AMAURIS NIAVIUS(Amauris niavius)
Phylum —arthropoda
Class —insecta
Order — lepidoptera
Family —nymphalidae
Genus –amauris
Appearance
The wingspan is 80–85 mm for males and 78–82 mm for females.The color is dark brown with large white spots in the center of the wings and smaller ones on the edges. The abdomen is black, dotted with small white dots. The underside is similarly colored, but lighter and with a larger spot on the hindwings.
Habitat
Amauris niavius is a widespread species, found throughout the forested belt of sub-Saharan Africa from Guinea-Bissau to Ethiopia, and south as far as Uganda and western Tanzania.
Behavior
Males are usually encountered singly when imbibing mineralized moisture from muddy patches, or sequestering pyrrolizidine alkaloids from broken Heliotropium roots on logging roads. Both sexes visit a wide range of flowers.
Flight period of butterflies is all year round.Butterflies are poisonous.
Diet
The caterpillars feed on the leaves of plants in the Apocynaceae family. The butterflies feed on the nectar and liquid droppings of mammals.
Reproduction
For their reproduction you need a terrarium with a size of 50 x 50 x 70 cm. Females lay eggs on the leaves of the forage plant.It is better to keep the caterpillars in terrariums with a mesh cover of 6-8 pieces.In the terrarium, you need to place a branch of a forage plant. The temperature is 22-25oC. The humidity is 60-70%.
In captivity
The mesh terrarium with a size of 50 × 50 × 70 mm is suitable for keeping butterflies. Room temperature is necessary. Daylight time is 12 hours. You can feed butterflies with honey syrup dilluted with boiled water in a ratio of 1:10.