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THE NON FRUIT-FEEDERS

The species outwith the fruit-feeding assemblage make up the bulk of the species recorded at Semuliki National Park. These are the species that feed on flower nectar and on tree sap, when available. The species I have recorded were really incidental to the main focus of the research, although just as important in contributing to the knowledge of overall butterfly diversity at Semuliki.. Walking to and from transects at Red Monkey and Kirumya trail, any species that was not easily identifiable in flight would be caught with a net and photographed. Specimens at the forest margins and at Bumaga camp site were also targeted.

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Unlike the fruit-feeding assemblage where the majority of species are from the Family Nymphalidae, the nectar feeders are found across all butterfly families. The Family Papilionidae are found predominantly within and around the forest margins and in clearings next to the forest. Unfortunately in my last visit to Semuliki, a large proportion of forest margin (adjacent to the road) had been destroyed for the removal of the invasive tree species Cedrela odorata (Spanish Cedar). This impacted the number of Papilionidae observed and during my period there hardly any Papilios were sampled. The area that had been targeted for Cedrela removal appeared to provide the opportunity for secondary invasion of grass species to populate the cleared area.

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The Family Pieridae are normally concentrated near the Semuliki River where there is swampy grassland habitat and within the savannah patch near the hot springs. Males get some of their nutrients from mud puddling and are often found in large numbers feasting on salts on the soil.

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The tabs will be divided into Families unless there is a large number of species within a particular subfamily, for example the subfamily Heliconiinae.

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