Nymphalidae : Danainae
Anetia pantherata (Hall, 1925)
Great King
Anetia pantherata (Hall, 1925)
Great King
Description and Similar Species: Wingspan 94-110mm. Sexes similar. Resembles a huge fritillary with spots. Only confusable with Many-spotted King Anetia briarea but due to the restricted range of pantherata found in Cuba only in the far west where briarea is not known to occur there should be little chance of confusion. Due to the fact that there are no known photographs of live specimens of A. pantherata taken in Cuba I have included here photos of the Hispaniolan subspecies taken in the Dominican Republic in 2015 and of set Cuban specimens from the Hope Entomological Collections at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
Range: Endemic to to the West Indies and found only on the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola, with a different subspecies found on each - A. p. clarescens on Cuba and A. p. pantherata on Hispaniola.
Status: Found only in the far west of Pinar del Rio province on the Guanahacabibes Peninsular at the western end of the island though there has also been a record in the Habana Botanic Garden in the early 2000's and old records from the Vinales area (Aloyo & Hernandez). A hurricane in 2009 caused devastation to some of the forests on the Guanahacabibes Peninsular and this is thought to have had a devastating effect on the population of A. pantherata such that it has not been seen since - until one was seen by me on 23 June 2015 but unfortunately not photographed as it flew past without stopping.
Nectar Plants: Stachytarpheta, Lantana and Eupatorium.
Larval Foodplants: Unknown in Cuba but in the Dominican Republic oviposition has been observed on Cynanchum milkweed
vines (Sourakov 2007).
Range: Endemic to to the West Indies and found only on the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola, with a different subspecies found on each - A. p. clarescens on Cuba and A. p. pantherata on Hispaniola.
Status: Found only in the far west of Pinar del Rio province on the Guanahacabibes Peninsular at the western end of the island though there has also been a record in the Habana Botanic Garden in the early 2000's and old records from the Vinales area (Aloyo & Hernandez). A hurricane in 2009 caused devastation to some of the forests on the Guanahacabibes Peninsular and this is thought to have had a devastating effect on the population of A. pantherata such that it has not been seen since - until one was seen by me on 23 June 2015 but unfortunately not photographed as it flew past without stopping.
Nectar Plants: Stachytarpheta, Lantana and Eupatorium.
Larval Foodplants: Unknown in Cuba but in the Dominican Republic oviposition has been observed on Cynanchum milkweed
vines (Sourakov 2007).