FAUNA

This Fauna issue is made up of four stamps devoted to the following butterflies: Charaxes jasius, Melanargia ines, Argynnis adippe and Papilio machaon.

The Charaxes jasius belongs to the family of the Nymphalidae and is a lepidopteran of the ditrisio species. It is also known as the Strawberry Tree butterfly because its larvae feed on the leaves of this tree. It has six horn-like protrusions on the top of its head. The underside of its wings is black, orange and yellow striped, whilst the outside shows white, black, orange and brown spots. At the hindwings there is a chain of spots. It is found in the Mediterranean, North Africa and Portugal.

The Melanargia ines, also belongs to the family of the Nymphalidae. It flies from March to June in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. It is a medium size butterfly, between 40 and 48 mm long and both the top and underside are white with thick black lines and black spots. The underside hindwing shows blue ocelli surrounded by red concentric rings.

The Argynnis adippe from the family of the Nymphalidae, flies between May and August and is distributed throughout the Iberian Peninsula. It has a predominant yellowish-orange hue with black spots, whilst on the underside there are white spots and reddish circles.

The Papilio machaon is a species of the Papilionidae family found in the Iberian Peninsula and large areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Depending on the weather it flies from May to October. It’s between 32 and 56 mm long and the wings are yellow, orange, brown and black with light blue spots. It has characteristic tails on the hindwings.