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
Genus Melanitis: All three of the Afrotropical Melanitis species have been recorded at Semuliki: M. ansorgei, M. libya and M. leda. M. leda is commonly sampled in the fruit traps while M. ansorgei and M. libya were rarely encountered. M. ansorgei also appeared to be site-dependent which is often due to small-scale spatial differences in environmental conditions that either promotes or inhibits populations, conditions which are often observed within the forest. M. libya and M. leda are seasonally polymorphic and M. leda forms are nicely illustrated by Williams (2020). A recent taxonomic change has included M. ansorgei within a new monobasic (single species) genus -Ducarmeia.
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Ducarmeia ansorgei (male, upper and underside)
Ducarmeia ansorgei (female, upperside)
Ducarmeia ansorgei (female, underside)
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Melanitis libya (male upper and underside, sexes similar)
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Melanitis leda (male upper and underside, wet season form)
Melanitis leda (female upperside, dry season form)
Melanitis leda (female underside, dry season form)
Specific genus site links, references and bibliography:
Nymphalidae.Net provides a detailed taxonomic overview of the Tribe Melanitini. Tribe Melanitini (Wahlberg, N).
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Pyrcz, T.W., et. al., (2020). Previously unrecognized diversity of Afrotropical Melanitini butterflies (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae):
doubling the number of species and genera. Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny 78(2) pp.171-216.
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Savela, M. Melanitis Fabricius, [1807]. Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Excellent online resource.
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Williams, M.C., (2020). Genus Melanitis. A section of Afrotropical Butterflies (17th Edition). Publication is available from Lepidopterists' Society of Africa website https://www.lepsocafrica.org/?p=publications&s=atb.