Source Collection | Flickr |
| Copyright |
© 2006 Callie de Wet
|
| Scientific Name | Actinote guatemalena |
|---|---|
| Location | Cana Field Station, Darien, Panama |
| Specimen Condition | Live Specimen |
| Source | Guatemalan Lacewing |
| Source Collection | Neotropical Butterflies |
| Copyright | © 2003 Dr. Will Carter |
About This Page
Niklas Wahlberg
University of Turku, Finland
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Niklas Wahlberg at and Andrew V. Z. Brower at
Page copyright © 2006 Niklas Wahlberg and
Page: Tree of Life
Acraeini .
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Niklas Wahlberg and Andrew V. Z. Brower.
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- First online 25 September 2006
- Content changed 19 March 2008
Citing this page:
Wahlberg, Niklas and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2008. Acraeini . Version 19 March 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Acraeini/70203/2008.03.19 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
