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Genus Cymothoe: There are 16 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 nearly 95% of Uganda's total. The only Ugandan species not being recorded at Semuliki being C. indamora, however this species has been recorded both in the Ituri Forest and the DRC Semliki Valley (Ducarme, 2018) and so it is a distinct possibility that it will also be found at 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 and 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 of the genera Bebearia, Euphaedra and Euriphene.  

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Caenis Clade. There is only one species, C. caenis of this clade recorded at Semuliki. Females come in a variety of colour forms and the caenis-complex taxonomy is still unravelling (Van Velzen et al., 2009). This is not a rare species at Semuliki but not as often sampled as the three most common species. Both the males and females are morphologically variable.

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Cymothoe caenis.jpg

Cymothoe caenis 

Incertae sedis. A number of species have not been assigned to any of the named clades. One of these species is C. beckeri, a rarely observed species that was never trapped within the traditional Van Someren-Rydon style trap, but in a net on the forest fringes. Another unclassified species, C. cyclades is a commonly observed and sampled species within the forest. Along with C. confusa, these two species are the most abundant Cymothoe species. C. jodutta was another uncommon species and rarely trapped.

Cymothoe beckeri.jpeg

Cymothoe beckeri

Cymothoe  cyclades.jpeg

Cymothoe cyclades

Cymothoe  jodutta.jpeg

Cymothoe jodutta

Egesta Clade. C. confusa is a commonly observed and sampled species with a clumped distribution within the forest. Possibly influenced by the distribution of its food plant.

Cymothoe  confusa.jpeg

Cymothoe confusa

Adela Clade. C. ochreata is another relatively common sampled species. There is only one species recorded at Semuliki from this clade of 5 Afrotropical species.

Cymothoe  ochreata.jpeg

Cymothoe ochreata

Lurida clade. There are five species assigned to this clade, two have been recorded at Semuliki: C. lurida and C. colmanti. Both species were rarely encountered in the traps. Only one male of C. lurida was trapped.

Cymothoe  lurida.jpeg

Cymothoe lurida

Cymothoe  colmanti.jpeg

Cymothoe colmanti

Fumana clade. There are two species assigned to this clade with one having been recorded at Semuliki: C. haynae. This was a very rare species and only the female was encountered. It was only ever trapped at one site and so appeared to be site-specific.

Cymothoe  haynae.jpeg

Cymothoe haynae

Sangaris clade. There are four species assigned to this clade with two species: C. sangaris and C. hobarti being recorded at Semuliki. C. sangaris was a seasonally common species while C. hobarti was sampled only once, a female. C. hobarti replaces C. sangaris as the easternmost population of the sangaris-complex.

Cymothoe sangaris.jpeg

Cymothoe sangaris

Cymothoe  hobarti.jpeg

Cymothoe hobarti

Coccinata Clade. There are 14 species included in this clade of which four have been recorded at Semuliki: C. reginaeelisabethae, C. coccinata, C. distincta  and C. meridionalis. The three species sampled can be considered uncommon and are rarely trapped while C. distincta has not yet been sampled within the traps.

Cymothoe reginaeelisabethae.jpeg

Cymothoe reginaeelisabethae

Cymothoe coccinata.jpeg

Cymothoe coccinata

Cymothoe  meridionalis.jpeg

Cymothoe meridionalis

Cymothoe distincta (waiting on museum image)

Herminia Clade. C. herminia is the only species  recorded at Semuliki from the three species described for this group. Again an uncommon species which was rarely encountered either observed or in the traps.

Cymothoe  herminia.jpeg

Cymothoe herminia

Field Images: There are field images for all but three species: C. meridionalis, C. herminia and C. distincta. Unfortunately an sd card full of images was corrupted. Fortunately, two of the Cymothoe species that have no complementary field image had been identified prior to the sd card being corrupted, in this case C. meridionalis and C. herminia. The species C. distincta has so far not been sampled within the traps or observed in the field while out sampling.

Cymothoe caenis.jpeg
Cymothoe caenis.jpeg

Cymothoe caenis (male, upper and underside)

Cymothoe caenis.jpeg
Cymothoe caenis.jpeg
Cymothoe caenis.jpeg
Cymothoe caenis.jpeg

Cymothoe caenis (female, upper and underside)

Cymothoe caenis.jpeg
Cymothoe caenis.jpeg

Cymothoe caenis (female uppersides, colour variations)

Cymothoe beckeri.jpeg
Cymothoe beckeri.jpeg

Cymothoe beckeri (male, upper and underside)

Cymothoe beckeri.jpeg

Cymothoe beckeri (female, upperside)

Cymothoe beckeri.jpeg

Cymothoe beckeri (female, underside)

Cymothoe jodutta.jpeg
Cymothoe jodutta.jpeg

Cymothoe jodutta (male, upper and underside)

Cymothoe jodutta.jpeg

Cymothoe jodutta (female, upperside)

Cymothoe jodutta.jpeg

Cymothoe jodutta (female, underside)

Cymothoe cyclades.jpeg

Cymothoe cyclades (male upperside)

Cymothoe cyclades.jpeg
C cycladesB1-ink.jpeg
cyclades.jpeg

Cymothoe cyclades (male underside)

Cymothoe cyclades (female upperside)

Cymothoe cyclades (female underside)

Cymothoe confusa.jpeg

Cymothoe confusa (male upperside)

Cymothoe confusa.jpeg

Cymothoe confusa (female upperside)

Cymothoe confusa.jpeg
Cymothoe confusa.jpeg

Cymothoe confusa (male upperside, showing colour variation in hindwing marginal, submarginal area)

Cymothoe confusa (male underside)

Cymothoe confusa.jpeg

Cymothoe confusa (female underside)

Cymothoe ochreata.jpeg

Cymothoe ochreata (male upperside)

Cymothoe ochreata.jpeg

Cymothoe ochreata (male underside)

Cymothoe ochreata (female upperside)

Cymothoe ochreata.jpeg

Cymothoe ochreata (female underside)

Cymothoe colmanti.jpeg
Cymothoe colmanti.jpeg

Cymothoe colmanti (male, upper and underside)

Cymothoe lurida.jpeg
Cymothoe lurida.jpeg
Cymothoe colmanti.jpeg
Cymothoe colmanti.jpeg

Cymothoe colmanti (female upper and underside)

Cymothoe lurida (male, upper and underside)

Cymothoe haynae.jpeg
Cymothoe haynae.jpeg

Cymothoe haynae (female, upper and underside)

Cymothoe sangaris.jpeg
Cymothoe sangaris.jpeg

Cymothoe sangaris (male, upper and underside)

Cymothoe sangaris.jpeg
Cymothoe sangaris.jpeg

Cymothoe sangaris (female, upper and underside) 

Cymothoe hobarti.jpeg

Cymothoe hobarti  (female, upperside)

Cymothoe reginaeelisabethae.jpeg
Cymothoe reginaeelisabethae.jpeg

Cymothoe reginaeelisabethae (male, upper and underside)

Cymothoe coccinata.jpeg
Cymothoe coccinata.jpeg
Cymothoe coccinata.jpeg

Cymothoe coccinata (male, upper and underside)

Cymothoe coccinata (female, upperside)

Cymothoe coccinata.jpeg

Cymothoe meridionalis, C. herminia and C. distincta (waiting on field images)

Cymothoe coccinata (female, underside)

Specific genus site links, references and bibliography:

Savela, M. Cymothoe Hübner, [1819]. Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Excellent online resource.

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Van Velzen., (2009). A new hidden species of the Cymothoe caenis-complex (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from western Africa. Zootaxa 2197, 53-63.

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Van Velzen., (2013). Evolution of associations between Cymothoe butterflies and their Rinorea host plants in tropical Africa. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands.

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Williams, M.C., (2018). Genus Cymothoe. A section of Afrotropical Butterflies (17th Edition). Publication is available from Lepidopterists' Society of Africa website https://www.lepsocafrica.org/?p=publications&s=atb.

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