| Two-tailed Pasha (Charaxes jasius (Linnaeus, 1767)) |
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Scientific name: Charaxes jasius (Linnaeus, 1767) Common name: Two-tailed Pasha Other names: Foxy Emperor French name: Pacha à deux queues, Nymphale de l'arbousier, Jason. Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Rhopalocera Family: Nymphalidae Subfamily: Charaxinae Wingspan: 65 to 75 mm for females; 75 to 90 mm for males. Biotope: Hilly woodlands where the host plant grow in abundance. The Two-tailed Pasha can also move far from the areas where the host plant grow and you can sometimes observe it as far as in the city centres. Geographic area: Surroundings of the Mediterranean sea and Africa. Flight time: May to June then August to October. Number of generations : 2 Caterpillar: Green with white patches. It has a bifid tail and four thin reddish-tipped points at the back of the head. Host plant: Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo) but sometimes also Osyris quadripartita. |
The upper side of the Two-tailed Pasha's wings is dark brown bordered with orange. The upper side of the fore wing shows a second orange stripe. It is thinner and interrupted. The upper side of the hind wings shows two tails and white patches between the marginal orange stripe and the dark brown inner side of the wings. The under side of the wings is much more ornate. The basal and median areas are reddish brown with black patches circled with white. Then there is a white postmedian stripe. Then the fore wings show a grey submarginal stripe, ornate with black lunules and located between two orange bands. The hind wings show a black band ornate with blue patches and followed by a marginal orange stripe bordered by a thin black line on the outer edge. This description matches the Charaxes jasius jasius subspecies you can find in the Mediterranean regions. Other subspecies in Africa may slightly differ. The caterpillars of the second brood over winter hooked against a leaf. The Two-tailed Pasha is attracted to ripe fruits, alcohol and dungs. |
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I have observed this Two-tailed Pasha while I was walking to visit the ruins of the "barrage du Malpasset" in the Var (southern France). Another tourist had to ask me why I was pointing my lenses towards a dung to realize the kind of support this butterfly was landed on. |
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You can quietly admire the colours of this beautiful butterfly, pictures do not carry smell yet. |
André Bon October 2011