Charaxes lasti, the silver-striped charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania. Description lasti Smith male: the black spots on the upperside of the forewing which divide the median band are free or nearly so; the hindwing above is almost unicolorous red-yellow, only before the distal margin with a row of black submarginal spots. The female has a whitish yellow median band, which on the forewing is already divided into two branches from cellule 2, the proximal one composed of very irregular spots; the distal part of the forewing is black with small red-yellow marginal spots; the basal part of both wings yellow-brown; the hindwing with a broad black submarginal band before the red-yellow distal margin. Manicaland to Mombasa in British East Africa. Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart. Biology The habitat consists of coastal and sub-coastal forests and heavy woodland.
The larvae feed on Afzelia quanzensis, Paramacrolobium coeruleum, Julbernardia magnistipulata, and Macrolobium species.
Taxonomy Charaxes cynthia group.
The group members are: Charaxes cynthia similar to Charaxes lucretius Charaxes protoclea Charaxes boueti close to next Charaxes lasti close to last Charaxes alticola
Related to Charaxes cynthia, Charaxes macclounii and Charaxes boueti Kielland, J. 1990 . Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.
Subspecies Charaxes lasti lasti (Kenya: southern coast and the Shimba Hills, north-eastern Tanzania) Charaxes lasti kimbozae Kielland, 1984 Kielland, J. 1984. Two new subspecies of Charaxes lasti Grose Smith (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) from Tanzania. Lambillionea 83 (9-10): 70-77.(eastern Tanzania) Charaxes lasti magomberae Kielland, 1984 (eastern Tanzania)
References
Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren (1970). Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VI. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 197-250.
External links Images of C. lasti lasti Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project) Charaxes lasti images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life External images