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 family, three are found within the Afrotropical realm: Pierinae, Coliadinae and Pseudopontiinae. All three subfamilies have species records found at Semuliki with a total of 45 species being recorded (Eurema brigitta, E. mandarinula, Leptosia hybrida, Mylothris agathina, Belenois sudanensis, B. subeida, Colotis aurigineus, C. vesta, C. regina, C. evarne and C. danae ) recently added since the published species list (Forbes, 2018). This represents just under half of the 96 species recorded in Uganda (Davenport, 1996) but considerably less than the 83 species recorded by Ducarme (2024) for the Ituri Forest and DRC Semliki Valley.
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 with a distribution confined to Uganda and the DRC.
Pseudopontia mabira (Mitter and Collins, 2011)
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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.
Catopsilia florella (Hübner, 1819)
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Catopsilia florella (male, upper and underside)
Genus Eurema. Using genome sequencing a taxonomic change was proposed by Zhang et al. (2021) but this was again revised by the same author (Zhang et al, 2023). The genus was further re-evaluated by Leong et al. (2026) - E. desjardinsii was not sampled in this study - and using time calibrated phylogeny with biogeographic reconstruction a new genus phylogeny was proposed. The genus currently is divided into two subgenera; Eurema and Abaeis, a similar structure to what was proposed by Zhang et al. (2023). All Afrotropical species have now been placed within the Eurema subgenus. Seven species have so far been recorded at Semuliki: Eurema brigitta and E. mandarinula have been recorded since the publication of the Semuliki species list (Forbes, 2018). Colour intensity of males in this genus are generally greater, while there is also considerable variation within species and associated seasonal variation.
Subgenus Eurema
Eurema desjardinsii regularis (Butler, 1876)
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Eurema desjardinsii (male, upper and underside)
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Eurema desjardinsii (female, upper and underside)
Eurema senegalensis (Boisduval, 1836)
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Eurema senegalensis (male, upper and underside)
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Eurema senegalensis (female, upper and underside)
Eurema hecabe solifera (Butler, 1875)
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Eurema hecabe (male, upper and underside)
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Eurema hecabe (male, upperside - variation)
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Eurema hecabe (female, upper and underside)
Eurema brigitta brigitta (Stoll, 1790)
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Eurema brigitta (male, upper and underside)
Eurema floricola leonis (Butler, 1886)
Eurema floricola (waiting on field images)
Eurema hapale (Mabille, 1882)
Eurema hapale (waiting on field images)
Eurema mandarinula (Holland, 1892)
Eurema mandarinula (waiting on field images)
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 (Leptosia hybrida being a new addition). The species so far unrecorded at Semuliki is Leptosia 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 wigginsi (Dixey, 1915)
Leptosia wigginsi (upper and underside)
Leptosia hybrida somereni (Bernardi, 1959)
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Leptosia hybrida (upper and underside)
Leptosia alcesta inalcesta (Bernardi, 1959)
Leptosia alcesta (waiting on field images)
Leptosia nupta pseudonupta (Bernardi, 1959)
Leptosia 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 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: Mylothris rhodope in the rhodope clade, M. continua in the hilara clade and both M. chloris and M. agathina in the agathina clade. Four species have been recorded at Semuliki and this is in comparison to the 19 species recorded from the Ituri Forest and DRC Semliki Valley.
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Thanks to Haydon Warren-Gash for Mylothris id confirmation
Mylothris rhodope (Fabricius, 1775)
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Mylothris rhodope (male, upper and underside)
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Mylothris rhodope (female, upper and underside)
Mylothris chloris clarissa (Butler, 1888)
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Mylothris chloris (female, upper and underside)
Mylothris agathina agathina (Cramer, 1779)
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Mylothris agathina (male, upper and underside)
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 continua (Talbot, 1944)
Mylothris continua (waiting on field images)
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: Appias 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 epaphia (Cramer, 1779)
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)
Appias sabina sabina (Felder and Felder, 1865)
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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)
Appias phaola intermedia (Dufrane, 1848)
Appias phaola (male, underside)
Image by Sven Bontenbal (Semuliki National Park Collection - www.observation.org)
Genus Belenois. A predominantly Afrotropical genus containing 28 species, with one species Belenois aurata also being found in the Oriental region. Nine of Uganda's 14 species have been recorded at Semuliki, with Belenois sudanensis and B. subeida additions to the published species list.
Belenois sudanensis katalensis (Berger, 1981)
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Belenois sudanensis (male, upper and underside)
Belenois creona severina (Stoll, 1781)
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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)
Belenois solilucis loveni (Aurivillius, 1921)
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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)
Belenois subeida subeida (Felder and Felder, 1865)
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Belenois subeida (female, upper and underside)
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Belenois subeida (female upperside, variation)
Belenois subeida (female underside, variation)
Belenois thysa meldolae (Butler, 1872)
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Belenois thysa (male, upper and underside)
Belenois aurota (Fabricius, 1793)
Belenois aurota (waiting on field images)
Belenois crawshayi (Butler, 1894)
Belenois crawshayi (waiting on field images)
Belenois calypso marlieri (Berger, 1981)
Belenois calypso (waiting on field images)
Belenois theora laeta (Weymer, 1903)
Belenois theora (waiting on field images)
Genus Dixeia. This genus, solely from the Afrotropical region comprises ten species, one of which has been recorded at Semuliki, Dixeia pigea, contributing 25% of the species recorded within Uganda. Not so far recorded at Semuliki are Dixeia dixeyi, D. doxo and D. orbona. The species Dixeia dixeyi has been recorded both within the Ituri Forest and the DRC Semliki Valley so would be expected at Semuliki.
Dixeia pigea (Boisduval, 1836)
Dixeia pigea (waiting on field images)
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 have been recorded at Semuliki. The fifth species being an endemic of Madagascar, Nepheronia pauliana.​
Nepheronia argia argia (Fabricius, 1775)
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Nepheronia argia (male, upper and underside)
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Nepheronia argia (female, upper and underside)
Nepheronia pharis silvanus (Stoneham, 1957)
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Nepheronia pharis (male, upper and underside)
Nepheronia buquetii buquetii (Boisduval, 1836)
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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)
Nepheronia thalassina verulanus (Ward, 1871)
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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.
Genus Colotis. An Afrotropical genus comprising 41 species, with 24 being recorded in Uganda but only eight (Colotis evarne, C. danae, C. vesta and C. aurigineus have been recorded since the species list was published in 2018) 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.
Colotis antevippe zera (Lucas, 1852)
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Colotis antevippe (female, upper and underside)
Colotis evarne (Klug, 1829)
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Colotis evarne (male, upper and underside)
Colotis aurigineus (Butler, 1883)
Colotis aurigineus (male, upper and underside - sexes similar)
Colotis hetaera ankolensis (Stoneham, 1940)
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Colotis hetaera (male, upper and underside)
Colotis euippe euippe (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Colotis euippe (male, upper and underside)
Colotis euippe (female, underside)
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Colotis euippe (female, upperside)
Colotis danae eupompe (Klug, 1829)
Colotis danae (male, upper and underside)
Colotis vesta princeps (Talbot, 1939)
Colotis vesta (male, underside)
Colotis elongensis basilewskyi (Berger, 1956)
Colotis elongensis (waiting on field images)
Colotis regina (Trimen, 1863)
Colotis regina (waiting on field images)
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 (Hübner, 1823)
Eronia cleodora (waiting on field images)
Genus Afrodryas. An Afrotropical genus containing only one species: Afrodryas leda.
Afrodryas leda (Boisduval, 1847)
Afrodryas leda (waiting on field images)
Genus references and bibliography
​Ducarme, R. (2024). The butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papillionoidia) of the north-eastern, Democratic Republic of Congo (updated version of Ducarme, 2018).
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Leong, J.V., et al., (2025). Around the world in 26 million years: diversification and biogeography of pantropical Grass-Yellow Eurema butterflies (Pieridae: Coliadinae). Journal of Biogeography : 52:e15107.
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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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​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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Winhard, W., (2000). Butterflies of the World, Part 10, Pieridae 1 (separate Plates and Text Supplements), Goecke and Evers, Harxheim, Germany..
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Zhang J., et al. (2021). Genomics-guided refinement of butterfly taxonomy. Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey (9): 1-55.​
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Zhang J., et al. (2023). Butterfly classification and species discovery using genomics. Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey (11): 1-94.
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