Pinacopteryx
Encyclopedia
Pinacopteryx is a monotypic
genus of pierid
butterflies
found in Africa
containing the Zebra White (Pinacopteryx eriphia).
The wingspan
is 40–55 mm in males and 42–47 mm in females. Flight period is year-round.
Larva feed on Maeris cafra, Boscia
spp., Capparis oleoides, and Maerua triphylla.
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus of pierid
Pieridae
The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...
butterflies
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
found in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
containing the Zebra White (Pinacopteryx eriphia).
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is 40–55 mm in males and 42–47 mm in females. Flight period is year-round.
Larva feed on Maeris cafra, Boscia
Boscia
Boscia is a genus of plant in family Capparaceae. It contains the following species:* Boscia albitrunca Gilg & Ben.* Boscia angustifolia A...
spp., Capparis oleoides, and Maerua triphylla.
Subspecies
- P. e. eriphia (Godart, [1819]) (South Africa, Rhodesia, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, southern Tanzania)
- P. e. mabillei (Aurivillius, [1898]) (Madagascar)
- P. e. melanarge (Butler, 1886) (southern Sudan, southern Ethiopia, central Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, northern Uganda, northern Tanzania)
- P. e. tritogenia (Klug, 1829) (Mauritania to Senegal, Upper Volta, Niger, Chad, Sudan, northern Ethiopia, Arabia)
- P. e. wittei Berger, 1940 (western Uganda, north-eastern Zaire)