Subfamily Heliconiinae.: A largely pantropical group, with one of the five tribes found in the Holarctic Region.
​
Tribe Acraeini: There are two Afrotropical genera contained within this tribe; Telchinia and Acraea, both represented at Semuliki. There are 138 described Afrotropical species within this tribe with 104 species recorded in Uganda. At Semuliki a total of 45 species from both genera have been recorded: 25 from the genus Telchinia and 20 species of Acraea, contributing to a third of the Ugandan species total.
Genus Cymothoe: There are 15 species of the Afrotropical genus Cymothoe so far recorded at Semuliki from a.continent total of 78 (Williams, 2018) and a Ugandan total of 17 (Williams, 2015) or 90% of Uganda's total. The two Ugandan species not being recorded at Semuliki being C. distincta and C. indamora, but with both these species being recorded either in the Ituri Forest or Semliki Valley (Ducarme, 2018) it is a distinct possibility that they will also be found in Semuliki. Only three species are frequently sampled in traps and these are C. sangaris, C. cyclades and C. confusa. This genus has been categorised into clades nd the most commonly trapped species C. confusa had a distinctly clumped distribution within Semuliki. Species from this genus were observed more in the forest midstorey as compared to the preference of the forest floor for the genera Bebearia, Euphaedra and Euriphene.
Genus Cymothoe: There are 15 species of the Afrotropical genus Cymothoe so far recorded at Semuliki from a.continent total of 78 (Williams, 2018) and a Ugandan total of 17 (Williams, 2015) or 90% of Uganda's total. The two Ugandan species not being recorded at Semuliki being C. distincta and C. indamora, but with both these species being recorded either in the Ituri Forest or Semliki Valley (Ducarme, 2018) it is a distinct possibility that they will also be found in Semuliki. Only three species are frequently sampled in traps and these are C. sangaris, C. cyclades and C. confusa. This genus has been categorised into clades nd the most commonly trapped species C. confusa had a distinctly clumped distribution within Semuliki. Species from this genus were observed more in the forest midstorey as compared to the preference of the forest floor for the genera Bebearia, Euphaedra and Euriphene.
BUTTERFLY
Research, Conservation and Education
Semuliki National Park, Uganda
Contact us
Butterfly images: If anyone visits Semuliki National Park or the surrounding Semliki Valley and has butterfly images they would like to share, we would be very interested in looking at them (especially of species with no representative image). We are always on the lookout for new records or even to assist in identification. New records increases the species number at Semuliki and ultimately the conservation value of the park. This always then puts pressure on policy makers to protect these areas that includes the greatest biological biodiversity within a country. Please send any images, recommendations or any unexpected errors in website content to the email address below.
Semuliki National Park,
Bundibugyo District,
western Uganda.
​
Email: semulikibutterflies@gmail.com
Messages or queries.
Copyright notice
All images on this website are © Copyright 2020 Lydia Messerschmidt and semulikibutterflies.com. All Rights Reserved. The use of any images on this website without the written permission of the photographer or owner is prohibited.
​
Permission to use images from this website may be obtained by contact through the email semulikibutterflies@gmail.com or through the above message box. There is a charge for the use of any image for commercial purposes. Details of pricing can be provided upon request.
© 2020 semulikibutterflies. Proudly created with Wix.com.