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
Species images and videos
Tourists and visitors that undertake activities at Semuliki are encouraged to take videos or images of butterflies that they come across which all helps to contribute to the knowledge of the butterfly fauna of the park. Any images or videos used within the website will be acknowledged as will any new or important information that contributes further to the butterfly diversity of the park.
Species record additions and amendments
A provisional total of 448 butterfly species were documented and recorded at Semuliki National Park (Forbes, 2018). There have been further 175 additional species identified since the 2018 publication (currently 623 species as of 10/2025). This has been through the further analysis of the thousands of images collected from the PhD research; analysing the excellent individual genus publications of Mark Williams; the genus revisions of Michel Libert and the unpublished Hesperiidae document of Torben Larsen. Sven Bontenbal recorded four new species for the park in one day of sampling and photographing butterfies in June 2024. Lastly, not forgetting the historical sampling of Justice Oribokihiro in the field prior to his transfer to Kibale National Park.
New species records for the relevant genus is presented within the genus detail within the website.
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The following species records are amendments to the Forbes (2018) publication.​
​Family Nymphalidae
Subfamily Charaxinae Doherty, 1886
Tribe Charaxini Guenée, 1865
Genus Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816
Charaxes smaragdalis smaragdalis Butler,1866 from Charaxes smaragdalis caerulea Jackson, 1951
Subfamily Limenitidinae Behr, 1864
Genus Bebearia Hemming, 1960
Bebearia cocalia ssp. katera van Someren, 1939
​Bebearia subtentyris languida Schultze, 1920 from Bebearia seeldrayersi Aurivillius, 1898
Genus Euphaedra Hubner, 1819
Euphaedra edwardsii edwardsii van der Hoeven,1845 from Euphaedra edwardsii langoueensis Oremans, 2010
Euphaedra medon fraudata van Someren,1935 from Euphaedra medon inaequabilis Thurau, 1904
Subfamily Heliconiinae Swainson, 1822
​Genus Acraea Fabricius, 1807
Acraea paragea Grose-Smith, 1900 (ref: Acraeinae of Uganda (Bernaud et al., 2018)) from A. parageum parageum Grose-Smith, 1900
Acraea macaria hemileuca Jordan, 1914 (ref: Acraeinae of Uganda (Bernaud et al., 2018)) from A. umbra hemileuca Jordan, 1914
​​​​Subfamily Satyrinae Boisduval, 1833
​Genus Bicyclus Kirby, 1871
Bicyclus alboplaga and Bicyclus xenoides have treated as a single species: B. alboplaga.
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Family Lycaenidae
Subfamily Poritiinae Doherty, 1886
Genus Pentila Westwood, 1851
Pentila hiendlmayri Dewitz, 1887 from Liptenara hiendlmayri (Libert, M. and Collins, S. C., 2019)
Species record confirmations and request
The following species were recorded from Semuliki in Dr Peter Howard's 1991 report 'Nature Conservation in Uganda's Tropical Forest Reserves' from reference collections and literature reviews and presumably were included in the 374 species from the 'Biodiversity Report for Semuliki' (1996) by Dr Tim Davenport and Dr Peter Howard. However, only 309 species were actually identified in the Biodiversity Report list and these 7 species are now the only ones I can find of the missing 65 species. It would be great to get images of the following from a museum or in the field:
Papilio antimachus - found at Kibale and DRC Semliki Valley (Ducarme) so definitely possible
Papilio leucotaenia - found in Kibale but montane habitat seems to be a preference
Papilio jacksoni ruandana - found by Ducarme in DRC Semliki Valley so definitely possible
Papilio rex mimeticus - found by Ducarme in DRC Semliki Valley so possible again
Graphium ridleyanus - again from DRC Semliki Valley (Ducarme)
Graphium almansor uganda - again Ducarme, DRC Semliki Valley and also Kibale
Graphium latreillanus - Central Forest Belt/Ituri (Ducarme) so likely​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Dry season assemblage sampling (Feb. 2022)
Sampling effort encompassed the period from 11/2 to 20/2 which included one day to set the traps. Banana bait had already been produced and left to ferment for 48 hours prior to our arrival so sampling was initiated on 12/2 for nine days.The two transects used for the PhD (Kirumya and Red Monkey trails) were once again the preferred locations for this period of dry season butterfly sampling, with a view to their utilisation for a long-term monitoring project which had already been proposed to UWA. 14 traps were placed at each transect with a 50m distance between traps and one fermented banana was used per trap and replaced every 48 hours. Total sampling time of both transects usually took between four to five hours of travelling and sampling combined.
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A total of 72 species were recorded, just under 50% of the total recorded species of the fruit-feeding butterfly assemblage of Semuliki National Park. Just under 25% of the species recorded were from the genus Bicyclus (19 species). It was noted that a predominant number of individuals that made up the sampling each day were freshly hatched and either one or two days old, where scale loss and wing damage were minimal. A detailed report was submitted to the department of Research and Monitoring at UWA HQ in Kampala.
Website development
Image upload of field images from the fruit-feeding assemblage and non fruit-feeders is now complete. Images from the field that are not available for the few fruit-feeding species will be targeted when the long-term monitoring project is hopefully initiated in the near future. Further park sampling during annual visits to the park will target species from the Families Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae that are significantly under-represented.
Mobile app development
A mobile app has now been developed to allow identification of more than 85% of the fruit-feeding butterfly species in the field. With the most relevant butterfly id guide for Semuliki being 'Les Papillons du Zaire' by Lucien Berger, a new efficient and cheap alternative was considered necessary. A prototype (see video of functionality below) has been completed and this app functionality can be replicated to use for butterfly identification for other forests or protected areas in Africa.
App functionality takes three forms:
Identify a species
Identify a species from 6 genera: Euphaedra, Bebearia, Cymothoe, Bicyclus, Euriphene and Charaxes. Choosing a species by tapping on a species image will then show the selected species; male and female upper and underside: B. abesa here is the example. There are extra spaces if there are any species colour forms to be shown.
Upload an image
Images can be captured in the field and uploaded in real time (if there is a network) to a Semuliki National Park butterfly database or an image can be taken in the field and then uploaded later to the database from the phone image gallery if there is no network in the field.
Connect to semulikibutterflies.com website
If further id clarification is required and there is a network then the app can connect to the semulikibutterflies.com website and a the relevant species search can bring up other examples of species images.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Mr Taha Butt, an app developer from Fiverr.com (tahabutt96) who contributed to its development, predominantly its backend functionality and optimisation. His commitment to producing fast and efficient functionality to what was initially created was a testament to his skill. A highly recommended app developer.
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​General References
Ackery, P.R., Smith, C.R. and Vane-Wright, R.I., (1995). Carcasson's African Butterflies: An annotated Catalogue of the Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea of the Afrotropical Region. British Museum (Natural History), London, U.K.
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Bernaud, D., Lequeux, J.P. and Ziraye, M., (2019). Acraeinae of Uganda.
Davenport, T.R.D. & Howard, P. (1996). Semliki National Park Biodiversity Report. Forest Dept., Kampala.
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Davenport, P., (2003). Endemic butterflies of the Albertine Rift - an annotated checklist. Wildlife Conservation Society, Mbeya.
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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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Ducarme, R., (2024). The butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidia) of the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Updated. Unpublished.
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Howard, P., (1991). Nature Conservation in Uganda's Tropical Forest Reserves. IUCN/WWF, Forestry Dept., Ministry of Environment Protection, Kampala.
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Libert, M., (2014). Sur la taxonomie du genre Celaenorrhinus Hübner en Afrique (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae). ABRI, Nairobi.
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Libert, M., and Collins, S.C., (2019). Liptenara Bethune-Baker, 1915, ou Pentila Westwood, 1851 ? Description de cinq nouvelles espèces (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Poritiinae). Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France, 124 (1), 61-72.
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Williams, M.C., (2021). Classification of the Afrotropical Butterflies to Generic Level. Publication is available from Lepidopterists' Society of Africa website https://www.lepsocafrica.org/?p=publications&s=atb.
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