Biology Adults are on wing from August to October and from March to June. There are two generations per year. The larvae of subspecies tavetensis feed on Afzelia quanzensis, Dalbergia nitidula, Securidaca longipeduncularis and Margaritaria discoidea. Other subspecies have been recorded on Entada and Afzelia quanzensis. Notes on the biology of etesipe are given by Kielland, J. (1990) and Larsen, T.B. (2005) Distribution This species can be found in tropical east and west Africa and in Madagascar in a mosaic of habitats but mainly in Afrotropical forest. Taxonomy Kielland regards to be closely related to Charaxes penricei and Charaxes cacuthis and considers tavetensis as a species distinct from etesipe and regards pemba and shaba as subspecies of tavetensis . Charaxes etesipe is a member of the species group Charaxes etesipe The clade members are: Charaxes etesipe nominate Charaxes penricei Charaxes achaemenes Charaxes paradoxa Charaxes cacuthis Charaxes bwete Charaxes cristalensis Subspecies C. e. etesipe (Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, southern Chad, Cameroon, southern Sudan, northern Angola, Uganda, northern Kenya) C. e. abyssinicus Rothschild & Jordan, 1900 (Ethiopia (west of Rift) C. e. gordoni van Someren, 1935 (Kenya (north-eastern side of Mount Kenya)) C. e. hercules Turlin & Lequeux, 2002 (Uganda) C. e. patrizii Storace, 1949 (Somalia) C. e. pemba van Someren, 1966 . (Pemba Island) C. e. shaba Berger, 1981 (Zaire (Shaba)) C. e. tavetensis Rothschild, 1894 (Malawi, Mozambique, coast of Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa) perhaps a species Subspecies gallery References Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren (1966). Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part III. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 45–101. External links Pteron World "Charaxes etesipe (Godart, 1824)". Insecta.pro. Charaxes etesipe images subspecies and forma at Consortium for the Barcode of Life. Charaxes tavetensis images at BOLD Charaxes tavetensis tavetensis images at BOLD (verso) Charaxes tavetensis pemba images at BOLD Images of C. etesipe etesipe Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project) Images of C. etesipe gordoni (Albertine Rift Project) Images of C. etesipe shaba (Albertine Rift Project) Images of C. etesipe tavetensis (Albertine Rift Project) Butterflies described in 1824 etesipe