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 PAPILIONIDAE
Subfamily Papilioninae
A comprehensive and recognised stable phylogeny for the genus Papilio has been an ongoing problem and debated from a number of studies over the last 40 years. The most recent research has created a time-calibrated species-level Papilio molecular phylogeny producing a reference framework (Condamine et al., 2023). From a total of approximately 600 species within this subfamily, there is a global total of 235 Papilio species of which 60 occur within the Afrotropical region. Afrotropical species have been split into four subgenera, 22 species being recorded in Uganda. There is a global total of 100 Graphium species, of which 41 are found within the Afrotropical region and 12 within Uganda. Within the park there have been 19 species from the two genera recorded at the park; Papilio with 14 species and Graphium with five. Being nectar feeders they were never found within traps and none of the species recorded within the park could be described as common and generally would be found within the forest fringes.
Genus Graphium
The five species so far recorded at Semuliki are G. policenes, G. leonidas, G. antheus, G. angolanus and G. ucalegon. There are a number of subgenera within the genus, with only one occurring in the Afrotropical region - Subgenus Arisbe. This subgenus is divided into a number of species-groups or clades.
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Graphium antheus (right forewing, upper and underside, sexes similar)
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Graphium policenes (upper and underside, sexes similar)
Image by Timothy Lloyd (original posted on inaturalist)
Graphium leonidas (underside, sexes similar)
Image by Sven Bontenbal (Semuliki National Park Collection - www.observation.org)
Graphium ucalegon (male, underside)
Graphium angolanus (waiting on field image)
Genus Papilio
Afrotropical species are divided into four subgenera: Papilio, Princeps, Druryia and Nireopapilio. The 14 species recorded at Semuliki described or shown below have not been clumped within the four newly described subgenera.
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Papilio nireus (male, upper and underside)
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Papilio nireus (female, upper and underside)
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Papilio cynorta ( male, upper (white band) and underside)
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Papilio cynorta ( male, upper (cream band) and underside)
Papilio cynorta ( female, upper and underside)
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Papilio dardanus dardanus f. hippocoon (female, upper and underside)
Papilio dardanus meseres f. mixtoides (female, upperside)
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Papilio dardanus meseres f. mixtoides (female, underside)
Papilio dardanus meseres f. mixtoides (female, upper and underside)
Papilio dardanus dardanus f. planemoides (female, upper and underside)
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Papilio dardanus is categorised into a number of subspecies (possibly around 13) from male traits. The two subspecies found at Semuliki are P. dardanus dardanus and P. dardanus meseres. Six forms have been described within the subspecies, three of which are found at Semuliki f. hippocoon, f. planemoides and f. trophonissa (waiting on field image).
Image by Sven Bontenbal (Semuliki National Park Collection - www.observation.org)
Papilio dardanus (male, underside)
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Papilio phorcas (male upper and underside, sexes similar)
Papilio phorcas (male upperside, yellow form)
Papilio phorcas (male underside, yellow form)
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Papilio demodocus (sexes similar, upper and underside)
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Papilio mechowi (male, upper and underside)
Papilio mechowi (old male, faded black upperside )
Papilio mechowi (old male, underside)
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Papilio zenobia (sexes similar, upper and underside)
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Papilio zenobia (sexes similar, upperside)
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Papilio zenobia (sexes similar, underside)
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Papilio chrapkowskoides (male upper and underside, sexes similar)
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Papilio sosia (male upperside and underside)
Papilio sosia (waiting on field image)
Papilio sosia (female upperside)
Papilio sosia (female underside)
Papilio nobilis (male, upper and underside)
Papilio nobilis (waiting on field image)
Papilio nobilis (female upperside)
Papilio nobilis (female underside)
Specific site links, references and bibliography:
Thanks to Jean-Pierre Lequeux, Kampala, Uganda for Papilio identification confirmation.
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Some interesting publications relating to Papilio dardanus phenotypic diversity and Afrotropical butterfly mimicry associations:
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Bernardi, G,, Pierre, J. and Nguyen, T.H. (1985). Le polymorphisme et le mimétisme de Papilio dardanus Brown [Lep. Papilionidae]. Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France, 90 (1-4).
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Clarke, C.A., and Sheppard, P.M. (1960). The genetics of Papilio dardanus Brown II. Races Dardanus, Polytrophus, Meseres and Tibullus. Genetics, 45 (4).
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Clarke, C.A. and Sheppard, P.M. (1960). The evolution of mimicry in the butterfly Papilio dardanus. Heredity, 14.
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Condamine, F.L., Allio, R., Reboud, E.l. et al. (2023). A comprehensive phylogeny and revised taxonomy illuminate the origin and diversification of the global radiation of Papilio (Lepidoptera:Papilionidae). Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 183.
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Eltringham, H., Cantab, M.A. and Oxon, M.A. (1910). African Mimetic Butterflies. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
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Rumbucher, K., (2023). Butterflies of Africa Pt 3. Papilionidae II, Princeps Hübner, (1807), Papilio dardanus species group 1. Oliver Schaffler, Munich.
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Thompson, M.J. and Timmermans, M.J.T.N. (2014). Characterising the phenotypic diversity of Papilio dardanus wing patterns using an extensive museum collection. PLOS One, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096815.