Acraea serena

Acraea serena
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Acraea
Species:	A. serena
Binomial name
Acraea serena (Fabricius, 1775)
Synonyms
Papilio serena Fabricius, 1775 Hyalites serena (Fabricius, 1775) Telchinia serena (Fabricius, 1775) Acraea (Actinote) serena Papilio eponina Cramer, [1780] Acraea janisca Godart, 1819 Acraea manjaca Boisduval, 1833 Acraea serena var. rougetii Guérin-Méneville, 1849 Telchinia buxtoni Butler, 1875 Telchinia perrupta Butler, 1883 Acraea subserena Grose-Smith, 1900 Acraea terpsichore ab. venturina Thurau, 1904 Acraea terpsichore ab. connexa Thurau, 1904 Acraea terpsichore ab. excentrica Thurau, 1904 Acraea intermediana Strand, 1911 Acraea terpsichore rougeti ab. contraria Strand, 1912 Acraea eliana Strand, 1912 Acraea eliana ab. toka Strand, 1912 Acraea terpsichore ab. janiscella Strand, 1913 Acraea eponina eponina f. akoafima Le Doux, 1928 Acraea eponina eponina f. latifasciata Le Doux, 1928 Acraea eponina manjaca f. reducta Le Doux, 1928 Acraea jordani Le Doux, 1928 Acraea terpsichore ab. bankoides Carpenter, 1935 Acraea terpsichore buxtoni ab. subjanisca Dufrane, 1945

Acraea serena, the dancing acraea, is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It is found in South Africa, including the area near the Waterberg Biosphere. But it is found also in the whole Africa south of the Sahara. It is the most common of the Acraea, from Dakar to Fort-Dauphin, from Yemen to the Cape.

This is the type species of the old genus Telchinia, which may warrant re-separation from Acraea. Formerly, A. serena was often misidentified as Acraea eponina (small orange acraea) or Acraea terpsicore (tawny coaster).

It is very likely that the butterfly's black-spotted orange markings are a sign of unpalatability and it may well form part of a mimicry ring with Erikssonia edgei.

Acraea manjaca from Madagascar, now considered to be conspecific with Acraea serena, has a complex taxonomic history which illustrates the problems in interpreting the genus as a whole. Here is an account of how Acraea manjaca was placed by different authors.

Boisduval notes the proximity with eponina Cramer in his original description of 1833. Doubleday (1848) treats manjaca as a good species (1848) but Guerin (1849) places manjaca in synonymy with serena Fabricius, which was confirmed by Trimen (1862) and Mabille (1886). Aurivillius (1898) considers that manjaca Boisduval is a variety of Fabricius' serena which had, in turn, been put in synonymy with terpsicore Linnaeus by Butler (1894), and which then was thought to be eponina Cramer (Le Doux, 1928, Carcasson, 1961). Eltringham (1912, 1916) considers manjaca Boisduval to be a synonym of rougeti Guérin (Acraea serena). Le Doux (1928) reinstated manjaca as good subspecies of eponina. Van Son (1963) considers manjaca to be a simple form.

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