Charaxes mars, the iron rajah, is a butterfly of the rajahs and nawabs group, i.e. the Charaxinae group of the brush-footed butterflies family. It is endemic to Sulawesi in central Indonesia. Charaxes mars is a large butterfly with forewings with concave outer edge and hindwings each with a tail. The upper side of the forewings is dark blue and light in the basal part. The hindwings are orange with a submarginal line of dark brown ocelli.
Technical description
male Tawny colour of upperside of hindwing not reaching in front of R1; black postdisco-submarginal patches all fused together (except dots M2S-M2), patch M1-M2 elongate, vein R3 and outer half of M1 black, tawny admarginal interspaces SC2- R2 faintly indicated; tail shorter than in mars dohertyifemale Unknown. madensis male Unknown. Most likely resembling that of Ch. mars.
female. Allied to Ch.mars. Upperside Forewing: blackish brown, no blue tone, white discal band broader than Ch. mars.Rothschild, W. and Jordan, K. (1898). A monograph of Charaxes and the allied prionopterous genera. Novitates Zoologicae 1900 Volume 7:287-524. Descriptions and plates (monochrome photos).
Races Charaxes mars mars (northern Sulawesi) Charaxes mars dohertyi Rothschild, 1892 (southern Sulawesi) Charaxes mars madensis Rothschild, 1899 (Buru)
References