[3] The species is classified as critically endangered on the national red list of Brazil by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation.

It is one of two butterflies on the list of the 100 Most Endangered Species in the World published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Zoological Society of London in September 2012, the other being Parides burchellanus.

[4] Actinote zikani eggs are usually yellowish in color when they are first laid, and will change to a red hue after approximately 2 hours have passed.

They attack any flying insect located less than a meter from them before rising very quickly or performing a long straight flight of more than 100 metres (330 ft).

The species is also mentioned more anciently in the south of the State of Minas Gerais by its describer, Almeida and a male specimen of the genus Actinote with whitish circular ornamentation was observed in Penedo in the State of Rio de Janeiro in the low hills of the Serra do Itatiaia, but without certainty as to its belonging to the species.

The only evidence of existence of the species is said to be a male specimen observed by Keith Brown in 1981 at the roadside of a rainforest at 1,000 metres (3,280 ft) above sea level between Tapiraí and Sorocaba in the south of the state.

[4][12] Therefore, considered extinct, the species was observed again on March 16, 1991[3] at the summit of the Serra do Mar 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of the city of Santos in São Paulo during a routine visit carried out by Ronaldo Bastos Francini and André Victor Lucci Freitas.

The specimens were discovered in the municipality of Santo André (State of São Paulo) near the town of Paranapiacaba along a 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) southwest/northeast-oriented concrete block paved road that follows the mountain range between two telecommunications towers[4] on the peaks of Serra do Mar at 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) above sea level.

[4] More than 160 hours of observation were carried out until 2004 near Paranapiacaba and specimens were collected for morphological studies then marked using a small circle of waterproof paper then released.