Subfamily Heliconiinae.: A largely pantropical group, with one of the five tribes found in the Holarctic Region.
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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
FAMILY PIERIDAE
Of the four subfamilies comprising this group, three are found within the Afrotropical realm: Pierinae, Coliadinae and Pseudopontiinae. All three subfamilies have species records found at Semuliki with a total of 37 species being recorded (Colotis aurigineus, Eurema brigitta and Mylothris agathina) being recently added since the checklist was published. This represents over a third of the 96 species recorded in Uganda (Davenport, 1996) but less than the 83 species recorded by Ducarme (2024) for the Ituri Forest and Semliki Valley of the DRC.
A selection of mud puddling Pierids
Subfamily Pseudopontiinae
Comprised of only one genus, Pseudopontia which comprises five species.
Genus Pseudopontia
A purely Afrotropical genus, only one species has been recorded at Semuliki, Pseudopontia mabira. A species distribution confined to Uganda and the DRC.
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Pseudopontia mabira (sexes similar, upper and underside)
Subfamily Coelidinae
A global group of which three genera have species recorded in the Afrotropical region: Colias, Catopsilia and Eurema. The single Colias species, found in Uganda, Colias electo is commonly restricted to submontane and montane habitat.
Genus Catopsilia
Of the two Afrotropical species within this group of six species, one is found throughout sub Saharan Africa, Catopsilia florella with the other species being confined to Madagascar in the Afrotropical region, but it is also found in Reunion and Mauritius.
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Catopsilia florella (female, waiting on field image)
Catopsilia florella (male, upper and underside)
Genus Terias (formerly Eurema)
A taxonomic change was proposed by Zhang et al. (2021) and was registered with Zoobank (ICZN). Using genome sequencing they concluded Eurema (Hübner, 1819) was paraphyletic with Pyrisitia (Butler, 1870). To rectify this issue and restore monophyly, they chose to keep Pyrisitia as a genus and treat the Old World (Afrotropical) clade, currently placed in Eurema, as a distinct valid genus. Terias (Swainson, 1821) was then its oldest available name and therefore adopted. Terias is a pantropical genus with eight species recorded within the Afrotropical region. Seven species have been recorded in Uganda and also in the Ituri Forest of the DRC and the savannah habitat of the DRC Semliki Valley. Six species have so far been recorded at Semuliki; T. brigitta has been recorded since publication of the checklist (Forbes, 2018). T. mandarinula has been recorded within the DRC Semliki Valley and will more than likely occur at Semuliki National Park. Colour intensity of males is greater, while there is also considerable variation within species and associated seasonal variation.
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Terias desjardinsii (male, upper and underside)
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Terias desjardinsii (female, upper and underside)
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Terias senegalensis (male, upper and underside, notice size difference with T. hecabe)
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Terias senegalensis (female, upper and underside)
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Terias hecabe (male, upper and underside)
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Terias hecabe (female, upperside)
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Terias hecabe (female, underside)
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Terias brigitta (male, upper and underside)
Terias floricola (waiting on field image)
Terias hapale (waiting on field image)
Subfamily Pierinae
A large group of 222 species split into six tribes, with all species represented in the Afrotropical region. Four of the tribes are represented at Semuliki: Pierini, Teracolini, Leptosiaini, and Nepheroniini.
Tribe Leptosiaini
A tribe containing eight species, seven occurring in the Afrotropical region. Five species have been recorded in Uganda (and also in the adjacent DRC Semliki Valley and Ituri Forest) but only four species have so far been recorded at Semuliki (L. hybrida being a new addition). The species unrecorded at Semuliki is L. marginea.
Genus Leptosia
The four species recorded at Semuliki are Leptosia nupta, L. alcesta, L. wigginsi and L. hybrida. These are very delicate to handle and photograph in the field, without damaging the specimen and so opportunities for good images are limited.
Leptosia wigginsi (upper and underside)
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Leptosia hybrida (upper and underside)
Leptosia alcesta and L. nupta (waiting on field images)
Tribe Pierini
Of the many genera described within this tribe, four are recorded at Semuliki: Mylothris, Belenois, Dixeia, and Appias. The four genera recorded at Semuliki are consistent with what has been recorded in the Ituri Forest of the DRC.
Genus Mylothris
This genus has recently had a taxonomic revision (Warren-Gash, 2020) and species can roughly be placed within six geographical zones. Semuliki National Park is located within the East-Central division which includes the DRC and southern areas of South Sudan and the CAR. The Albertine Rift provides an eastern border for this division. There are five clades within this genus and the four species recorded so far at Semuliki are found within three different clades: M. rhodope in the Rhodope clade, M. continua in the hilara clade and both M. chloris and M. agathina in the agathina clade.
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Mylothris rhodope (male, upper and underside)
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Mylothris rhodope (female, upper and underside)
Mylothris chloris (male, waiting on field image)
Mylothris continua (waiting on field image)
Mylothris chloris (female, upper and underside)
Mylothris agathina (male, upper and underside)
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Mylothris agathina (female, upperside)
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Mylothris agathina (female, underside)
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Mylothris agathina (orange form female, upper and underside)
Mylothris continua (waiting on field image)
Thanks to Haydon Warren-Gash for Mylothris id confirmation
Genus Appias
Not an exclusively Afrotropical genus with a total of six species with four recorded in Uganda. So far only three species have been recorded at Semuliki: A. phaola, A. epaphia and A. sabina. The Ugandan species not recorded at Semuliki is A. sylvia, although it has been recorded in the Ituri Forest.​
Appias epaphia (female, upper and underside)
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Appias epaphia (worn female, showing scale loss, upperside)
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Appias epaphia (worn female, showing scale loss, underside)
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Appias sabina (male, upper and underside)
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Appias sabina (female, upperside)
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Appias sabina (female, underside)
Image by Sven Bontenbal (Semuliki National Park Collection - www.observation.org)
Appias phaola (male, underside)
Genus Belenois
A distinctly Afrotropical genus containing 28 species, with one species B. aurata also found in the Oriental region. Eight of Uganda's 14 species have been recorded at Semuliki, with B. sudanensis an addition to the published checklist. This is not so unusual as this species is recorded both within the Ituri Forest and the DRC Semliki Valley.
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Belenois sudanensis (female, waiting on field image)
Belenois sudanensis (male, upper and underside)
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Belenois creona (male, upper and underside)
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Belenois creona (female, upper and underside)
Belenois creona (female showing colour variation, upper and underside)
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Belenois solilucis (male, upper and underside)
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Belenois solilucis (female, upperside)
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Belenois solilucis (female, underside)
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Belenois subeida (female, upper and underside)
Belenois subeida (female upperside, variation)
Belenois subeida (male, waiting on field image)
Belenois subeida (female underside, variation)
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Belenois thysa (female, waiting on field image)
Belenois thysa (male, upper and underside)
Waiting on field images for the following Belenois species: aurota, crawshayi, calypso, theora
Genus Dixeia
This genus, solely from the Afrotropical region comprises ten species, one of which has been recorded at Semuliki, D. pigea, contributing 25% of the species recorded within Uganda. Not so far recorded at Semuliki are Dixeia dixeyi, doxo and orbona. Two species D. dixeyi and D. pigea have been recorded both within the Ituri Forest and the DRC Semliki Valley so would be expected at Semuliki.
Dixeia pigea (waiting on field image)
Tribe Nepheroniini
Of the two genera described within this tribe, only one is found in the Afrotropical region: Nepheronia.
Genus Nepheronia
An Afrotropical genus comprising only five species, with four being recorded in Uganda and all four are represented at Semuliki. The fifth species being an endemic of Madagascar, N. pauliana.
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Nepheronia argia (male, upper and underside)
Nepheronia argia (female, upper and underside)
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Nepheronia pharis (female, waiting on field image)
Nepheronia pharis (male, upper and underside)
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Nepheronia buquetii (male, upper and underside)
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Nepheronia buquetti (female, upperside)
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Nepheronia buquetti (female, underside)
Genus Colotis
An Afrotropical genus comprising 41 species, with 24 being recorded in Uganda but only seven (C. evarne, C. danae and C. aurigineus have been recorded since the checklist was published) so far recorded at Semuliki. 11 species have been recorded from the DRC Semliki Valley, suggesting targeted sampling of the savannah patches near the Semliki river and near the offices at Sempaya, will contribute to further species being recorded.
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Nepheronia thalassina (female, waiting on field image)
Nepheronia thalassina (male, upper and underside)
Tribe Teracolini
A predominantly Afrotropical tribe which includes six genera from the region of which three are recorded at Semuliki: Colotis, Eronia and Afrodryas.
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Colotis antevippe (male, waiting on field image)
Colotis antevippe (female, upper and underside)
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Colotis evarne (female, waiting on field image)
Colotis evarne (male, upper and underside)
Colotis aurigineus (male, upper and underside - sexes similar)
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Colotis hetaera (female, waiting on field image)
Colotis hetaera (male, upper and underside)
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Colotis euippe (male, upper and underside)
Colotis euippe (female, underside)
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Colotis euippe (female, upperside)
Colotis danae (male, upper and underside)
Colotis elongensis (waiting on field image)
Genus Eronia
A small Afrotropical genus containing only two species. Only one species occurs in Uganda and this is also found at Semuliki.
Eronia cleodora (waiting on field image)
Genus Afrodryas
An Afrotropical genus containing only one species: Afrodryas leda.
Afrodryas leda (waiting on field image)
Specific genus site links, references and bibliography:
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Ducarme, R. (2024). The butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papillionoidia) of the north-eastern, Democratic Republic of Congo (updated version of Ducarme, 2018).
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Wahlberg N., et al. (2014). Revised systematics and higher classification of Pierid butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) based on molecular data. Zoologica Scripta 43: 641–650. ​
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Zhang J., et al. (2021). Genomics-guided refinement of butterfly taxonomy. The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey (9): 3.​
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For everything Mylothris related one can look no further to the genus specialist Haydon Warren-Gash. The academic paper below was a prelude to his magnificent tome on the taxonomic revision of the genus.
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Warren-Gash H., et al. (2020) Systematics and evolution of the African butterfly genus Mylothris (Lepidoptera, Pieridae). Nota Lepidopterologica 43: 1-14.
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Warren-Gash H., (2020). Mylothris. A revision of the Afrotropical Pierid genus with descriptions of new species. Biddles Books.
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The publications (Butterflies of the World) listed below are available from www.insecta.de and www.goeckeevers.de.
Winhard, W., (2000). Butterflies of the World, Part 10, Pieridae 1 (separate Plates and Text Supplements), Goecke and Evers, Harxheim, Germany..