Charaxes xiphares maudei Joicey & Talbot, 1918

Takano, Hitoshi, László, Gyula M. & Collins, Steve C., 2021, Notes on some Tanzanian butterfly specimens in the Suffert Collection: a case of patria falsa, Zootaxa 4964 (3), pp. 585-597 : 588-589

Charaxes xiphares maudei Joicey & Talbot, 1918

This taxon was described as Charaxes maudei 17 based on a single female specimen from ‘ German East Africa (British Occupation)—Lindi’. This specimen may be the single female listed in the catalogue as ‘ Cithaeron var. ’. The holotype specimen carries the following labels: ‘// Holo- / type [white disc with red border] // Lindi [handwritten in Suffert’s hand; green card (illustrated in fig. 1 )] // Ex. Coll. / Suffert. / 1912. // Charaxes / maudei / Joicey & Talb. / TYPE ♀ (H.T.). [handwritten in Talbot’s hand] // Joicey / Bequest. / Brit.Mus. / 1934–120. //’. This taxon has been shown to be a subspecies of the montane Charaxes xiphares from the Usambara Mountains found ‘in the high forests above Loshoto [sic] at Magamba and Amani’ where it is endemic (van Someren 1964: 200).

17 This and three other butterflies in the genera Delias , Deudorix and Erycinidia are named maudei by Joicey most likely after his wife Maud Muriel Joicey (née Fisher), although incorrectly conjugated.

Charaxes aubyni aubyni Poulton , 192618

A single specimen from ‘Lindi’ was studied by van Someren (1966) in his revision of the genus belonging to the nominate subspecies distributed in north-eastern Tanzania and south-eastern Kenya. This specimen may be one of the female specimens listed in the catalogue as ‘ Etheocles & subsp. ’. He states that ‘since the species aubyni is an insect of high elevations it is probable that the locality given is incorrect’ (van Someren 1966: 78). The aforementioned specimen studied by van Someren is a female with the same handwritten green ‘Lindi’ label as the holotype of Charaxes maudei and two further labels attached by van Someren: ‘// aubyni aubyni. / loc. error! Det. vS. /? Usambara. // locality ‘Lindi’ / suspect vS [handwritten in van Someren’s hand] //’. Although circumstantial, these two Charaxes are frequently encountered together in high elevation forests in the West Usambara Mountains and it is possible that Suffert’s specimens were caught in the same place during a single collecting event.

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Handwritten locality labels in Suffert’s hand. 1. holotype female of Charaxes maudei. 2. paratype female of Charaxes pembanus usambarae 3. male specimen of Papilio hornimani hornimani. 4. paratype male of Acraea excelsior usambarae. 5. female specimen of Junonia westermanni splendens. 6. male specimen of Graphium illyris.