Byblia anvatara, the common joker, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, found in Sub-Saharan Africa.[1]

Common joker
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Byblia
Species:
B. anvatara
Binomial name
Byblia anvatara
(Boisduval, 1833)
Synonyms
  • Hypanis vulgaris Staudinger, 1886
  • Byblia anvatara anvatara f. seriata Rothschild and Jordan, 1903
  • Hypanis acheloia Wallengren, 1857
  • Hypanis castanea Butler, 1886
  • Hypanis ilithyia var. vulgaris Staudinger, 1886
  • Byblia acheloia vulgaris ab. albitrimacula Strand, 1911
  • Byblia acheloia ab. holobrunnea Vári, 1976
  • Byblia acheloia acheloia f. similata van Son, 1979
  • Byblia boydi Dixey, 1898
  • Byblia ilithyia var. crameri Aurivillius, 1894
  • Byblia anvatara crameri f. fasciata Rothschild and Jordan, 1903
  • Byblia acheloia ab. infuscata Schultze, 1920
  • Byblia acheloia crameri f. nigrifusa Joicey and Talbot, 1921
  • Byblia acheloia f. greenawayi Stoneham, 1965

Wingspan: 38–43 mm in males and 40–45 mm in females. Its flight period is year round.[2]

Larvae feed on Tragia glabrata and Dalechampia capensis.[2]

Subspecies

edit

Listed alphabetically:[1]

  • B. a. acheloia (Wallengren, 1857) – Yemen, south-western Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, eastern Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, northern Namibia, Eswatini, South Africa: Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape
  • B. a. anvatara (Boisduval, 1833) – Madagascar, Comoros
  • B. a. boydi Dixey, 1898 – Socotra
  • B. a. crameri Aurivillius, 1894 – eastern Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria: south and the Cross River loop, Cameroon to Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania: north-west to the Kagera Region

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Byblia at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. ^ a b Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
edit