cabintom's Journal

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Most specimens illustrated have been adapted with permission from Afrotropical Butterflies and Skippers.
(https://metamorphosis.org.za/articlesPDF/1144/664%20Genus%20Precis%20Huebner.pdf)

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Specimen images adapted with permission from Afrotropical Butterflies and Skippers.
(https://metamorphosis.org.za/articlesPDF/1067/358%20Genus%20Byblia%20Huebner.pdf)

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Note: The figures are not set to scale or colour calibrated (but are pretty close).

https://metamorphosis.org.za/articlesPDF/1648/Desloges%202021.07.02%20Metamorphosis%2032_28-29%20Desloges%20Symoptera%20mixtura.pdf

For those who may be interested, here are the 4 male specimens:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/42218686
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/49577171
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/42218687
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39144797

And the 2 female specimens:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39144796
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/42218684

These have all been deposited in the collection at the African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI) in Nairobi.

The remaining 2 known females of the species are housed at the Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale (MRAC) in Belgium.

For those of you who refer to William's Afrotropical Butterflies, he's recently uploaded a slew of new pdfs covering many genera.

They can be found here: http://metamorphosis.org.za/?p=articles&s=Results&page=0

I also encourage you to check out @shirdipam 's awesome butterfly photography website. Her photos of African species can be found here: https://pamsbutterflies.com/region/3/africa

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Note that the angle in ssp. angulata's yellow FW band is often less pronounced than in the example given.

The 3 Belenois species gidica, aurota, & creona are among the most common butterflies on the continent of Africa and yet are also among the most commonly misidentified butterflies on iNaturalist. This is due to their superficial similarity and the variability expressed in their wing patterns.

Hopefully this colour-coded guide will help you pin-point the key basic features of each species.

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If anyone needs a more detailed explanation of defining features, please ask in the comments below.

Well it looks like I'm sitting at over 40! maverick identifications at the moment... either I'm a rebel or there's a lot of easily misidentified African butterflies out there.

Anyone care to help?
See: https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?user_id=cabintom&category=maverick

Note that the sex brand is only a feature in males of certain species.


Click on the following to enlarge.





Helpful scientific resources:

• Liseki, Steven D. & Richard I. Vane-Wright. 2013. Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Mount Kilimanjaro: family Pieridae, subfamily Coliadinae. Journal of Natural History. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2012.752542)


• Gardiner, Alan J. 2015. The presence of Eurema floricola (Boisduval, 1833) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) in South Africa. Metamorphosis. (https://www.metamorphosis.org.za/?p=articles&s=Details&i=1330)


• Yata, Osamu. 1994. A Revision of the Old World Species of the Genus Eurema Hubner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part IV. Description of the hecabe group. Bull. Kitakyusku Mus. Nat. Hist. (http://bionames.org/references/f4156280e79035abf3c57324800e0f0d)


• Yata, Osamu. 1995. A Revision of the Old World Species of the Genus Eurema Hubner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part V. Description of the hecabe group. Bull. Kitakyusku Mus. Nat. Hist. (http://www.kmnh.jp/wp-content/themes/kmnh_jp/images/pdf/14-1-E-Yata.pdf)

Note that the specimens chosen to illustrate these species in Williams 2019 (" Afrotropical Butterflies and Skippers - A Digital Encyclopaedia") are not always accurate.