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.
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Semuliki National Park, Uganda
Genus Euphaedra: There are 25 species of the genus Euphaedra so far recorded at Semuliki. These contribute to nearly 80% of Uganda's Euphaedra species total (Davenport, 2001), with only seven species not being recorded at Semuliki. Only three species are regularly trapped (medon, harpalyce and caerulescens) but never in the abundance as found with Bebearia laetitioides or Bebearia brunhilda.
This genus has been categorised into subgenus species groups (Hecq, 1997) and species on this page will be grouped accordingly. Species from genus Euphaedra are again highly sensitive to forests with good canopy cover, stable forest floor conditions and in good condition. The following images of set specimens are taken from The Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren in Belgium and portray the male (left column) and female, both upper and underside, for each of the species recorded at Semuliki. There are three corrections from Forbes (2018), two renaming Euphaedra subspecies determinations and one where a species was mis-recorded . The subspecies E. edwardsii langoueensis should read E. edwardsii edwardsii and E. medon inaequabilis should read E. medon fraudata. E. sardetta has been wrongly recorded at Semuliki and has been removed from the total number of species recorded.
Museum images. Males in the left column
Subgenus Medoniana. There is only one species of this subgenus recorded at Semuliki, Euphaedra medon. This is the most common Euphaedra species at Semuliki and includes two subspecies (males with two colour forms) - a forewing upperside sub-apical white or yellow band - see field images.
Euphaedra medon
Subgenus Gausapia - zaddachi species group. There are two species of this subgenus species group recorded at Semuliki. Both species E. christyi and E. zaddachi are rarely seen or sampled at Semuliki.
Euphaedra christyi
Euphaedra zaddachi
Subgenus Euphaedrana - harpalyce species group. There are five species groups within this subgenus with the park having representative species from each group. There is only one species within this species group currently recorded at Semuliki: E. harpalyce. A relatively common species, but never sampled in abundance. The second most sampled Euphaedra species after E. medon. There is no post-discal white band on the underside of E. harpalyce males and females, which easily differentiates this species from the female of E. medon.
Euphaedra harpalyce
preussi species group. There are three species within this group currently recorded at Semuliki: E. preussi, E. albofasciata and E. procera or subprocera. The E. procera/subprocera specimen sampled at Semuliki has both procera and subprocera traits as described by Hecq (1997). Hecq (1997) also describes both 'species' as very difficult to differentiate and this was also verified by Gilles Faravel in discussions with respect to the descriptions of these two 'species'. In all probability both should be considered as one species but until a revision of the genus is undertaken they will be labelled here as procera/subprocera. As with the majority of Euphaedra species recorded within the park, they are uncommon,
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Euphaedra preussi
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Euphaedra albofasciata
Euphaedra procera/subprocera (Images by Gilles Faravel)
themis species group. There are two species within this group currently recorded at Semuliki: E. eberti and E. ueleana. As with the majority of Euphaedra species, E. eberti is uncommon. The image below of E. eberti shows morphological differences with some populations having an upperside red basal patch (not found at Semuliki), (Zúbrik et al., 2019). E. ueleana was only ever trapped once and shouldn't be too unexpected a record having also been recorded in the Ituri Forest and the Mutumba Mountains within the DRC (Ducarme, 2018).
Euphaedra eberti
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Euphaedra ueleana
ceres species group. There are three species within this group currently recorded at Semuliki: E. sarita, E. viridicaerulea and E. intermedia. As with the majority of Euphaedra species, all are uncommon with E. intermedia a new record; it was also recently recorded in the submontane Kibale National Park, located around 50 km south-east of Semuliki.
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eleus species group. There are seven species within this group currently recorded at Semuliki: E. alacris, E. edwardsii, E. eleus, E. hybrida, E. rattrayi, E. simplex and E. ruspina. Again all these species are relatively uncommon and this is one of the more difficult Euphaedra groups to identify.
Euphaedra sarita
Euphaedra viridicaerulea
Euphaedra intermedia
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Euphaedra alacris
Euphaedra edwardsii
Euphaedra eleus
Euphaedra hybrida
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Euphaedra simplex
Euphaedra rattrayi
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Euphaedra ruspina
Subgenus Radia. There are only two species identified within this subgenus and one, E. imitans is recorded at Semuliki. A very rare and seldomly trapped species.
Euphaedra imitans
Subgenus Xpetana - mirabilis species group. This subgenus comprises four groups of which two, mirabilis and sinuosa have species recorded at Semuliki. There are three species recorded at Semuliki from the mirabilis group; E. ansorgei, E. caerulescens and E. mirabilis. E. caerulescens is one of the more common Euphaedra species sampled at Semuliki with the other two species in this group being very rare.
Euphaedra ansorgei
Euphaedra caerulescens
Euphaedra mirabilis
sinuosa species group. There are two species within this group currently recorded at Semuliki: E. diffusa and E. sinuosa. Both species again are not sampled frequently and are rare.
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Euphaedra diffusa
Euphaedra sinuosa
Field Images: There are field images for all but one species: E. zaddachi. Unfortunately an sd card full of images was corrupted. Fortunately, the Euphaedra species that have no complementary field image had been identified prior to the sd card being corrupted; in this case E. zaddachi. The species field image will be in the order as presented above.
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Euphaedra medon (males, upper and underside, showing differing sub-apical band colours)
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Euphaedra medon (male, underside)
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Euphaedra medon (male, upperside colour intermediate)
Euphaedra medon (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra medon (female, underside)
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Euphaedra zaddachi (waiting on field images)
Euphaedra christyi (female, upper and underside - sexes similar)
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Euphaedra harpalyce (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra harpalyce (female, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra preussi (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra preussi (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra preussi (female, underside)
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Euphaedra procera/subprocera (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra procera/subprocera (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra procera/subprocera (female, underside)
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Euphaedra albofasciata (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra albofasciata (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra albofasciata (female, underside)
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Euphaedra eberti (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra eberti (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra eberti (female, underside)
Euphaedra eberti (female, upperside - showing subapical white band variation, and underside)
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Euphaedra ueleana (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra sarita (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra sarita (female, upperside)
Euphaedra sarita (female, underside)
Euphaedra viridicaerulea (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra viridicaerulea (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra viridicaerulea (female, underside)
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Euphaedra intermedia (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra intermedia (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra intermedia (female, underside)
Euphaedra alacris (female, underside)
Euphaedra alacris (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra alacris (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra edwardsii (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra edwardsii (female, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra eleus (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra eleus (female, upperside)
Euphaedra eleus (female, underside)
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Euphaedra hybrida (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra hybrida (female, upperside)
Euphaedra hybrida (female, upperside)
Euphaedra simplex (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra simplex (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra simplex (female, underside)
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Euphaedra rattrayi (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra rattrayi (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra rattrayi (female, underside)
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Euphaedra ruspina (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra imitans (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra imitans (female, upperside)
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Euphaedra imitans (female, underside)
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Euphaedra ansorgei (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra caerulescens (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra caerulescens (female, upperside)
Euphaedra caerulescens (female, underside)
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Euphaedra mirabilis (female, upper and underside)
Euphaedra diffusa (male, upper and underside)
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Euphaedra diffusa (female, upperside)
Euphaedra diffusa (female, underside)
Euphaedra sinuosa (male, upper and underside)
Euphaedra sinuosa (female, upperside)
Euphaedra sinuosa (female, underside)
Specific genus site links, references and bibliography:
Thanks very much to Gilles Faravel (author of Euphaedra (part 48, see below) for updated advice on Semuliki species identification confirmation, latest taxonomy and systematics and also to Steve Collins (ABRI), Nairobi, Kenya for confirmation of species identification.
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Ducarme, R., (2018). The butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidia) of the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Metamorphosis 29, 22-36.
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Hecq, J., (1997). Euphaedra. Lambillionea, Union des Entomologistes Belges, Tervuren, Belgium.
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The two publications (Butterflies of the World) listed below are available from www.insecta.de and www.goeckeevers.de.
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Faravel, G., (2020). Euphaedra, Nymphalidae XXVIII (part 48). Butterflies of the World. Bauer, E. & Frankenbach, T. eds. Goecke and Evers, Keltern, Germany.
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Hecq, J., (1999). Euphaedra, Nymphalidae III (part 4) and Supplement 1. Butterflies of the World. Bauer, E. & Frankenbach, T. eds. Goecke and Evers, Keltern, Germany.
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Nymphalidae.Net provides a detailed taxonomic overview of the Tribe Adoliadini. Tribe Adoliadini (Wahlberg, N).
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Savela, M. Euphaedra Hübner, [1819]. Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Excellent online resource.
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Williams, M.C., (2018). Genus Euphaedra. 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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Zúbrik, M., (2019). Morphological and genetic diversity of two individual forms of Euphaedra eberti (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). African Invertebrates 60, 195-213.
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