About Charaxes jahlusa (Trimen, 1862)
This species belongs to the Jahlusa Group of the genus Charaxes. The group differs from all other Charaxes groups by its light green or yellowish veins. Both wings have a narrow black marginal band marked with light spots on their upper surfaces. The forewing additionally has black spots in the cell and the basal part of cellules 1b to 8; these spots are rounded, and are edged with white on the wing's underside. The upper surface of the hindwing is almost unmarked; the underside has large silver spots at the anal angle, which is obtusely produced, and the hindwing has two small tails, with the tail at vein 2 being somewhat longer. The species' overall colour and pattern are distinctly similar to those of butterflies in the genus Argynnis. The distal margin of the forewing is deeply excised in males, and more weakly excised in females. For Charaxes jahlusa jahlusa, the upper surfaces of the wings are light orange-yellow, with a black marginal band that is 3 mm wide in males and 4 mm wide in females. On the forewing, this band only encloses large marginal spots, while on the hindwing it encloses both submarginal spots and marginal streaks. The upper surface of the forewing also has the following black markings: a dot and a curved transverse streak in the cell, a transverse streak at the end of the cell, two discal dots each in cellules 1a and 2, one spot each in cellules 3 to 7, and a longitudinal streak in cellules 4 to 7 just inside the marginal band. The upper surface of the hindwing has no markings, or only small black transverse streaks in cellules 2 and 4 to 7. On the underside of the forewing, the cell and cellules 1a to 2 are light reddish; the costal margin and apical area are olive-grey, with a large silver-white spot behind the middle of the costal margin. The black spots on the underside match those on the upper surface almost exactly. On the underside of the hindwing, the base and distal margin are dark olive-coloured; the middle of the wing has a continuous silver-white transverse band. There is a large silver spot in the basal part of cellule 7, and the cell and cellule 1c each have two smaller silver spots. There are two black dots in cellule 1a and three black dots in cellule 8. Inside the marginal band, the interneural folds of cellules 1b to 6 have black longitudinal streaks. On the underside of the abdomen, there is one black longitudinal line on each side; these streaks are thickened towards the anterior and often join together. The nominate form is found from the Cape to Transvaal. The subspecies or form argynnides Westw. is the more northern taxon, found at the Zambesi, in Nyassaland and German East Africa. In this form, the black lines on the underside of the abdomen are broken into separate spots, the transverse streak in the forewing cell is also divided into spots, and the silver-white markings on the wing undersides are smaller.
