Acraea peneleos

Acraea peneleos, the Peneleos acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae, which is native to the tropics and northern subtropics of sub-Saharan Africa.

Range

It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Ethiopia.

Description

A. peneleos may be most easily known in all its forms by the underside of the hindwing having a sharply defined light median band, the proximal ends of the longitudinal streaks in the distal part being joined by a brownish lunate line, which bounds the median band distally, while proximally it is bordered by the sharply defined and always darkened basal area; the veins and streaks on the under surface are not or little thickened and of uniform breadth.

peneleos Ward (57 b; 1st fig.). In the male forewing the scaling is as in pelopeia male, with rounded, light reddish-scaled spots in 1b and 2 and a streak of the same colour in 1a; hindwing above blackish with a red to red-yellow median band about 7 mm. in breadth, which is distally rounded, and a marginal band 2-3 mm. in breadth; forewing beneath with the ground-colour grey-yellow to light yellow at the distal margin; hindwing beneath only slightly darkened at the base, its marginal band much broader than above, 4.5 mm. in breadth. The female differs much from the male; the basal part of the forewing is semitransparent light yellow- brown as far as the apex of the cell and vein 3, with an elongate dark spot in the cell and often also a rounded dark spot beyond the cell in the basal part of cellules 4–6; apex and marginal band lighter than in the male; hindwing above yellow-brown to the base, with free black dots, the discal dots often all present; marginal band scarcely more than 1mm. in breadth, proximally dentate at the veins; fore wing beneath diaphanous with yellow marginal band; hindwing beneath with light yellow median band 3 mm.