Amauris tartarea

Amauris tartarea, the monk or dusky friar, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. The habitat consists of various types of forests.

Amauris tartarea
Figure 2
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Amauris
Species:	A. tartarea
Binomial name
Amauris tartarea Mabille, 1876
Synonyms
Amauris egialea var. tartarea Mabille, 1876 Amauris (Amauris) tartarea Amauris psyttalea Plötz, 1880 Amauris damocles var. gabunica Aurivillius, 1881 Amauris bulbifera Grose-Smith, 1887 Amauris damocles var. albidior Staudinger, 1896 Amauris mozarti Suffert, 1904 Amauris tartarea reata Suffert, 1904 Amauris psyttalea ab. intermedia Grünberg, 1911 Amauris damocles ab. bibundana Strand, 1913 Amauris damocles ab. tartaroides Strand, 1913 Amauris damocles ab. bassana Strand, 1913 Amauris damocles ab. psyttaloides Strand, 1913 Amauris psyttalea vansomereni Bryk, 1937 Amauris psyttalea vansomereni ab. lagai Dufrane, 1948 Amauris tartarea f. palisotea Stoneham, 1958 Amauris tartarea f. steropes Stoneham, 1958 Amauris damocles var. damoclides Staudinger, 1896 Amauris lecerfi Boullet, 1913 Amauris damocles damoclides ab. amplificata Joicey and Talbot, 1925

Adult males mud-puddle and imbibe pyrrolizidine alkaloids from Heliotropium species, especially from the roots of dug-up plants. Both sexes are attracted to flowers. The species is mimicked by Hypolimnas anthedon.

The larvae feed on Asclepiadaceae and Brassica species.

Subspecies

• Amauris tartarea tartarea (Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea: Mbini, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, Uganda, western Kenya, western Tanzania, Zambia, north-eastern Botswana, Namibia)
• Amauris tartarea damoclides Staudinger, 1896 (south-eastern Kenya, eastern and northern Tanzania, Malawi, north-eastern Zambia)
• Amauris tartarea tukuyuensis Kielland, 1990 (south-western Tanzania)

Further reading

• Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 25 also as bulbifera and psyttalea and (spp.) damoclides