Acraea trimeni

Trimen’s acraea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Tribe:	Acraeini
Genus:	Acraea
Species:	A. trimeni
Binomial name
Acraea trimeni Aurivillius, 1899[1]
Synonyms
Acraea zetes trimeni Acraea barberi ab. or var. trimeni Aurivillius, 1899 Acraea (Acraea) trimeni Acraea zetes barberi f. eros Le Doux, 1923 Acraea zetes trimeni f. nigromacula Le Doux, 1931

Trimen’s acraea (Acraea trimeni) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It is found in only in the arid savannah in the northern Northern Cape and the western part of the Free State.

The wingspan is 43–49 mm for males and 45–55 mm for females. Adults are usually on wing from October to March with a peak in late October. There might be two or continuous generations per year.^[2]

Taxonomy

The status of this species is uncertain. Acraea trimeni was described as a form or aberration of Acraea barberi. Aurivillius (1898) is uncertain as to whether trimeni is an aberration or variety of barberi Trimen. Eltringham (1912)^[3] retains the rank of aberration of barberi Trimen. Van Son (1963)^[4] considers trimeni as a subspecies of zetes. In his phylogenetic analysis of 1992-1993, Henning considers the Aurivillius description as a good species ^[5] but trimeni may be a synonym of barberi.

Eltringham's text reads "In the example named ab. trimeni by Aurivillius the apical yellow is more pronounced, and the forewing hind marginal black is almost absent. Aurivillius includes under this an example from Rehoboth (German W. Africa) which is now in the Staudinger collection. If this is really barberi then the hypoleuca of Trimen must also be a form of zetes which indeed is highly probable. Extremely different in appearance though it is. I have in fact only kept hypoleuca separate from zetes because it is so far a unique example and bears no locality. The example labelled barberi in the Staudinger collection differs very little from it. (See remarks under A. hypoleuca)".

Etymology

The specific name honours Roland Trimen.

References

1. Acraea, Site of Markku Savela
2. Woodhall, S. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2005.
3. Eltringham, H.,1912 A Monograph of the African species of the Genus Acraea, Fab., with a supplement on those of the Oriental Region.Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London Volume 60, Issue 1, pages 1-369, July 1912 pdf
4. Van Son, G., 1963 The butterflies of southern Africa. Part III. Nymphalidae: Acraeinae. Transvaal Museum Memoirs No. 14:ix 1-130.
5. Henning, G.A. (1992): Phylogenetic notes on the African species of the subfamily Acraeinae. Part 1. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Metamorphosis 3(3):100-114; Part 2. Metamorphosis 4 (1):5-18; Part 3. Metamorphosis 4 (2):53-68.