African Butterfly News and Afrotropical Butterflies

JANUARY 2020 EDITION:

ABN 2020 - 1 AFRICAN (NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2019) BUTTERFLY THE LEPIDOPTERISTS’ SOCIETY OF AFRICA NEWS

LATEST NEWS

Welcome to January’s newsletter!

I hope you have all returned safely from your December holidays – assuming you had one – and had some memorable butterfly experiences.

LepSoc Africa Annual Conference and AGM

The 2019 LepSoc Africa Conference and AGM was held at Knysna Hollow, Knysna, over the weekend of 16 and 17 November.

On Friday evening, before the conference, Hermann Staude hosted a Butterfly Evening, which was titled “Species, speciation and diversification, why are our butterflies and their hosts so exceptionally diverse?”. The evening included dinner at Knysna Hollow and was a great opportunity to renew acquaintances prior to the conference.

Saturday involved a full series of talks and, in the evening, we held the society’s annual dinner and prize-giving at Belvidere. The winners of the major prizes were as follows:

Torben Larsen Memorial Tankard (awarded to the best, or most influential publication on African lepidoptera), went to Hermann Hacker for “Moths of Africa – Volume 1”

Ivan Bampton Perpetual Teapot (best life-history records) was awarded to Jean-Louis Amiet for “Natural Histories of the Butterflies of Cameroon”

Steve Collins accepting the Honorary Life Membership of LepSoc Africa was awarded, Ivan Bampton trophy on behalf of Jean-Louis Amiet posthumously, to Dr Martin Krüger for his immense contribution to our understanding of African lepidoptera. The certificate was accepted by Martin’s widow, Kerstin.

The Chairman’s Award was given to Hanna Edge in recognition of her considerable efforts in refining the LepSoc Africa membership list, following up with subscription payments and assisting members with any queries they may have had.

Our Annual General Meeting was held on Sunday morning; as all relevant information had been circulated to the LepSoc Africa membership beforehand, we were able to run through all issues relatively quickly and, for the first time that I can remember, concluded the AGM on time.

Bennie Coetzer ran through some of the issues and challenges that need to be addressed regarding the future of Lepibase. A panel is being set up to drive this process, which is central to the society’s research and conservation objectives.

There were a series of talks following the AGM, which was followed by an “old-style” photographic competition, hosted by Andre Coetzer. The entries were judged by a show of hands by those present.

The winning entries are showcased below:

Fun Scientific Pictorial

Go away… Hewitsonia boisduvalii emitting Papilio Zalmoxis in flight (submitted by Hermann Staude) pheromones (Jeremy Dobson) (Jeremy Dobson)

To conclude, I believe Knysna 2019 was one of the most enjoyable (and well attended) conferences in the recent history of LepSoc Africa. Special thanks to those who travelled considerable distances to be present, such a Steve Collins, Josiane Goossens and Szabolcs Sáfián. Finally, thanks to Dave and Hanna Edge for making it all possible.

The 2020 conference will be held in Johannesburg or Pretoria over the weekend of 13 and 14 September.

A list of the presentations and presenters is included below: • The impact of climate change on African Lepidoptera (Jonathan Ball) • The SALCA Project – summing up and recommendation (Silvia Kirkman) • Monitoring the impacts of climate change on Lepidoptera (Kerstin Krüger) • The Perspective from ABRI (Steve Collins) • A butterfly abundance index for South Africa (Jeremy Dobson) • Knysna Sand Fynbos – a case study of landscape conservation (Dave Edge) • The Kedestes butterfly conservation project (Louise Baldwin) • Can the Brenton Blue be saved? (Dave Edge) • Searching for the Brenton Blue host ants (Melanie De Morney) • LepSoc Africa’s Caterpillar Rearing Group (Hermann Staude) • The Aloeides Project (Jeremy Dobson) • African Saturniidae – relevance and challenges in the era of genetics (Barbara van Asch) • Butterflies that pollinate red flowers in South Africa (Craig Peter) • Butterfly Guides – Guiding for Lepidoptera education and conservation (Vaughan Jessnitz) • Amateur “collectors” have built our knowledge of Lepidoptera (Ernest Pringle)

Group photo after the conference – unfortunately about half the delegates had already departed, but from left to right:

Silvia Kirkman, Kevin Cockburn, Steve Collins, Graham Henning, André Coetzer, Heiku Staude, Willem De Voogt, Veronica De Voogt, Jeremy Dobson, Erna Balona, Kerstin Krüger, Jan Praet (rear), Peter Ward, Graeme Young, Bennie Coetzer (rear), Eileen Henning, Dave Edge, Julio Bolona (front), Vaughan Jessnitz, Sophie Barrett, Szabolcs Sáfián, Hanna Edge, Jason Bruin, Alison Ward, Jennifer Bruin, Josiane Goossens, Lindsay Durham, Jason Boyce, Elmé Brand

To Knysna and back, using the road less travelled (Jeremy Dobson and Raimund Schutte)

I had decided to drive to this year’s LepSoc Africa Conference in Knysna, using a roundabout route for both legs of the journey, taking in as many butterfly-localities as possible. Raimund Schutte and Mark Williams were going to join me, but Mark reflected that the recent Zambia and Malawi trip had taken too much out of him and that he needed more time to recover: Mark didn’t take this decision lightly - this is the first LSA conference that he’s missed since the Society’s inception in 1983. Raimund and I set out from Johannesburg early on Monday 10 Nov. Our first stop was a site near Wepener, eastern Free State, that Chris Dobson and I had “discovered” many years ago. It’s usually a great spot for Koppie Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops ortygia) and Karoo Russet (Aloeides gowani) and I had even found a couple of Karoo Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops southeyae) there a few years ago. On this occasion, we saw very little, apart from a few Patrician Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops patricia) and Desert African Three-ring (Ypthima asterope hereroica). The only record of note was a solitary Henning’s Marbled Sapphire (Stugeta bowkeri henningi). We headed on for Sterkspruit, where I’d found L. southeyae and Maluti Russet (Aloeides maluti) in 2010, but we didn’t find much this time. The weather was clouding over, but we drove Joubert’s Pass just for the hell of it and stayed at a nice B&B in Barkley East (the town is Leptomyrina lara Wepener, Free State desperately short of water and the water supply was cut on the day of our departure).

On our second day, we visited the Tsomo area, where I have seen some great butterflies over the years, including Southern Purple (Aslauga australis) and Tsomo River Opal (Chrysoritis lyncurium). No Aslauga on this occasion (we saw a solitary lyncurium), but we did find several Mbulu Russet (Aloeides mbuluensis), which was new for me. We searched an adjacent hill, where I’d located a colony of Aloeides dentatis-like butterflies a few years ago, but we were possibly too early in the season. On a sad note, there used to be a large Yellowood Chrysoritis natalensis forest nearby, containing several forest butterflies, including Tsomo, Eastern Cape Yellow Hindwing Dotted Border (Mylothris trimenia) - Tsomo Mountain Blue (Harpendyreus tsomo) being found in the surrounding grassland. In the space of 5-years the forest and grassland has completely disappeared and has been replaced by wattles and goats.

We reached Hogsback that evening and visited Gaikas Kop the following day. Ground Hornbill Tsomo, Eastern Cape

Gaikas Kop was great - loads of browns, such as Vári’s Brown (Pseudonympha varii) and Dark Speckled Widow (Serradinga bowkeri bowkeri), and a couple of Russets: Aloeides dicksoni and Aloeides almeida - I think the latter record is a significant range extension. A highlight was seeing a couple of Pennington’s Opal (Chrysoritis penningtoni); I think Raimund and I are some of the first people to photograph this species in the wild. Other butterflies included Barber’s Ranger (Kedestes barberae barberae), Nosy Cupid (Orachrysops nasutus nasutus) and, on the summit of the mountain, a couple of Variable Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops variabilis). The Bamboo Sylph (Metisella syrinx) and East Cape Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops grahami) were not flying - we were probably a few weeks too early.

Chrysoritis penningtoni Orachrysops nasutus nasutus Stugeta bowkeri bowkeri Gaika’s Kop, Eastern Cape Gaika’s Kop, Eastern Cape Jansenville, Eastern Cape

Next up was Jansenville, where we saw a few Beulah’s Opal (Chrysoritis beulah) and Bowker’s Marbled Sapphire (Stugeta bowkeri bowkeri), before overnighting in Uniondale in preparation for the following day‘s Kammanassie adventure. LepSoc Africa had advertised the Kammanassie trip as an optional extra activity for conference delegates and Raimund and I were joined by Andrew Morton, Johan Greyling and Andrew Mayer. Originally, we’d planned to camp on the mountain on Thursday night but, based on the weather forecast, Chrysoritis beulah we decided to cancel the camping and make it a day trip on the Jansenville, Eastern Cape Friday. The Kammanassie looked beautiful - it’s always a privilege to visit this mountain range - but butterflies were scarce. Nonetheless, between us, we recorded most of the special butterflies found on the mountain, such as Kammanassie Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops balli), Kammanassie Giant Russet (Aloeides pallida jonathani) and Ball’s Opal (Chrysoritis pyramus balli); no sign of Kammanassie Cupid (Orachrysops brinkmani) unfortunately. Our thanks to CapeNature for permission to visit the mountain and to Dave Edge for arranging access to Kammanassie with the local farmers.

Lepidochrysops balli Lepidochrysops robertsoni Aloeides pallida jonathani Kammanassie, Western Cape Kammanassie, Western Cape Kammanassie, Western Cape

We arrived in Knysna on Friday evening, in time for the Butterfly Evening and the weekend’s LepSoc Africa conference (refer to the preceding article). On Monday, following the conference, Dave had arranged for various groups to search for the Brenton Cupid (Orachrysops niobe). A prize of R20 000 has been put up for the first person to rediscover this butterfly, which disappeared following the Knysna fire of September 2017. Despite our best efforts, the prize is still up for grabs...

Raimund and I commenced our journey home that afternoon and traversed Swartberg Pass relatively late in the day. I saw a pair of Pyramus Opal (Chrysoritis pyramus pyramus) and Raimund found a solitary Pennington’s Skolly (Thestor penningtoni). We stayed in Beaufort West that evening and paid a brief visit to Molteno Pass on Tuesday morning, prior to our long journey home. We managed to find three specimens of Beaufort Opal (Chrysoritis beaufortia beaufortia) (all females), but did not see a single Russet (Aloeides) of any description.

Chrysoritis pyramus pyramus Thestor penningtoni Chrysoritis beaufortia beaufortia Swartberg Pass, Western Cape Swartberg Pass, Western Cape Molteno Pass, Northern Cape

On the whole, butterflies were few and far between during our trip, but we had a great time, avoided any significant mishaps and found several good species; a most enjoyable journey to the LepSoc Africa conference and back.

A full checklist, with photographs, has been submitted to CapeNature following our Kammanassie field trip.

Butterfly photos from the Knysna Road Trip (Raimund Schutte)

Aloeides mbuluensis Chrysoritis natalensis Crudaria capensis Tsomo, Eastern Cape Tsomo, Eastern Cape Jansenville, Eastern Cape Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte

Trimenia argyroplaga argyroplaga Aloeides macmasteri Serradinga bowkeri bowkeri Jansenville, Eastern Cape Gaika’s Kop, Eastern Cape Gaika’s Kop, Eastern Cape Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte

Aloeides quickelbergei Lepidochrysops balli Lepidochrysops braueri Kammanassie, W Cape Kammanassie, W Cape Kammanassie, W Cape Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte

Chrysoritis penningtoni Thestor penningtoni Chrysoritis beaufortia beaufortia Gaika’s Kop, Eastern Cape Swartberg, W Cape Moleno Pass, Northern Cape Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte

The Aloeides Project – Further research and some results (Jeremy Dobson) LepSoc Africa are engaged in a project, with the aim of constructing an up to date and comprehensive (at least as comprehensive as possible) phylogeny of the Aloeides genus – the Russets. Some of you may have seen the partial Aloeides phylogeny that was published in November’s newsletter. Following on from this, I’ve done some additional analysis of the mitochondrial C01 barcodes that I received from BOLD (University of Guelph, Canada). Note that this work is running in parallel with Jonathan Colville’s BED project, to which (with your help) in excess of 400 Aloeides samples have been submitted. The BED study hopes to analyse up to 1 000 genes of nuclear DNA and will, hopefully, resolve ancestral relationships of many South African butterfly genera (including Aloeides) and also provide timelines as to when various evolutionary branches occurred. In contrast, the results and conclusions outlined below are based entirely on 33 barcodes that I received from BOLD, which included 27 Aloeides sequences (22 taxa). For those of you unfamiliar with DNA Barcodes, they are character strings, 658 letters long, consisting of a sequence of the following letters: A, T, C and G in a specific order. These letters represent abbreviations for the molecules forming the nucleotides of a controlled section of one side of the mitochondrial DNA ladder. I’d like to thank André Coetzer for writing a neat program, to deliminate the above strings, by adding spaces between the characters. Once this has been done, it is relatively easy to compare pairs of barcodes with one another using Excel. I’ve attached a typical example below:

ATLEP038 ATLEP035 Aloeides almeida Aloeides henningi T A C T T T A T A T T T T A T T T T T G G A A T T T G A G C A G G A A T A G T A G G A A C A T C T T A A C T T T A T A T T T T A T T T T T G G A A T T T G A G C A G G T A T A G T A G G A A C A T C T T T A A G A G T T T T A A T T C G T A T A G A A T T A G G A A C C C C T G G A T C T T T A A T T G G A T A A G A G T T T T A A T T C G A A T A G A A T T A G G A A C C C C C G G A T C T T T A A T T G G A G A T G A T C A A A T T T A T A A T A C T A T T G T T A C A G C T C A T G C T T T T A T T A T A A T G A T G A T C A A A T T T A T A A C A C T A T T G T T A C A G C T C A T G C T T T T A T T A T A A T T T T C T T T A T A G T T A T A C C T A T T A T A A T T G G A G G A T T T G G A A A T T G A T T A G T T T C T T T A T A G T T A T A C C A A T T A T A A T T G G A G G A T T T G G A A A T T G A T T A G T A C C T T T A A T A T T A G G A G C A C C T G A T A T A G C A T T T C C A C G A A T A A A T A A C T A C C T T T A A T A T T A G G A G C A C C A G A T A T A G C A T T T C C A C G A A T A A A T A A T A T A A G A T T T T G A C T T C T A C C A C C T T C A T T A C T A T T A T T A A T T T C A A G T A G A T A A G A T T T T G A C T T T T A C C A C C T T C A T T A C T A T T A T T A A T T T C A A G T A G T A T T G T A G A A A A T G G A G C T G G T A C A G G A T G A A C A G T G T A C C C C C C A C T T T A A T T G T A G A A A A T G G A G T T G G T A C A G G A T G A A C A G T A T A C C C C C C G C T T T C A T C A A A T G T A G C T C A T A G A G G A T C T T C T G T T G A T T T A G C T A T T T T T T C C C A T C A A A T G T A G C T C A T A G A G G A T C T T C T G T T G A T T T A G C T A T T T T T T C T C T T C A T C T T G C T G G T G T G T C A T C A A T T T T A G G A G C A A T T A A C T T T A T T A C C T T C A T C T T G C T G G T G T A T C A T C A A T T T T A G G A G C A A T T A A C T T T A T T A C A A C T A T T A T T A A T A T A C G A A T T A A T A A T T T A T C A T T T G A T C A A A T A T C T T A A C T A T T A T T A A T A T A C G A A T T A A T A A T T T A T C A T T T G A T C A A A T A T C T T T A T T T A T T T G A G C T G T A G G A A T T A C T G C A T T A T T A T T A T T A T T A T C T T T A T A T T T A T T T G A G C T G T A G G A A T T A C T G C A T T A T T A T T A T T A T T A T C T T T A C C T G T T T T A G C A G G A G C A A T T A C A A T A T T A C T A A C T G A T C G T A A C T T A A A C C T G T T T T A G C A G G A G C A A T T A C A A T A T T A T T A A C T G A T C G T A A T T T A A A T A C T T C A T T T T T T G A T C C A G C T G G A G G A G G A G A T C C C A T T T T A T A T C A A C T A C T T C A T T T T T T G A T C C A G C T G G G G G A G G A G A C C C A A T T T T A T A T C A A C A T T T A T T T A T T T A T T T

Comparison Aloeides henningi / Aloeides almeida 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.04%

Aloeidestrimeni trimeni

Aloeidestitei

Aloeidesthyra thyra

Aloeidestaikosama

Aloeides swanepoeli

Aloeidessusanae

Aloeidessimplex

Aloeidespierus

Aloeidesnubilus

Aloeides margaretae

Aloeidesmacmasteri

Aloeidesjuana

Aloeideshenningi

Aloeidesdryas

Aloeidesdicksoni

Aloeidesdepicta

Aloeidesdentatis maseruna

Aloeidesdamarensis damarensis

Aloeidescaledoni

Aloeidesbarklyi

Aloeides aranda Aloeidesalmeida

trimeni

Aloeides trimeni trimeni Aloeides

0.68%

7.95%

7.61%

3.19%

4.91%

3.05%

3.72%

7.61%

3.38%

7.28%

7.46%

5.41%

7.61%

3.89%

3.72%

3.89%

7.45%

7.61%

8.12%

7.28%

8.29%

5.41%

7.28%

6.77% 3.72%

trimeni

Aloeides trimeni trimeni Aloeides

7.81%

7.35%

3.28%

4.44%

2.96%

3.68%

7.35%

3.37%

6.89%

7.56%

4.90%

7.35%

3.68%

3.83%

3.52%

7.04%

7.35%

7.66%

7.04%

8.27%

4.99%

4.90%

7.20%

7.39%

6.43% 3.68%

Aloeides titei titei Aloeides

2.28%

7.25%

7.75%

8.05%

6.53%

1.52%

7.29%

2.89%

2.39%

8.97%

2.13%

6.84%

6.99%

6.84%

1.52%

0.61%

1.82%

2.89%

1.22%

9.13%

8.97%

1.52%

4.84%

8.36% 7.29%

thyra

Aloeides thyra thyra Aloeides

7.08%

8.05%

7.59%

6.38%

2.28%

7.14%

2.74%

0.00%

8.66%

0.76%

6.38%

6.53%

6.08%

2.28%

2.58%

3.04%

2.28%

8.82%

8.66%

1.98%

4.99%

8.51% 6.84%

taikosama taikosama

Aloeides Aloeides

1.73%

4.32%

4.15%

6.56%

4.84%

6.39%

7.08%

6.38%

7.08%

5.18%

5.01%

6.39%

7.08%

7.25%

6.22%

7.25%

6.91% 4.49%

taikosama taikosama

Aloeides Aloeides

5.73%

6.08%

7.45%

6.53%

7.45%

8.45%

6.38%

7.90%

6.53%

6.08%

7.14%

7.90%

7.60%

7.90%

8.05%

6.50%

6.38%

7.75%

7.96%

7.45% 6.19%

swanepoeli swanepoeli

SAMPLES (22 TAXA) (22 SAMPLES

Aloeides Aloeides

5.26%

7.74%

4.64%

7.59%

7.66%

5.42%

7.59%

4.95%

5.26%

4.80%

7.43%

7.59%

8.05%

7.59%

8.36%

5.42%

7.89%

8.58%

7.43% 4.95%

Aloeides susanae susanae Aloeides

6.23%

3.95%

5.32%

6.54%

6.99%

6.38%

3.19%

3.04%

3.19%

5.93%

6.23%

6.53%

5.78%

6.84%

8.82%

6.99%

6.23%

6.40%

6.08% 0.91%

Aloeides simplex simplex Aloeides ALOEIDES

6.69%

2.28%

2.39%

8.66%

2.13%

6.84%

6.69%

6.53%

0.30%

1.52%

0.61%

2.58%

1.52%

8.82%

8.66%

1.82%

6.86%

8.36% 6.69%

Aloeides pierus pierus Aloeides

6.53%

7.34%

6.08%

7.29%

4.56%

4.41%

4.56%

6.38%

6.99%

6.23%

7.60%

6.19%

6.08%

6.69%

6.71%

6.69%

4.26%

samples samples

nubilus Aloeides

2.87%

8.66%

2.28%

5.62%

5.47%

5.78%

1.98%

2.43%

2.58%

1.98%

2.89%

8.82%

8.66%

2.13%

4.52%

7.60% 5.78%

margaretae margaretae

Aloeides Aloeides

8.93%

0.80%

6.70%

6.86%

6.38%

2.39%

2.71%

3.19%

2.39%

8.93%

2.07%

4.78%

8.77% 7.02%

below macmasteri

Aloeides

Aloeides Aloeides

8.51%

6.69%

6.99%

6.53%

8.36%

8.81%

8.97%

8.51%

9.57%

0.31%

0.30%

8.51%

8.74%

8.81%

6.84%

witheach other and

Aloeides juana juana Aloeides

from from

6.38%

6.53%

6.38%

2.13%

1.82%

2.43%

2.89%

2.13%

8.67%

8.51%

1.52%

4.84%

8.21% 6.84%

tabulated tabulated henningi Aloeides

0.61%

1.22%

6.53%

6.84%

7.14%

6.38%

7.45%

6.81%

6.69%

6.84%

7.33%

6.08% 3.04%

Aloeides henningi henningi Aloeides

1.52%

6.38%

6.99%

6.23%

7.29%

7.12%

6.99%

6.69%

7.18%

6.23%

2.89%

sequences sequences

Aloeides henningi henningi Aloeides

6.23%

6.53%

6.84%

6.53%

7.14%

6.66%

6.53%

6.84%

6.71%

6.08% 3.04%

Aloeides dryas dryas Aloeides

hole

1.52%

0.61%

2.28%

1.52%

8.51%

8.36%

1.82%

3.90%

8.05%

6.38%

genus,

W havebeencompared theare results

Aloeides dryas dryas Aloeides

1.82%

2.74%

1.22%

8.98%

8.81%

1.22%

4.52%

8.05% 6.99%

Aloeides dicksoni dicksoni Aloeides

2.89%

1.82%

9.13%

8.97%

2.13%

4.52%

8.66%

6.99% Aloeides

Aloeides depicta depicta Aloeides

3.19%

8.67%

8.51%

2.43%

4.37%

7.75% 6.23%

maseruna

Aloeides dentatis dentatis Aloeides 7.0% >

<= 7.0% <=

damarensis 9.75%

9.57%

1.82%

5.15%

8.66% 7.60%

damarensis damarensis

Aloeides Aloeides

damarensis 0.00%

8.67%

8.74%

8.98% 6.81%

damarensis damarensis

RED

Aloeides Aloeides GREEN

BROWN

8.51%

8.74%

8.81% 6.84%

Aloeides caledoni caledoni Aloeides

4.52%

8.27%

6.69%

possible justification for subgenera in future taxonomic review taxonomic future in subgenera for justification possible

Significant genetic differences; differences; genetic Significant

not particularly closely related closely particularly not

Different species within the the specieswithin Different

same species and subspecies speciesand same Closely related species, related Closely

Aloeides barklyi barklyi Aloeides 3.5% >

<= 3.5% <=

8.74%

6.55%

TABLE INDICATING PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCESTABLEINDICATING BARCODES CO1 BETWEEN IN 27 KEY TO COLOUR CODING: COLOUR TO KEY

Aloeides aranda aranda Aloeides

6.23% Aloeides almeida almeida Aloeides

Some comments on selected results from the table on the previous page: 1. The degree of variation in Aloeides barcodes is surprisingly large. The greatest difference in the table is between Aloeides damarensis damarensis and Aloeides dentatis maseruna; this figure (9.75%) is greater than the difference between Aloeides dentatis and Tylopaedia sardonyx; it seems possible that, for future taxonomic work, the creation of a few subgenera may be appropriate. 2. The two Aloeides damarensis damarensis specimens (one from Three Sisters, Northern Cape and one from Jansenville, Eastern Cape) have identical barcodes. You will notice that their comparison percentages in relation to other species are not the same however. This is because one of the A. damarensis barcodes received from BOLD was slightly short of the full 658 characters (there are a few instances of this). What I’ve done in these situations is to align the two fields and to truncate the longer barcode of the species that I’m comparing, and then divide the resulting number of letter-differences by the reduced total number of characters. 3. After making adjustments as per A. damarensis (above), Aloeides margaretae and Aloeides thyra thyra also have identical barcodes. There are four possible explanations for this:

• The samples were contaminated. This is not impossible, although these two samples were prepared several weeks apart. • The specimens have been incorrectly identified. Once again, this is not impossible although to my eye, the Aloeides margaretae specimen (from Jacobsbaai) and the Aloeides thyra thyra specimen (from the Cape Peninsula) look fairly typical of their respective species. Relooking at the specimens again, this is the most likely explanation. • While the mitochondrial barcodes are the same, it is possible that nuclear genes (for example those responsible for wing patterns) are sufficiently different for the two butterflies to constitute separate species. • A fourth possibility is that the current taxonomy is incorrect

4. The Aloeides macmasteri sample (reference ATLEP018) should probably be ignored for the purposes of this study. Graham Henning queried this after reviewing the phylogeny published in November, and having relooked at the A. macmasteri specimen – from Louriesfontein, Northern Cape – it may indeed represent A. damarensis although a very unusual specimen, with a “flat” underside.

5. The two Aloeides trimeni trimeni samples (one from Frankfort, Free State and one from KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga) are close to one another (0.68%) despite looking significantly different. Conversely a specimen of Aloeides henningi from Greylingstad, Mpumalanga and one from Elandshoogte, Mpumalanga vary by 1.52%, even though they appear fairly similar. I’d like to sequence more samples before I try and make my own attempt at arranging the Aloeides into species-groups, but, based on the comparison table data, I’ve calculated the average differences of each taxa in relation to one another. The results are summarized in the table below:

COMPARISON OF ALOEIDES 1/. Aloeides aranda is the “most different” of the Russets, BARCODES WITH OTHER ALOEIDES closely followed by Aloeides damarensis damarensis. BOLD REF TAXA % ATLEP004 Aloeides aranda 7.67% ATLEP015 Aloeides damarensis damarensis 7.26% ATLEP018 Aloeides macmasteri 7.11% 2/. Aloeides taikosama, Aloeides barklyi, Aloeides ATLEP014 Aloeides damarensis damarensis 7.09% swanepoeli and Aloeides pierus could also be characterized ATLEP016 Aloeides taikosama 6.77% ATLEP033 Aloeides barklyi 6.37% as being mildly eccentric… ATLEP007 Aloeides swanepoeli 6.34% ATLEP021 Aloeides pierus 5.90% ATLEP023 Aloeides taikosama 5.85% 3/. Conversely, Aloeides dryas occupies last place in the ATLEP037 Aloeides trimeni trimeni 5.78% ATLEP038 Aloeides almeida 5.62% table and may be considered a model of conventional ATLEP022 Aloeides henningi 5.59% ATLEP032 Aloeides trimeni trimeni 5.58% Russet-ness! ATLEP035 Aloeides henningi 5.57% You may notice that there are two Aloeides dryas in the ATLEP005 Aloeides dentatis maseruna 5.51% ATLEP003 Aloeides henningi 5.46% table; the second one is probably A. titei. ATLEP030 Aloeides susanae 5.46% ATLEP029 Aloeides margaretae 5.30% ATLEP009 Aloeides depicta 5.27% Finally, I decided to compare each Aloeides barcode with a ATLEP031 Aloeides dicksoni 5.27% ATLEP010 Aloeides titei 5.25% benchmark from another genus. I selected Tylopaedia ATLEP034 Aloeides thyra thyra 5.16% ATLEP008 Aloeides juana 5.08% sardonyx sardonyx as, based on a paper I received from ATLEP017 Aloeides dryas 5.07% ATLEP026 Aloeides simplex 5.06% Alan Heath, Tylopaedia and Phasis are ancestors of the ATLEP019 Aloeides caledoni 5.05% Aloeides. The 2014 paper is titled “Phylogeny of the ATLEP024 Aloeides nubilus 5.01% ATLEP025 Aloeides dryas 4.77% Aphnaeinae: myrmecophilous African COMPARISON OF ALOEIDES WITH butterflies with carnivorous and herbivorous life TYLOPAEDIA SARDONYX SARDONYX histories” by John Boyle et al. I’ve attached a link below. BOLD REF TAXA % ATLEP014 Aloeides damarensis damarensis 12.13% ATLEP015 Aloeides damarensis damarensis 12.13% ATLEP018 Aloeides macmasteri 11.81% Aphnaeinae ATLEP007 Aloeides swanepoeli 11.50% ATLEP016 Aloeides taikosama 11.50% ATLEP004 Aloeides aranda 11.34% For interest, BOLD’s brief phylogeny in November’s ATLEP037 Aloeides trimeni trimeni 11.17% ATLEP032 Aloeides trimeni trimeni 10.79% newsletter came to the same conclusion regarding the ATLEP003 Aloeides henningi 10.39% ATLEP035 Aloeides henningi 10.39% ancestral status of Tylopaedia. ATLEP023 Aloeides taikosama 10.36% ATLEP022 Aloeides henningi 10.24% ATLEP021 Aloeides pierus 10.08% It seems logical to me that the species that exhibit the largest ATLEP038 Aloeides almeida 9.76% ATLEP030 Aloeides susanae 9.57% differences in the table are the most evolved and vice versa. ATLEP029 Aloeides margaretae 9.25% ATLEP005 Aloeides dentatis maseruna 9.13% ATLEP034 Aloeides thyra thyra 9.13% On this basis, Aloeides dryas is the most primitive member of ATLEP008 Aloeides juana 8.98% ATLEP010 Aloeides titei 8.98% the genus and other species have radiated from this taxon, ATLEP017 Aloeides dryas 8.98% ATLEP019 Aloeides caledoni 8.66% hence its relative similarity to other Aloeides. ATLEP009 Aloeides depicta 8.50% ATLEP033 Aloeides barklyi 8.50% ATLEP031 Aloeides dicksoni 8.45% Perhaps surprisingly, Aloeides damarensis damarensis ATLEP026 Aloeides simplex 8.19% ATLEP024 Aloeides nubilus 7.87% appears to be the most evolved representative of the ATLEP025 Aloeides dryas 7.87% Russets.

To conclude, I must emphasise that the above work is based on a very limited number of samples and that it is constructed entirely on the basis of mitochondrial C01 barcodes. If I understand Prof Rauri Bowie (University of Berkeley, California) correctly, one of the dangers of barcodes is that an “A” for example, can be replaced by a “T” and at some future stage, change back to an “A”. This represents two evolutionary steps, although as far as the barcode is concerned, the character- string is unchanged: the information has been lost.

With the Aloeides however, we are typically looking at differences of more than 30 base-pairs, so I’m not sure that this effect is likely to materially change things. In any case, I consider the above work an exciting start and I hope to build the Aloeides comparison table considerably in the months ahead. 11

Farewell to Len McLeod (Andrew Morton)

The Western Cape branch had a farewell party for Len McLeod, who is emigrating to England. The party was held at Harald Selb’s house in Somerset West; Andrew Morton sent some photos.

Blast from the past (Andrew Morton)

Andrew forwarded some photos from the 2011 LepSoc Africa in Cape Town

Martin Lunderstedt, Hermann Staude, Steve Woodhall, Dave Edge, Jeffrey Jeremy Dobson, Bennie Coetzer, Peter Steve Collins, Andrew Morton, Josiane Crocombe Roos Goosens, Jeremy Dobson

Chris Dobson

Chris Dobson was married, on 23 November, to Charlise Rossouw. I’m sure you will join me in wishing them everything of the best in future, and many more amazing travel-adventures

Meet the man from California (Justin Bode)

Justin sent me an article about a Californian man, Art Shapiro, who has been counting butterflies for 47 years. The results of his study are incredibly valuable and the underlying trend is crystal- clear: butterflies in California are getting scarcer.

Art Shapiro

A Lepidoptera checklist from Turkey (Thomas Baron)

LepSoc Africa member Thomas Baron has completed a checklist of Lepidoptera from the province of Mugla in south-western Turkey, comprising the super-families Noctuoidea, Bombycoidea, Lasiocampoidea, Drepanoidea, Axioidea, Zygaenoidea and Cossoidea.

Very little previous research has been undertaken in this region, so this is a really important volume of work.

Checklist from Turkey

Aloeides stevensoni (Etienne Terblanche)

Many of you will have heard about the recent discovery, by Etienne Terblanche and Vaughan Jessnitz, of a population of Wolkberg Russet (Aloeides stevensoni) within the Bewaarkloof Nature Reserve, Limpopo province.

Etienne has produced an article on the butterfly titled “Observations, questions, speculations – a picture essay”; please click on the link below:

Aloeides stevensoni

Bursary Student (Barbara van Asch)

Barbara van Asch, a senior lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch, is looking for a candidate for a MSc bursary. The title is “Diversity of Insects Associated with Olives” and the deadline for applications is 31 December 2019.

Details are included in the link below:

Bursary

Albert’s Farm (Jan Praet)

Jan Praet has been managing the construction of a butterfly garden at Alberts Farm conservancy, south of Northcliff.

The first phase involved moving rubble in between a few large logs to create some structured topography. The area was then covered with soil and is now ready for composting and fertilization prior to planting, which should happen early next year. The planting will be a community project and Jan will share some pictures (before and after) for this newsletter.

This project will receive some media coverage and Jan hopes to showcase Lepsoc Africa's activities; subject to local council approval, he intends to put our details on an information board at the garden.

Fire in the Overberg

Fanie Rautenbach forwarded the following link, which refers to an incident where a fire was deliberately started by two children in the Greyton area.

It appears that the fire has incinerated the Boesmanskloof home of the Greyton Skolly (Thestor kaplani); LepSoc Africa will monitor the locality next season.

Overberg fire

Dragonfly App (Warwick Tarboton)

Warwick Tarboton, in conjunction with John Wilkinson, Michѐle Tarboton and Herman van den Berg (developer of The Tree App), has produced an App titled “Dragonflies and Damselflies of South Africa”.

It can be downloaded for R199.99 – I’ve just purchased it myself and it’s really good!

It has in excess of 1200 images and includes some neat search functions, detailed maps, listing options, conservation status and more.

Edible caterpillars (Barbara van Asch)

I’ve attached a link (below) to a paper titled “Mitochondrial genomes and polymorphic regions of Gonimbrasia belina and Gynanisa maja (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), two important edible caterpillars of Southern Africa”.

The paper – by a team of authors, including LepSoc Africa member Barbara van Asch - represents the first step towards assessing the genetic diversity, population structure, and phylogeography of African edible caterpillars.

African Saturnidae

Southern Cape Branch – Field trip to Witelsbos (Dave Edge)

BUTTERFLY SURVEY REPORT

Property name Witelsbos 1:50 000 map 3424AA Owner CapePine Manager Godfrey Visagie – Plantation Manager Cell number 082 374 865 Office number 042 285 0240 (Angeline) Email address [email protected] Date of visit 2 December 2019

HABITAT DETAILS

Vegetation type FOz1 Southern Afrotemperate Forest (valleys) FFh9 Garden Route Shale Fynbos (plateau) FFs20 Tsitsikamma Sandstone Fynbos (plateau)

Altitude From 180m on the plateau down to 60m in the river valleys

Habitat ecotopes Fynbos on the plateau areas transformed by plantations and extensive alien invasion. Forested river valleys with broad and narrow (less used) forestry roads

Vegetation

Large trees Afrocarpus falcatus; Podocarpus latifolius; Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus; Cunonia capensis; Nuxia floribunda; Ocotea bullata; Ilex mitis; Olinia ventosa; Canthium inerme

Large shrubs Osteospermum monilifera; Diospyros dichrophylla; Virgilia oroboides; Halleria lucida

Butterflies

Forested areas Rainforest Dull Brown (Cassionympha cassius); Southern Mocker Swallowtail (Papilio dardanus cenea); Eastern Dotted Border (Mylothris agathina agathina)

Roads or paths Tsitsikamma Giant Russet (Aloeides pallida juno) (open spaces where butterflies bask to warm up)

Aloeides pallida juno

The map (Figure 1) shows where the A. p. juno were recorded and Table 1 gives the waypoint coordinates.

At WP326 and WP093 aliens were removed – Black Wattle, Blackwood, Rooikrans and Hakea. More follow up is required in this area, with use of poison on the stumps.

Aliens occur in greater density at WP092, WP094, WP327 and WP328 and chain saws will be needed for the larger ones.

Figure 1 Map indicating where A. p. juno were found 2 December 2019

Waypoint South East Altitude Count 326 34 01.824 24 11.314 79 2♂ 1♀ 327 34 01.247 24 11.436 150 0 328 34 01.203 24 11.560 113 1♂ 1♀ 329 34 01.176 24 11.246 177 0 092 34 01.205 24 11.547 114 1♀ 093 34 01.815 24 11.318 78 1♀ 094 34 01.213 24 11.502 117 1♂

Table 1 Waypoint details

A link to the SALCA data sheet regarding Aloeides pallida juno is attached below:

Aloeides pallida juno

Hazards of butterfly photography

Willem and Veronica de Voogt were searching for Orachrysops niobe within the Brenton Blue Reserve in November. Willem took this picture, which demonstrates a rather unusual difficulty associated with butterfly photography…

Where’s that Garden Commodore? Veronica de Voogt at the Brenton Blue Reserve

Mountains of the Moon (Jeremy Dobson)

I visited the Rwenzori Mountains – western Uganda - in December with my wife Colleen, my daughter, Michelle, and her boyfriend, SD Steyn. We’d planned to climb Mount Stanley, the highest mountain in the Rwenzori range (5 110 m), an eight-day hiking expedition from the park entrance near Kasese.

The first day involves an ascent of about 1 000 m through some nice Afromontane forest. The day was a bit cloudy so I didn’t see too many butterflies, but there were a few Central Dry-leaf Commodore (Precis tugela pyriformis), Northern Short-tailed Lady (Vanessa dimorphica dimorphica) and Mountain Swallowtail (Papilio leucotaenia). At our first stop, Sine Camp, there was a colony of Mountain Banded Bush Brown (Bicyclus aurivillii aurivillii).

Precis tugela pyriformis Bicyclus aurivillii aurivillii Vanessa dimorphica dimorphica Sine Camp, Rwenzori, Uganda Sine Camp, Rwenzori, Uganda Sine Camp, Rwenzori, Uganda

On our second day, we ascended through the “bamboo zone” (which is rapidly extending apparently - a result of global-warming) and arrived in the so-called “heather zone”. I saw very few Papilionoidea at these altitudes, although there were several day flying Lepidoptera of other families; I’ve attached an example below. The vegetation in the heather zone was extraordinary and I saw several plants that I hadn’t seen before.

During the course of our third day, we reached the “alpine zone” at an altitude in excess of about 3 500 m. It is very wet and marshy in this region and we made slow progress to our third camp, Bugata (4 062 m). The only butterfly I saw in this habitat was the Rwenzori Mountain Blue (Harpendyreus marungensis wollastoni).

Alpine zone, Rwenzori, Uganda Day-flying geometrid Harpendyreus marungensis wollastoni Mutinida Camp, Rwenzori, Uganda Bugata, Rwenzori, Uganda

Unfortunately, at Bugata, Colleen experienced severe altitude sickness and it was decided that she would be carried back the following day. I accompanied her on the return journey (we compressed the route into two days, the second of which she was able to walk by herself), while Michelle and SD pushed on for the summit.

Despite not reaching Mt Stanley (Michelle and SD summited on 24 December and returned safely), I had a memorable five-day hike in the Mountains of the Moon, a pristine wilderness area which is well worth a visit. A word of caution though: walking for days, in gumboots, through wet, sticky mud is tiring. I would give this hike an FH rating (where “H” stands for “Hard”), so please don’t attempt it if you are not reasonably fit.

One benefit of curtailing our expedition was that I managed to visit Queen Elizabeth Park on Christmas Day and also explored the hills around Kasese. This is relatively dry savanna (in the rain-shadow of the Rwenzoris) - I didn’t see too many butterflies, but there were several African Arab Tip (Colotis aurigineus) and a couple of Midnight-blue Playboy (Pilodeudorix zeloides) at Ugandan Crested Crane (the country’s national bird) at Queen Elizabeth Park Kasese and we saw Uganda Purple Tip (Colotis hetaera ankolensis) at QE Park.

Belenois creona creona Colotis aurigineus Brakefieldia phaea phaea Kasese, Uganda Kasese, Uganda Kasese, Uganda

Colotis euippe complexivus Anthene talboti Pilodeudorix (Pilodeudorix) zeloides Kasese, Uganda Kasese, Uganda Kasese, Uganda

Mpanga and Zika (Jeremy Dobson and Rogers Muhwezi)

Following our Rwenzori adventure my family returned home, but I stayed on for a few days, in the company of Rogers Muhwezi. Rogers had arranged accommodation for me at Mpanga and Entebbe, plus food and transport for the duration of my stay. If you wish to visit Uganda for birds or butterflies, why not let Rogers be your driver, guide and trip organiser ([email protected])?

I spent two days at Mpanga and one day at Zika. There were loads of butterflies at Mpanga (there have been good recent rains), but perhaps not as much diversity as usual. Notable sightings included Black-blotched Acraea (Acraea insignis insignis), which was caught by Rogers and which is a new species record for the forest. LepSoc Africa member Thomas Baron complied a comprehensive butterfly checklist for Mpanga after the 2014 Afrotropical Workshop in Uganda; the species count now stands at 315: not bad for a small forest of less than 400 hectares in extent.

Butterflies are great habitat indicator-species on account of their conspicuousness and relatively well known distributions. They don’t get much more conspicuous than Zaddach’s Mimic Forester (Euphaedra zaddachii crawshayi), which is usually one of the more familiar sightings at Mpanga. I mentioned to Rogers that I hadn’t seen any and he replied that he hadn’t encountered them at Mpanga for more than a year. This may represent a normal fluctuation, but it could just as easily be a serious warning-shot, that requires our full attention. Hopefully this butterfly will rebound in 2020, but it is also possible that it has disappeared forever, along with several other less conspicuous species. While Mpanga is relatively well preserved (the surrounding transition zone is in a similar condition to what Manguzi forest (KZN, South Africa) was about 20-years ago, approximately 90% of Uganda’s forests have Mpanga Forest been destroyed – it seems possible that, with regard to insect numbers, there is a significant delay between cause and effect…

I spent my last day at Zika near Entebbe; no Variable False Acraea (Pseudacraea dolomena albostriata) but there were a few Cream-barred Euptera (Euptera hirundo) and a couple of Uganda Pin-striped Liptena (Liptena flavicans katera). Rogers found a Geritola that I still need to identify.

Uganda never disappoints and this trip was no exception.

Acraea quirina quirina Acraea alcinoe camerunica Afriodinia neavei neavei Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda

Anthene ligures ligures Apaturopsis cleochares cleochares Bebearia absolon entebbiae Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda

Euphaedra uganda uganda Ypthima albida albida Charaxes paphianus subpallida Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda

Telchinia althoffi neavei Cynandra opis bernardii Papilio dardanus dardanus Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda

Armenia Conference

Dubi Benyamini requested that I notify LepSoc Africa members of a Butterfly Congress, to be held in Yerevan, Armenia between 14-18th June 2020.

Dubi tells me that Armenia is a beautiful and friendly country with about 276 butterfly species and subspecies. The organizer is Dr Noushig Zarikian – I will circulate the official invitation as soon as I receive it.

Margate – Latest news

Many of you will be aware of the new Margate water pipeline, which is being constructed adjacent to the type locality of two butterflies of conservation concern: Coastal Rocksitter (Durbania amakosa albescens) and White Spotted Ketsi Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops ketsi leucomacula).

LepSoc Africa, especially Simon Joubert, were involved at the design stage, to try and mitigate the damage caused by the pipeline and the construction thereof.

Steve Woodhall visited the site in November and took a few photographs (below). It appears that our recommendations are not being complied with in all respects, but that the Coastal Rocksitter is alive and well and that the pipeline and enabling works are not impacting on the site too badly.

This trench is where the old dirt road into Sea Slopes used to be; there appears to be little direct damage to the Durbania habitat

Coastal Rocksitter (Durbania amakosa albescens) Steve Woodhall 01 Dec 2019

Storage of Lepidoptera collections (Jeremy Dobson)

There is an urgent need for LepSoc Africa to find a storage facility for Lepidoptera specimens. I haven’t yet managed to take this any further, but to reiterate, there are two options that we could look at:

1. The minimum requirement would be approximately 500 m2 of industrial storage space (enough to contain about 1 million specimens and twice this with racking), with an office component for deliveries and sorting and a study and toilet. We would need to appoint a permanent manager / curator, whose job description would include looking after the specimens, sorting and cataloguing the collection and coordinating visits by researchers. 2. The ultimate goal would be the construction of a national Butterfly Centre. The ABRI collection could possibly be purchased and with this and other collections, we would hold the largest and most comprehensive collection of African Lepidoptera anywhere in the world. In addition to the storage component (say 1 500 m2), the Centre could have a public display area, a bookshop, a photographic gallery and possibly a butterfly flight-house and a restaurant. I appeal to all members of LepSoc Africa to think carefully about this pressing issue and to get back to me with any ideas or suggestions.

Ian Engelbrecht of SANBI is preparing a code of practice for curation of museum specimens, which will be complete shortly. This will be an important reference for the proposed new butterfly centre.

New Field Guide

A new field guide, titled “Butterflies and Moths of Southern Africa” has been produced by LepSoc Africa member Simon van Noort

Sasol - Field Guide

Hybridisation of Heliconius butterflies Steve Woodhall forward this link to a paper on hybridization of Heliconius butterflies. Mark Williams, Steve Collins and Hermann Staude have, in turn, cautioned about the current climate in US academia, where striving for sponsorship sometimes trumps scientific principles. http://nautil.us/blog/do-butterflies-challenge-the-meaning-of-species

A new locality record for Neptis trigonophora

Cameron Blair collected a butterfly that appears to be the Barred Sailor (Neptis trigonophora) in Southbroom on the south coast. This is a very interesting record; whether it represents a significant range extension (in South Africa, this species is only currently known from the Port St Johns area), or whether it has simply been missed previously is unknown. I suspect the former; I’ve always looked out for it when I’ve visited the Umtamvuna area in the past. I’ve arranged to process a DNA sample from Cameron’s specimen, which will be submitted to the BED project for analysis.

Books for sale Andrew Morton has the following books for sale; please contact Andrew directly at: [email protected]

Butterflies of SA Butterflies of Butterfly Lives Insect Natural Lepidoptera of SA - Dr E Pinhey Southern Africa S Beaufoy History Host Plants G van Son A D Imms Douglas Kroon

Life Histories of SA The Moths of South Natural History of SA Butterflies - SA Red Book – Lycaenid Butterflies Africa – Vol 1 British Butterflies - Lycaenidae Butterflies Clark and Dickson Vol 1 and 2 Desmond Murray Stephen and Graham Henning

Fourth Afrotropical Lepidoptera Workshop

Planning is underway for the next expedition, which will be held in Gabon in November 2020. Positive feedback has been received from the Gabon Conservation Authorities and I’m hopeful that written assurances regarding the granting of research permits will be received soon.

First Notification

Registration Form

All available places for the Workshop have already been taken, but if you are interested in the expedition and haven’t yet submitted an entry form, please do so: it is likely that one or two people currently on the list won’t be able to make it. Entries will be treated on a first come – first served basis.

Costs will have been finalized and research permits acquired before deposits are called for in June.

LepSoc Africa Transcribing Project

As noted in May’s newsletter, the members of LepSoc Africa hold a considerable amount of original letters, notes and other memorabilia, related to African Lepidoptera and African lepidopterists.

At the suggestion of Silvia Kirkman, I’d like to initiate a formal scanning and archiving project, to preserve these unique documents. We hope to scan and, using specialized software, transcribe handwritten notes into editable text. The work will be fully cross-referenced and, once complete, should become a very interesting and valuable resource. There may be a publishing opportunity in future.

I appeal for a volunteer to assist with this undertaking: assume at this stage that there will be no salary, although full recognition will be awarded and all costs will be borne by LSA. Although not essential, it would probably assist if applicants are reasonably familiar with the scientific names of South African butterflies.

Family membership

As of 1 Jan next year, we will be implementing a new category of membership: Family members pay R450, which includes membership for a married couple (or life partners), plus dependent children under the age of 18-years. For a retired couple, the rate is R350.

From 01 January 2020, membership of LepSoc Africa will be free to anyone under the age of 15.

Communication with LepSoc Africa members

In an attempt to resolve the “spam” problem (a large percentage of emails sent using the bulk- mailer end up in our member’s spam folders), LSA intend to circulate most non-membership related correspondence through the branch chairman. This should also make the correspondence more personal and add a regional touch. Would everyone please check that they have their relevant branch chairman’s email address in their contacts list? This is a common reason why emails get blocked. From our side, we will try and keep distribution lists small, avoid the gratuitous use of capital letters (another red-flag apparently) and avoid including attachments, if at all possible.

Permits

LepSoc Africa members can now apply, online, to be included on provincial research-permits. Details as follow:

• Log on to the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa website www.lepsocafrica.org • Go to ‘Members Only’ and then click on ’Permits’ • Please read the relevant information and then click on ‘Apply for a permit’ • Complete the form and tick the Acknowledgement boxes. Without ticking these boxes you will not be able to submit the form • Submit the form • The system acknowledges that the application has been received and will be attended to (you will receive a message “Your application has been received and will be attended to”) • An email is sent to the Permits Administrator (PA) advising him/her of the new application • By the end of May each year the member must submit his/her observations to the PA

NOTE: Western Cape permits must be applied for individually, as described elsewhere on the website.

Subscription reduction for new members

LepSoc Africa Council have resolved that subscriptions, for new members, will be discounted by 50% after 30 June each year. As you know, annual subs are due on 01 January. To encourage new members to enrol during the latter months of the year, membership is available at half-price between 1 July and 31 December; thereafter normal rates apply.

Members Cards for LepSoc Africa members

LepSoc Africa council have prepared Membership Cards for all paid-up members of the Society. The cards will be produced on 01 July each year and will be distributed to our members as quickly as possible. Although LSA subscriptions are due on 01 January, we have made the cards valid until 30 June the following year. The reasons for this are as follows:

• As it will take a month or two to circulate the cards, we considered it wasn’t a great benefit to receive a card in say, October, which then expires on 31 December.

• We are trying to implement permit cycles with the various provinces, which run from 01 July to 30 June the following year; this is to coincide with the butterfly season. The Member Cards will become a form of identification, linked to the permits.

Brenton Blue – Wanted Poster

There were no sightings of the Brenton Blue (Orachrysops niobe) last season; this was despite regular visits to the Brenton Blue reserve by Dave and Hanna Edge. Dave has produced a “Wanted” poster, which he hopes to distribute as widely as possible, to encourage people to look out for this critically endangered species. The Brenton Blue Trust has put up a R20 000 reward for the person who is able to re-discover this butterfly – the Monday after this year’s LepSoc Africa Conference will be dedicated to searches within suitable habitat between Wilderness and Nature's Valley and in the Brenton area.

Brenton Blue - Wanted Poster

Butterflies of the Kruger Park

André van Tonder (the late Herbert Otto's nephew) is arranging a new print run of Herbert’s book Butterflies of the Kruger Park. Funds need to be available before printing, so if you are interested, please pay R518.61 per copy to the account below. This is the estimated price, based on 40 copies.

André Van Tonder ABSA Cheque: 4083636941 Branch code (universal): 632005

Please send a proof of payment to the following email address, which can also be used for inquiries and correspondence: [email protected]

As a reference, include your name and the number of copies required, for example: 2 J Dobson

All copies will be delivered from the printer to a single address in Pretoria; any additional delivery costs will be for your account. If required, André will organize postage of books to a final destination, or you can arrange to collect your copies from Pretoria. 26

UPCOMING EVENTS

Butterfly Evening The next Butterfly Evening will be held at Ruimsig Country Club, Roodepoort on Thursday 9 January at 19h00. This will continue Hermann’s “meet the family” program, introducing LepSoc Africa members to the amazing diversity of Butterflies (Lepidoptera). The cost is R200 per person which includes dinner. Please get to Hermann or myself before ASAP, for catering purposes.

Butterfly Evenings are held at Ruimsig Country Club, Roodepoort, on the 2nd Thursday of every 2nd month – please diarize!

Highveld Butterfly Club braai

The HBC will be hosting its traditional year-starting braai at Hermann Staude’s farm on Sunday 26 January. This is a longstanding and popular event in the local butterfly calendar and gives LepSoc Africa members a chance to catch up on news and to share stories from the December break. Please contact André Coetzer ([email protected]) or Hermann ([email protected]) should you wish to attend – this will be a bring-and-braai; the Highveld Butterfly Club will lay on a few snacks and Hermann will provide the fire, but please bring everything else that you require. Don’t forget to bring camping chairs, sunblock, butterfly nets and cameras – you can pitch up any time after 9h30.

A Google image of Hermann’s farm is attached below (26° 1'37.59"S 27°32'37.06"E)

BOOKS

Butterflies of Cameroon – Limenitidinae (early stages)

Jean-Louis Amiet has produced a new book – in French – on the early stages of butterflies of the Limenitidinae subfamily (Cymothoe, Euphaedra, Pseudacraea etc). The book is expensive (€95 plus postage), but according to Steve Collins, it is superb.

des papillons du Cameroun

LepSoc Africa Book Stock

LepSoc Africa holds a considerable stock of Metamorphosis journals and also books, such as The Emperor Moths of Namibia by Rolf Oberprieler and The Butterflies of Zambia by A. Heath, M. Newport and D. Hancock. The above books are on sale for R150 and R175 respectively. Please order using the LSA Website (http://lepsocafrica.org/) as follows:

From the Home page, select the Publications tab at the top of the page. Select Shop near the top-right of this page. Select what you wish to purchase from the numerous books and back-issues of Metamorphosis contained on this page. Select the Cart and Checkout tab at the top of the page. Once you are happy press Go to Checkout, select the delivery method that you require and Place Order!

Biodiversity of Angola

Biodiversity of Angola by Brian Huntley, Vladimir Russo, Fernanda Lages and Nuno Ferrand, can be purchased from Amazon for $59.99.

The book features a chapter on Lepidoptera by Luís Mendes, A. Bivar-de-Sousa and Mark Williams. The section includes an up to date checklist of the 792 species of Papilionoidea currently recorded from this country.

Acraeinae of Uganda

Acraeinae of Uganda, by Dominique Bernaud, Jean-Pierre Lequeux and Mathias Ziraye may be obtained from NHBS for £93.99.

Acraeinae of Uganda

Moths of Africa (Hermann Hacker)

In February 2019 the first volume of the book-series Moths of Africa was released. The book is a review of the African Boletobiinae and includes descriptions of 4 genera, 266 species and 7 subspecies new to science.

Compiled, primarily, by Hermann Hacker, the book includes input from Ralf Fiebig and Dirk Stadie, whom many of you will remember from last year’s Madagascar Workshop.

It isn’t cheap (€162), but according to Hermann Staude, this book is one of the most important works on African Lepidoptera to be produced in recent years.

Moths of Africa

Dragonfly Book

LepSoc Africa members, Michèle and Warwick Tarboton, have produced an updated edition of their book Dragonflies and Damselflies of South Africa.

Why not keep an eye out for these amazing insects while you are in the field? This book is the perfect reference. Among other outlets, the book may be ordered online from Macro for R248. Dragonflies and Damselflies of South Africa

COLLECTORS CORNER

If you are looking for cabinets, someone I can recommend is Brendan McErlaine (082 446 5136).

Olivier Houe (082 455 3356 or [email protected]) can be contacted for trays, traps, pins or other entomological supplies.

David Horne has requested a spot in “Collectors Corner”. David’s business, “Mad Hornet Entomological Supplies”, carry a range of entomological equipment; David is interested to hear about what items are required by collectors and breeders, in order that he may procure supplies at reasonable prices and ensure ready availability.

Mad HorneT Entomological Supplies (A product of Horne Technologies CC) www.madhornet.co.za [email protected] 076 563 2084

FEATURES

English names for Afrotropical Butterflies (Jeremy Dobson)

Many of you will have seen Etienne Terblanche’s article on Aloeides stevensoni in November’s newsletter. In the article Etienne noted - correctly - the current convention for English names: names should be in lower case, except in instances where authors names or other proper nouns are involved.

For example, we could have “forest Queen”, “Trimen’s sapphire”, or “painted lady”. Presumably, this also depends on whether the names are used at the beginning of a sentence or not. As far as I’m concerned, this convention adds another layer of complication to the English naming process and - in my opinion - it simply looks wrong.

More importantly, I think it is confusing; for example, “Yellow Zulu” clearly refers to a specific butterfly. Is “yellow Zulu”, a species or merely a colour-form, like a yellow bicycle?

The convention currently being adopted elsewhere, unlike scientific nomenclature, is not subject to an official code of practice; as a result, I propose that we simply ignore it for African butterflies!

In this newsletter, capital letters will be used throughout, except in instances where the name involves hyphenated adjectives, such as “Red-line Sapphire”.

At the recent LepSoc Africa conference, Graham Henning (with several witnesses present) very kindly offered to take on the Acraea genus (202 species). Martin Lunderstedt is working on Euriphene and Pseudacraea and Peter Sharland on Cymothoe.

Steve Woodhall has named Azanus in this edition of ABN and is looking at a couple of other genera.

The English naming project aims to finalize names for all African butterfly taxa (currently 6 413 taxa in 320 genera).

The objectives of the project are as follows:

1) To create a single, comprehensive and consistent list of English names for all African butterfly taxa. Afrotropical Butterflies includes most currently recognized English names, although these extend only to species level. More than 50% of African butterflies (in excess of 3 000 taxa) do not currently have English names.

2) To create names that, where possible, assist recognition of butterflies among non-experts (in other words, the vast majority of butterfly enthusiasts)!

Proposed names will be published in this newsletter for information and, if no comments are forthcoming, the names will be adopted henceforth.

3) It should be possible to insert the completed list seamlessly into a world-list of English butterfly names: the names need to take cognizance of butterfly names used elsewhere in the world.

The guidelines are as follows:

• If at all possible, names should assist with identification. Keys could include colour, pattern, size, shape, distribution, flight characteristics or behaviour.

• In line with the above, authors names or the name of the discoverer (which are recognised in the scientific name in any case), should be avoided, if at all possible. Annotation such as “Common” or the names of towns or cities should be used with discretion. Remember, that the names apply to the entire Afrotropical region; “Northern” is unlikely to be an apt name for a South African taxa, unless as a distinction between northern and southern subspecies.

• Names may not exceed 40 characters in length, including spaces or punctuation. Although not essential, by default, names should follow the structure of the scientific taxonomy: a name for the genus or group, a name for the species and, where applicable, a moniker to distinguish subspecies. Soutpansberg Emperor Swallowtail (Papilio ophidicephalus entabeni) for example.

We will try and “finalize” six genera every two months (one genus from each column in the table, below); this is a 9 year project, but if possible – and if I get assistance from enough people – I’m sure we can wrap this up much sooner. The highlighted genera have been processed already:

I believe that, with a concerted effort, we may be able to complete all Afrotropical butterfly families by the end of next year, with the exception of Lycaenidae. The six genera for which proposed English names have been listed for this edition of the newsletter are: Hypolycaena (35 taxa), Coeliades (19 taxa), Azanus (9 taxa), Gegenes (4 taxa), Catopsilia (2 taxa) and Pseudargynnis (single taxon).

GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT Charaxes Charaxes 459 Sarangesa Elfin 28 Euphaedra Forester 345 Celaenorrhinus Dark Sprite 27 Acraea Coster 202 Eagris Flat 27 Iolaus Sapphire 174 Platylesches Hopper 27 Bebearia Small Forester 163 Sevenia Tree Nymph 26 Lepidochrysops Giant Cupid 158 Ypthima Three-ring 26 Papilio Swallowtail 157 Afriodinia Judy 25 Cymothoe Glider 153 Ceratrichia Forest Sylph 25 Telchinia Telchinia 153 Precis Commodore 25 Bicyclus Bush Brown 127 Hypolimnas Diadem 24 Mylothris Dotted Border 124 Mimeresia Harlequin 24 Anthene Hairtail 107 Appias Albatross White 23 Neptis Sailor 104 Falcuna Marble 23 Euriphene Nymph 101 Gorgyra Leaf Sitter 23 Liptena Liptena 99 Brakefieldia Patroller 22 Colotis Tip 94 Dixeia Small White 22 Apallaga Yellow Sprite 87 Iridana Sapphire Gem 22 Pentila Spotted Buff 81 Capys Protea 21 Aloeides Russet 75 Neocoenyra Round Ringlet 21 Ornipholidotos Glasswing 75 Borbo Swift 20 Heteropsis Low-eye 70 Cerautola Angled Flash 20 Chrysoritis Opal 69 Cupidesthes Light Hairtail 20 Graphium Swordtail 66 Eresina Tree Buff 20 Amauris Friar 65 Geritola Light Flash 20 Belenois Caper White 65 Pseudonympha Brown 20 Pilodeudorix Blue Playboy 65 Tetrarhanis On-off 20 Neurellipes Zebra Hairtail 64 Aphysoneura Bamboo Ringlet 19 Cephetola Dark Flash 55 Coeliades Policeman 19 Stempfferia Plain Flash 52 Pseudathyma False Sergeant 19 Aslauga Purple 51 Stugeta Marbled Sapphire 19 Pseudacraea False Acraea 51 Eicochrysops Ash Blue 18 Cigaritis Silverline 47 Eresiomera Pearly 18 Aphnaeus Highflier 44 Euryphura Commander 18 Euptera Euptera 41 Harpendyreus Mountain Blue 18 Telipna Telipna 39 Thermoniphas Chalk Blue 18 Lachnocnema Woolly Legs 38 Chloroselas Gem 17 Strabena High-eye 37 Hewitsonia Tiger Flash 17 Metisella Sylph 36 Paradeudorix Fairy Playboy 17 Deudorix Playboy 35 Artitropa Night Fighter 16 Hypolycaena Fairy Hairstreak 35 Leptotes Zebra Blue 16 Micropentila Dots 34 Tuxentius Pie 16 Thestor Skolly 34 Eretis Elf 15 Alaena Zulu 33 Osmodes White-spots 15 Kedestes Ranger 32 Eurema Grass Yellow 14 Uranothauma Heart 32 Leona Large Recluse 14 Euchrysops Smoky Blue 31 Leptosia Wood White 14 Junonia Pansy 31 Tarucus Pierrot 14 Pseudaletis Fantasy 31 Andronymus Large Dart 13 Abantis Paradise Skipper 30 Meza Three-spot Missile 13 Spialia Sandman 29 Nepheronia Vagrant 13 Triclema Small Hairtail 29 Perrotia Bamboo Dart 13 Axiocerses Scarlet 28 Stygionympha Hillside Brown 13 Baliochila Mottled Buff 28 Gretna Twilight Skipper 12 Mimacraea Acraea Mimic 28 Hypophytala Banded Flash 12

GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT Leptomyrina Black-eye 12 Pyrrhiades Policeman 6 Myrina Fig-tree Blue 12 Tagiades Clouded Flat 6 Orachrysops Cupid 12 Torynesis Veined Widow 6 Vanessa Admiral 12 Tsitana Sylph 6 Caenides Recluse 11 Zophopetes Palm Night-fighter 6 Chilades Jewel Blue 11 Aterica Glade Nymph 5 Trimenia Silver-spotted Copper 11 Byblia Joker 5 Acleros Dart 10 Danaus Tiger 5 Cacyreus Bronze 10 Euchloe Green-striped White 5 Eurytela Piper 10 Euploea Crow 5 Palla Palla 10 Evena Large Pathfinder 5 Pteroteinon Red-eye 10 Gnophodes Evening Brown 5 Astictopterus Dark Sylph 9 Hovala Malagasy Yellow Sylph 5 Azanus Babul Blue 9 Libythea Snout 5 Chondrolepis Snow-horned Skipper 9 Melphinyet Forest Swift 5 Colias Clouded Yellow 9 Physcaeneura Webbed Ringlet 5 Cooksonia Tiger Mimic 9 Pinacopteryx Zebra White 5 Deloneura Large Buff 9 Pseudopontia Ghost 5 Issoria Fritillary 9 Semalea Silky Skipper 5 Lipaphnaeus Silver Speckle 9 Spalgis Harvester 5 Oboronia Ginger Blue 9 Tirumala Monarch 5 Oxylides False Head 9 Actizera Rayed Blue 4 Scopulifera Orange Sprite 9 Ampittia Ranger 4 Citrinophila Lemon Buff 8 Apaturopsis Empress 4 Durbania Rocksitter 8 Argyrocheila Fairy Buff 4 Euliphyra Witch 8 Cassionympha Dull Brown 4 Fulda Malagasy Hopper 8 Cnodontes Plain Buff 4 Neita Large Ringlet 8 Coenyropsis Lined Ringlet 4 Pardaleodes Pathfinder 8 Cupidopsis Meadow Blue 4 Protogoniomorpha Mother-of-Pearl 8 Dapidodigma Virgin 4 Tarsocera Spring Widow 8 Durbaniella Rocksitter 4 Teriomima Yellow Buff 8 Epitola Pointed Flash 4 Antanartia Admiral 7 Erikssonia Acraea Copper 4 Ariadne Castor 7 Etesiolaus Green Sapphire 4 Calleagris Milky Flat 7 Euthecta Small Buff 4 Dingana Widow 7 Gegenes Dodger 4 Hemiolaus Hairstreak 7 Hewitola Pointed Flash 4 Larinopoda Pierid Buff 7 Hypomyrina Orange Playboy 4 Salamis Mother-of-Pearl 7 Megalopalpus Harvester 4 Serradinga Speckled Widow 7 Monza Grass Skipper 4 Syrmoptera False Head 7 Neptidopsis False Sailer 4 Teracolus Tip 7 Obania Obania 4 Torbenia Glasswing 7 Ortholexis Scarce Sprite 4 Dira Autumn Widow 6 Paralethe Bush Beauty 4 Epitolina Dull Flash 6 Parasiomera Harlequin 4 Fresna Acraea Hopper 6 Parnara Watchman 4 Hypoleucis Costus Skipper 6 Parosmodes Orange 4 Lycaena Copper 6 Pseuderesia Harlequin 4 Melphina Forest Swift 6 Saribia Judy 4 Paracleros Dusky Dart 6 Teniorhinus Small Fox 4 Paronymus Large Dart 6 Toxochitona Fluttering Buff 4 Phalanta Leopard 6 Vanessula Lady’s Maid 4 Phasis Arrowhead 6 Xanthodisca Yellow Disc 4 Pontia Dappled White 6 Zeritis Checkered Gem 4

GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT Afrogegenes Dodger 3 Ptelina Bordered Buff 2 Arnetta Malagasy Sylph 3 Pyrrhochalcia Policeman 2 Caprona Ragged Skipper 3 Rhabdomantis Large Fox 2 Ceratricula Forest Sylph 3 Triskelionia Tricerate Elfin 2 Coenyra Shadefly 3 Zizeeria Grass Blue 2 Crudaria Grey 3 Aeropetes Mountain Pride 1 Cyrestis Map 3 Afrodryas Autumn-leaf Vagrant 1 Eresinopsides Mottled Tree Buff 3 Ankola Red Disc 1 Flandria Forest Sylph 3 Argynnis Fritillary 1 Gamia Grand Skipper 3 Argyraspodes Silver-spotted Copper 1 Hallelesis Cream Ringlet 3 Batelusia Zebra Flash 1 Harma Angled Glider 3 Calopieris Desert Beauty 1 Kakumia Ant Buff 3 Carcharodus Sandman 1 Kallimoides African Leaf 3 Catochrysops Shiny Blue 1 Larsenia Swift 3 Cesa Gem 1 Leucochitonea White-cloaked Skipper 3 Congdonia Plain Buff 1 Malaza Malagasy Sylph 3 Cyclyrius Island Blue 1 Melanitis Evening Brown 3 Durbaniopsis Rocksitter 1 Melitaea False Fritillary 3 Erionota Banana Skipper 1 Mesoxantha Delight 3 Euryphaedra Forester 1 Monile Jewelled Hairtail 3 Gideona Pointed Tip 1 Phytala Forest Flash 3 Gomalia Green-marbled Sandman 1 Pieris Large White 3 Gyrogra Leaf Sitter 1 Prosopalpus Dwarf Skipper 3 Hamanumida Guinea-fowl 1 Pseudonacaduba Dusky Blue 3 Herila Speckled Orange 1 Teratoneura Isabella 3 Hipparchia Grayling 1 Tylopaedia King Copper 3 Katreus Giant Sprite 1 Zenonia Spotted Hopper 3 Kumothales Congo Nymph 1 Zintha Pied Blue 3 Lampides Pea Blue 1 Acada Axehead 2 Lepella Central Sylph 1 Aethiopana Acraea Flash 2 Mallika Jackson’s Leaf 1 Alenia Speckled Sandman 2 Mashunoides Marsh Ringlet 1 Bettonula Brown Sprite 2 Moltena Banana Night-fighter 1 Brephidium Pygmy Blue 2 Mopala Grass Skipper 1 Brusa Marbled Swift 2 Neoepitola Congo Flash 1 Catacroptera Pirate 2 Netrobalane Buff-tipped Skipper 1 Catopsilia Migrant 2 Noctulana Brown Forest Swift 1 Cynandra Brilliant Nymph 2 Oraidium Dwarf Blue 1 Elymnias Palmfly 2 Pardopsis Polka Dot 1 Eronia Vine-leaf Vagrant 2 Pharmacophagus Swallowtail 1 Euryphurana Noble Commander 2 Ploetzia Hopper 1 Harmilla Elegant Forester 2 Powellana Congo Flash 1 Hollandus Pathfinder 2 Pseudargynnis Leopard Nymph 1 Kobelana Large Flat 2 Pseudoneaveia Congo Flash 1 Lachnoptera Leopard 2 Smerina Leopard 1 Lasiommata Wall Brown 2 Tumerepedes Nigerian Buff 1 Mashuna Marsh Ringlet 2 Vansomerenia Gem 1 Melampias Boland Brown 2 Ypthimomorpha Three-ring 1 Neaveia Pierine Blue 2 Zizina Clover Blue 1 Osphantes Lobed Skipper 2 Zizula Gaika Blue 1 Paternympha Small Ringlet 2 6413 Pelopidas Branded Swift 2 Procampta Elf 2 Pseudoneptis False Sailor 2

An issue that has cropped up is having a single “English” genus name. This was originally my intention, but I believe it may be more practical (in some instances) to have several names within a genus, with a similar theme.

For example, Amauris (65 taxa) currently contains names such as Friar, Monk and Priest: I like these names – and they are in common use – so perhaps we could call the Amauris “Clergymen” and retain the existing common names?

Similarly, Charaxes is probably too big a group to find descriptive names for all 459 taxa. What about calling them “Royals” and splitting the group in accordance with subgenera / species groups?

Proposed names (with subgenera) as follows:

King (Charaxes) – 247 taxa Queen (Euxanthe) – 28 taxa Prince (Eriboea) – 150 taxa Princess (Polyura and uncategorised subgenera) – 35 taxa

Most of the above names have already been taken for butterflies elsewhere in the world, but we can get around this by adding an adjective, for example “Savanna King”, “Forest Queen”, “Black Prince” etc. Please let me know what you think – I believe this will make naming the Charaxes a far less daunting proposition.

On another matter, Bennie Coetzer is concerned about the potential disrespectfulness of some of the proposed English names for Junonia: Naval Pansy and Soldier Pansy for example. One solution might be to call Junonia “Violets” and to retain “Pansy” for the flower-like species such as J. hierta and J. oenone. We can treat this in a similar fashion to Charaxes and Amauris above.

Bennie also requested that we rename the following Russets (Aloeides) as follows (Bennie’s motivations in brackets):

• Port Nolloth Russet (Aloeides nollothi) becomes Coastal Dune Russet (Town too specific) • Bedford Russet (Aloeides pringlei) becomes Snowland Russet (Town too specific) • Lesotho Russet (Aloeides rileyi) becomes Mountain Peak Russet (Not only found in Lesotho)

Finally, Bennie wishes to set up an English Names panel to review and approve the names issued in this newsletter; I’ve suggested that each calendar year, the names are circulated and, should there be no comments they will be adopted in African Butterfly News and Afrotropical Butterflies.

A link to the English names proposed in this newsletter in 2019 is attached below:

Proposed English Names - 2019

ENGLISH NAME FULL SCIENTIFIC NAME AUTHOR Dark Blue Policeman Coeliades bixana Evans, 1940 Blue Policeman Coeliades chalybe chalybe (Westwood, [1852]) Abyssinian Blue Policeman Coeliades chalybe immaculata Carpenter, 1935 Ochre Policeman Coeliades fervida (Butler, 1880) Malagasy Policeman Coeliades fidia Evans, 1937 Malagasy Striped Policeman Coeliades forestan arbogastes (Guenée, 1863) Striped Policeman Coeliades forestan forestan (Stoll, [1782]) Three-pip Policeman Coeliades hanno (Plötz, 1879) Red-tab Policeman Coeliades keithloa (Wallengren, 1857) Red Policeman Coeliades kenya Evans, 1937 Spotless Policeman Coeliades libeon (Druce, 1875) Maputo Policeman Coeliades lorenzo Evans, 1947 Orange-tab Policeman Coeliades menelik menelik (Ungemach, 1932) Kenyan Orange-tab Policeman Coeliades menelik merua Evans, 1947 Two-pip Policeman Coeliades pisistratus (Fabricius, 1793) Malagasy Plain Policeman Coeliades rama Evans, 1937 Comoro Pied Policeman Coeliades ramanatek comorana Evans, 1937 Pied Policeman Coeliades ramanatek ramanatek (Boisduval, 1833) Coast Policeman Coeliades sejuncta (Mabille & Vuillot, [1891]) Light Pygmy Dodger Gegenes nostrodamus (Fabricius, 1793) Dark Dodger Gegenes pumilio gambica (Mabille, 1878) Socotra Dark Dodger Gegenes pumilio monochroa Rebel, 1907 African Dark Dodger Gegenes pumilio pumilio (Hoffmansegg, 1803) White-banded Babul Blue Azanus isis (Drury, 1773) Topaz Babul Blue Azanus jesous (Guérin-Méneville, 1849) Pale Babul Blue Azanus mirza (Plötz, 1880) Black-bordered Babul Blue Azanus moriqua (Wallengren, 1857) Natal Babul Blue Azanus natalensis (Trimen, 1887) Large Comoro Babul Blue Azanus sitalces mayotti d’Abrera, 1980 Large Madagascar Babul Blue Azanus sitalces sitalces (Mabille, 1900) Small Madagascar Babul Blue Azanus soalalicus (Karsch, 1900) Velvet-spotted Babul Blue Azanus ubaldus (Stoll, [1782]) Amani Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena amanica Stempffer, 1951 Savanna Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena anara Larsen, 1986 Large Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena antifaunus antifaunus (Westwood, [1851]) Eastern Large Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena antifaunus latimacula (Joicey & Talbot, 1921) Brown Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena auricostalis auricostalis (Butler, 1897) Tanzania Brown Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena auricostalis frommi Strand, 1911 Bright Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena buxtoni buxtoni Hewitson, 1874 Eastern Bright Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena buxtoni rogersi Bethune-Baker, 1924 Western Bright Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena buxtoni spurcus Talbot, 1929 Dark Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena clenchi Larsen, 1997 Shining Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena coerulea Aurivillius, 1895 Senegal Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena condamini Stempffer, 1956 Dubious Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena dubia Aurivillius, 1895 Common Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena hatita hatita Hewitson, [1865] Southern Common Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena hatita japhusa Riley, 1921 37

Uganda Common Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena hatita ugandae Sharpe, 1904 Rwenzori Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena jacksoni Bethune-Baker, 1906 Dull Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena kadiskos Druce, 1890 Kakum Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena kakumi Larsen, 1997 Central Pale Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena lebona davenporti Larsen, 1997 Pale Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena lebona lebona (Hewitson, [1865]) Black-patch Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena liara liara Druce, 1890 Southern Black-patch Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena liara plana Talbot, 1935 Sudan Black-patch Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena liara suda Lamas, 2007 Coastal Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena lochmophila Tite, 1967 Green-flecked Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena naara Hewitson, 1873 Black Fairy Hairstea Hypolycaena nigra Bethune-Baker, 1914 Ethiopia Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena ogadenensis Stempffer, 1946 Eastern Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena pachalica Butler, 1888 Purple-brown Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena philippus philippus (Fabricius, 1793) Malagasy Purple-brown Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena philippus ramonza (Saalmüller, 1878) Congo Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena schubotzi Aurivillius, 1923 Scintillating Fairy Hairsteak Hypolycaena scintillans Aurivillius, 1895 Kinumbe Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena similis Dufrane, 1945 Chirinda Fairy Hairstreak Hypolycaena tearei Henning, 1981 Leopard Nymph Pseudargynnis hegemone (Godart, [1819]) African Migrant Catopsilia florella (Fabricius, 1775) Island Migrant Catopsilia thauruma (Reakirt, 1866)

Butterfly identification plates (Mark Williams)

Males of the rutilans clade of the genus Apallaga

I now have images for 95% of the species of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Skippers), thanks to the wonderful collection housed in the African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI), in Nairobi. Here is an example of the males of one of the clades in the genus Apallaga, as defined by Michel Libert in his 2014 publication on the tribe Celaenorrhini. Enjoy!

Apallaga rutilans ♂ R. & V.

Apallaga cuypersi ♂ R. & V.

Apallaga ducarmei ♂ R. & V.

Apallaga ashanti ♂ R. & V.

Apallaga safiani ♂ R. & V.

Apallaga kasai ♂ R. & V.

Apallaga orientalis ♂ R. & V.

Apallaga suzannae ♂ R. & V.

Butterfly Index (Jeremy Dobson and Fanie Rautenbach)

The Butterfly Index is tracking trends of butterfly abundance in South Africa, post January 2018.

We have now completed two full years: the results to-date are summarized in the graph below:

To use one-day cricket terminology, for the first time this year the worms have joined – up until December, 2019 has been a consistently better year than 2018. Hopefully, this isn’t a bad omen for 2020… Unfortunately, I’m receiving very few lists (or species counts), so the Butterfly Index program – which I believe is a vital tool for monitoring the abundance of our butterflies – is limping along, reflecting primarily the situation in Gauteng and KZN.

For the Butterfly Index, I require the number of species seen at a single locality in a single day. If your survey is Biome Factor superficial (less than 1-hour in duration), or based on Lowveld Savanna or Forest (L.S.) 100% observations from a suburban garden or farm, please let Highveld Savanna (H.S.) 70% me know and I’ll multiply the number obtained by 1.5. Highveld Grassland (H.G.) 50% Steve Woodhall’s Butterfly App is a great way of saving Arid Savanna (A.S.) 35% butterfly checklists. It will soon be possible to export Karoo (K) 25% these lists directly to Lepibase; data submission will be a Fynbos (F) 25% key requirement of the new permitting system, outlined Afromontane Forest (A.F.) 50% under LATEST NEWS. Biome – Correction Factors

NUMBER OF SPECIES RECORDED FROM A SINGLE LOCALITY IN A SINGLE DAY ABUNDANCE BIOME INDEX Lowveld Highveld Highveld Arid Savanna Karoo (K) Fynbos (F) Afromontane Savanna or Savanna Grassland (A.S) Forest (A.F.) Forest (L.S.) (H.S) (H.G.)

5 Excellent >80 >56 >40 >28 >20 >20 >40

4 Good 52 to 80 37 to 56 26 to 40 19 to 28 13 to 20 13 to 20 26 to 40

3 Average 29 to 51 20 to 36 15 to 25 10 to 18 8 to 12 8 to 12 15 to 25

2 Poor 11 to 28 8 to 19 6 to 14 4 to 9 3 to 7 3 to 7 6 to 14

1 Very Poor ≤10 ≤7 ≤5 ≤3 ≤2 ≤2 ≤5

0 No Data

For information, the Abundance Index (Ax) is calculated using the following formula, where n represents the species-count from a site and F is the percentage factor from the Biome table: Ax = 1+ (n / (10 * F)) 1/1.5

Methodology

1/. Each Province receives a monthly rating between, which will be more than 1 (Very Poor) and is unlikely to exceed 5 (Excellent). Lesotho and Swaziland are included as Provinces.

2/. The rating is based on the highest recorded individual monthly species-count within the province under consideration. The numbers are based on representatives of the Papilionoidea superfamily (traditional butterflies).

3/. In instances where data is acquired from several biomes within a single Province, the highest rating will be used.

Annual prizes will be awarded to the most active provincial representatives!

Objectives

1/. To monitor long term trends in butterfly abundance throughout South Africa 2/. To compare seasonal and annual abundance indexes 3/. To compare current butterfly-counts with historical benchmarks

Data – November and December:

2019 PROVINCE NOVEMBER DECEMBER Index Score Locality Biome Observer Index Score Locality Biome Observer Gauteng 3.8 32 Rangeview H.S. Jeremy Dobson 3.5 21 Suikerbosrand H.G. Jeremy Dobson KwaZulu-Natal 4 52 Krantzkloof L.S. Mark Liptrot 3.6 43 Harold Johnson L.S. Steve Woodhall Limpopo 0 0 Mpumalanga 3.6 30 KwaMhalanga H.S. Jeremy Dobson 0 Western Cape 0 0 Eastern Cape 3.4 19 Gaika's Kop H.G. Jeremy Dobson 0 Northern Cape 0 0 Southern Cape 4.2 14 Kammanassie F Jeremy Dobson 0 North West 0 0 Free State 3.3 17 Wepener H.G. Jeremy Dobson 0 Lesotho 0 0 Swaziland 0 0

Summarized Butterfly Index Data – 2019:

2019 - SUMMARY PROVINCE Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Gauteng 3.8 3.8 3.6 3.2 3.4 3.3 3.4 4.1 4.3 3.7 3.8 3.5 KwaZulu-Natal 3.8 3.5 3.9 4.6 5.1 4.4 4 4 4 3.5 4 3.6 Limpopo 0 2.5 4.3 0 0 3.6 0 4.5 4.2 0 0 0 Mpumalanga 4.9 0 0 4.4 3.9 0 0 0 4.6 0 3.6 0 Western Cape 0 3.8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Eastern Cape 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.4 0 Northern Cape 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Southern Cape 0 0 4.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.2 0 North West 2.4 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.2 0 0 0 0 Free State 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.3 0 Lesotho 0 3.8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Swaziland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH

LepiMAP (Megan Loftie-Eaton)

LepiMAP is helping to build up-to-date distribution maps for the butterflies and moths of Africa. These maps are critically important for conservation management and priority setting. Without good distribution maps, species conservation is largely guesswork. You can make your photography count for conservation by uploading your photos into the Virtual Museum

Why do we celebrate Black Friday? Here’s another colour event that we ought not to be celebrating: White Cabbage. It is now 25 years since the first Cabbage Whites were spotted in South Africa. Sea Point, Cape Town, August 1994. This is South Africa’s only invasive butterfly. Until the end of 1999, it had been recorded in eight quarter degree grid cells, all close to Cape Town, with green bars in the distribution map. Between 2000 and 2009, it was recorded in 24 grid cells (shaded with orange bars), and from 2010 up to now it was recorded in 38 grid cells (red bars). There are now records from the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape. How far has it really expanded its range?

Please upload all your photos of butterflies (and moths) to the LepiMAP section of the Virtual Museum. This is a long-term database, and there are long term patterns of range-changes emerging - http://vmus.adu.org.za/

The instructions on how to upload records to the VM are here: http://thebdi.org/

Butterfly Evolutionary Diversity (BED) (Jonathan Colville)

The Butterfly Evolutionary Diversity project (BED) is a three-year research enterprise led by SANBI. The BED project seeks to map patterns of evolutionary diversity for butterflies across South African landscapes. It aims, through collecting DNA samples of all South African butterfly species, to identify areas not only of high butterfly species richness and conservation concern, but also areas of high evolutionary importance. LepSoc Africa will be the main collecting agency for this project, which will also provide the phylogenetic analyses to enable us to resolve a number of taxonomic issues.

Everyone can assist with this project: for further information, go to http://www.lepsoc.org.za/projects/butterfly-evolutionary-diversity/

Some figures from Jonathan as follows:

• 1036 specimens submitted so far to BED. • samples from 160 genera. • samples received for 445 taxa

A list of “missing taxa” is attached below; there is some discrepancies with the SABCA taxon list due to spelling errors, etc. between BED and SABCA).

Abantis bicolor Anthene minima minima Charaxes pondoensis Abantis tettensis Anthene talboti Charaxes protoclea azota Abantis venosa Axiocerses coalescens Charaxes xiphares bavenda Acraea acrita acrita Axiocerses croesus Charaxes xiphares kenwayi Acraea anemosa Azanus jesous Charaxes xiphares occidentalis Acraea barberi Azanus natalensis Charaxes xiphares staudei Acraea boopis boopis Baliochila aslanga Charaxes xiphares thyestes Acraea caldarena caldarena Belenois thysa thysa Charaxes xiphares xiphares Acraea lygus Bicyclus ena Chloroselas mazoensis Acraea machequena Bicyclus safitza safitza Chloroselas pseudozeritis pseudozeritis Acraea petraea Borbo borbonica borbonica Chrysoritis adonis adonis Acraea rabbaiae perlucida Borbo detecta Chrysoritis aridus Acraea stenobea Borbo fallax Chrysoritis azurius Acraea trimeni Borbo fatuellus fatuellus Chrysoritis beaufortia beaufortia Acraea violarum Borbo ferruginea dondo Chrysoritis beaufortia charlesi Actizera stellata Borbo holtzi Chrysoritis beaufortia stepheni Alaena amazoula ochroma Borbo lugens Chrysoritis beaufortia sutherlandensis Alaena margaritacea Borbo micans Chrysoritis blencathrae Alenia namaqua Calleagris kobela Chrysoritis braueri Alenia sandaster Capys alpheus extentus Chrysoritis brooksi brooksi Aloeides apicalis Capys disjunctus Chrysoritis brooksi tearei Aloeides barbarae Capys penningtoni Chrysoritis chrysantas Aloeides braueri Cassionympha camdeboo Chrysoritis chrysaor Aloeides caffrariae Celaenorrhinus mokeezi mokeezi Chrysoritis daphne Aloeides carolynnae aurata Celaenorrhinus mokeezi separata Chrysoritis felthami dukei Aloeides egerides Charaxes achaemenes achaemenes Chrysoritis felthami felthami Aloeides kaplani Charaxes bohemani Chrysoritis irene Aloeides lutescens Charaxes brutus natalensis Chrysoritis lyncurium Aloeides merces Charaxes castor flavifasciatus Chrysoritis midas Aloeides monticola Charaxes cithaeron cithaeron Chrysoritis nigricans nigricans Aloeides pringlei Charaxes druceanus entabeni Chrysoritis nigricans rubrescens Aloeides trimeni southeyae Charaxes druceanus solitarius Chrysoritis oreas Amauris niavius dominicanus Charaxes etesipe tavetensis Chrysoritis palmus margueritae Andronymus neander neander Charaxes ethalion ethalion Chrysoritis palmus palmus Anthene crawshayi juanitae Charaxes guderiana guderiana Chrysoritis pan henningi Anthene larydas Charaxes jahlusa argynnides Chrysoritis pan pan Anthene lemnos lemnos Charaxes jahlusa jahlusa Chrysoritis pelion Anthene lindae Charaxes karkloof capensis Chrysoritis penningtoni Anthene liodes bihe Charaxes karkloof karkloof Chrysoritis perseus Anthene livida livida Charaxes karkloof trimeni Chrysoritis phosphor borealis Anthene millari Charaxes pelias Chrysoritis phosphor phosphor 45

Chrysoritis pyramus balli Dira oxylus Kedestes niveostriga schloszi Chrysoritis pyramus pyramus Dira swanepoeli isolata Kedestes wallengrenii wallengrenii Chrysoritis pyroeis hersaleki Dira swanepoeli swanepoeli Lachnocnema bibulus Chrysoritis rileyi Dixeia doxo parva Lachnocnema laches Chrysoritis swanepoeli hyperion Dixeia spilleri Lepidochrysops asteris Chrysoritis swanepoeli swanepoeli Durbania amakosa albescens Lepidochrysops australis Chrysoritis thysbe bamptoni Durbania amakosa ayresi Lepidochrysops bacchus Chrysoritis thysbe osbecki Durbania amakosa penningtoni Lepidochrysops badhami Chrysoritis thysbe psyche Durbania amakosa sagittata Lepidochrysops balli Chrysoritis thysbe schloszae Durbania limbata Lepidochrysops braueri Chrysoritis thysbe whitei Durbaniella clarki belladonna Lepidochrysops glauca Chrysoritis turneri amatola Durbaniella clarki jenniferae Lepidochrysops grahami Chrysoritis turneri turneri Durbaniella clarki phaea Lepidochrysops gydoae Chrysoritis turneri wykehami Eagris nottoana nottoana Lepidochrysops hypopolia Chrysoritis uranus schoemani Eicochrysops hippocrates Lepidochrysops ignota Chrysoritis violescens Eicochrysops messapus messapus Lepidochrysops jamesi claassensi Chrysoritis zeuxo cottrelli Eretis umbra umbra Lepidochrysops jamesi jamesi Chrysoritis zeuxo zeuxo Eronia cleodora Lepidochrysops jefferyi Chrysoritis zonarius coetzeri Euchrysops barkeri Lepidochrysops ketsi leucomacula Cigaritis namaqua Euchrysops osiris Lepidochrysops lerothodi Cigaritis natalensis Eurema desjardinsii regularis Lepidochrysops littoralis Coeliades keithloa Eurytela dryope angulata Lepidochrysops loewensteini Coeliades libeon Gegenes hottentota Lepidochrysops lotana Coeliades lorenzo Gegenes niso niso Lepidochrysops methymna dicksoni Coenyra hebe Gomalia elma elma Lepidochrysops methymna methymna Coenyra rufiplaga Graphium angolanus angolanus Lepidochrysops oosthuizeni Coenyropsis natalii poetulodes Graphium policenes policenes Lepidochrysops oreas oreas Colotis auxo auxo Harpendyreus tsomo Lepidochrysops ortygia Colotis calais calais Hypolimnas deceptor deceptor Lepidochrysops outeniqua Colotis celimene amina Hypolycaena buxtoni buxtoni Lepidochrysops penningtoni Colotis celimene pholoe Hypolycaena lochmophila Lepidochrysops pephredo Colotis doubledayi Iolaus aemulus Lepidochrysops poseidon Colotis erone Iolaus alienus alienus Lepidochrysops pringlei Colotis lais Iolaus aphnaeoides Lepidochrysops procera Colotis pallene Iolaus diametra natalica Lepidochrysops puncticilia Crudaria capensis Iolaus lulua Lepidochrysops quickelbergei Crudaria wykehami Iolaus mimosae mimosae Lepidochrysops robertsoni Cupidopsis cissus cissus Iolaus mimosae rhodosense Lepidochrysops rossouwi Cymothoe alcimeda clarki Iolaus sidus Lepidochrysops southeyae Cymothoe alcimeda transvaalica Iolaus silas Lepidochrysops swanepoeli Cymothoe alcimeda trimeni Iolaus trimeni Lepidochrysops swartbergensis Cymothoe coranus coranus Kedestes barberae barberae Lepidochrysops titei Deloneura immaculata Kedestes barberae bonsa Lepidochrysops trimeni Dingana alticola Kedestes barberae bunta Lepidochrysops vansoni Dingana angusta Kedestes chaka Lepidochrysops variabilis Dingana clara Kedestes lenis alba Lepidochrysops victori Dingana jerinae Kedestes lenis lenis Leptomyrina gorgias gorgias Dira clytus clytus Kedestes lepenula Leptotes babaulti Dira clytus eurina Kedestes nerva nerva Leptotes brevidentatus 46

Leptotes jeanneli Platylesches robustus robustus Stygionympha scotina coetzeri Leptotes pulchra pulchra Platylesches tina Stygionympha scotina scotina Libythea labdaca laius Precis antilope Stygionympha vansoni Lycaena clarki Precis archesia archesia Stygionympha wichgrafi grisea Melampias huebneri huebneri Precis ceryne ceryne Stygionympha wichgrafi williami Metisella aegipan aegipan Protogoniomorpha anacardii nebulosa Tarsocera cassus cassus Metisella malgacha malgacha Protogoniomorpha parhassus Tarsocera cassus outeniqua Metisella malgacha orina Pseudacraea lucretia expansa Tarsocera dicksoni Metisella meninx Pseudacraea lucretia tarquinia Tarsocera imitator Metisella syrinx Pseudonympha hippia Tarsocera namaquensis Metisella willemi Pseudonympha machacha Tarsocera southeyae Mylothris rueppellii haemus Pseudonympha paragaika Tarucus bowkeri bowkeri Myrina silenus ficedula Pseudonympha penningtoni Tarucus sybaris linearis Myrina silenus penningtoni Pseudonympha poetula Tarucus thespis Neita durbani Pseudonympha southeyi kamiesbergensis Telchinia alalonga Neita lotenia Pseudonympha southeyi southeyi Telchinia cerasa cerasa Neita neita Pseudonympha swanepoeli Telchinia esebria Nepheronia argia varia Pseudonympha trimenii namaquana Telchinia igola Nepheronia buquetii buquetii Pseudonympha trimenii nieuwveldensis Telchinia induna salmontana Nepheronia thalassina sinalata Pseudonympha trimenii ruthae Telchinia rahira rahira Neptis jordani Pseudonympha varii Thestor basutus basutus Neptis trigonophora trigonophora Sarangesa phidyle Thestor basutus capeneri Orachrysops ariadne Sarangesa ruona Thestor brachycerus brachycerus Orachrysops brinkmani Sarangesa seineri durbana Thestor braunsi Orachrysops lacrimosa Sarangesa seineri seineri Thestor calviniae Orachrysops nasutus nasutus Serradinga bowkeri bella Thestor camdeboo Orachrysops regalis Serradinga bowkeri bowkeri Thestor compassbergae Orachrysops violescens Serradinga clarki clarki Thestor dicksoni dicksoni Ornipholidotos peucetia penningtoni Serradinga clarki dracomontana Thestor dicksoni malagas Papilio constantinus constantinus Serradinga clarki ocra Thestor dicksoni warreni Papilio dardanus cenea Serradinga kammanassiensis Thestor dryburghi Papilio echerioides echerioides Sevenia boisduvali boisduvali Thestor holmesi Papilio ophidicephalus entabeni Sevenia natalensis Thestor kaplani Papilio ophidicephalus phalusco Sevenia rosa Thestor montanus Papilio ophidicephalus transvaalensis Spialia agylla agylla Thestor murrayi Papilio ophidicephalus zuluensis Spialia agylla bamptoni Thestor overbergensis Paralethe dendrophilus albina Spialia colotes transvaaliae Thestor penningtoni Paralethe dendrophilus dendrophilus Spialia confusa confusa Thestor petra petra Pelopidas thrax Spialia depauperata australis Thestor petra tempe Pentila tropicalis fuscipunctata Spialia paula Thestor pictus Phalanta eurytis eurytis Spialia sataspes Thestor pringlei Phasis clavum erythema Spialia secessus Thestor protumnus aridus Phasis pringlei Stugeta bowkeri henningi Thestor protumnus protumnus Phasis thero cedarbergae Stugeta bowkeri tearei Thestor protumnus terblanchei Platylesches ayresii Stugeta subinfuscata reynoldsi Thestor rileyi Platylesches galesa Stygionympha curlei Thestor rooibergensis Platylesches moritili Stygionympha dicksoni Thestor rossouwi Platylesches neba Stygionympha geraldi Thestor stepheni Platylesches picanini Stygionympha robertsoni Thestor strutti 47

Thestor vansoni Trimenia malagrida maryae Tylopaedia sardonyx peringueyi Thestor yildizae Trimenia malagrida paarlensis Virachola dariaves Torynesis hawequas Trimenia wallengrenii gonnemoi Virachola dinomenes dinomenes Torynesis mintha mintha Trimenia wallengrenii wallengrenii Virachola diocles Torynesis mintha piquetbergensis Trimenia wykehami Virachola vansoni Torynesis orangica Tsitana dicksoni Ypthima antennata antennata Torynesis pringlei Tsitana tulbagha kaplani Ypthima asterope asterope Trimenia argyroplaga argyroplaga Tsitana tulbagha tulbagha Ypthima asterope hereroica Trimenia argyroplaga cardouwae Tsitana uitenhaga Ypthima condamini condamini Trimenia macmasteri mijburghi Tuxentius calice Ypthima granulosa Trimenia malagrida cedrusmontana Tuxentius hesperis Zizina otis antanossa Trimenia malagrida malagrida Tuxentius melaena griqua

I’ve included some comments (below) from Prof Rauri Bowie: “We have generated mitochondrial sequence data from >250 butterflies with an initial focus on sampling as many genera as possible. For some genera we have sequenced multiple species, and for a few species we have multiple individuals. One surprise is the high degree of genetic diversity in the limited number of individuals we have sequenced for some species. Over the next year we will be aiming to add more species, and where possible increase the number of individuals we have sequenced per species - so please keep collecting butterflies for us, even common species from different locations will be useful. When building a phylogenetic tree with the mitochondrial data the backbone of relationships among genera is poorly resolved. This is a consequence of mitochondrial sequence data becoming saturated at around 15% sequence divergence - in other words mutations start to accumulate in the same places, so an initial mutation from for example an A to T, reverts back to an A over time due to the high mutation rate of mitochondrial DNA and is hence undetected. To alleviate this issue most studies have made use of more slowly evolving nuclear genes - often 2-6 genes in a study. After some experimentation in the lab we have taken the bold decision to make use of new tech to massively increase this effort to sample over 1000 genes and thereby generate a robust backbone. We have been working with Dr Marianne Espeland to select these genes and produce a 'sequence-capture array'. The design of this array has slowed us down a bit, but we are convinced that the results will be worth the effort. We hope to complete the array design by the end of this year and then launch into the data collection phase of the nuclear genes to complement our mitochondrial data. We are happy to provide feedback on any problem groups or other areas where DNA may be of help to resolve population/species relationships. The next year will be exciting and we hope to present our results at a LepSoc Africa meeting”.

Caterpillar Rearing Group (CRG) (Hermann Staude)

Anybody wishing to join, please refer to the LepSoc Africa website for details (http://www.lepsoc.org.za/) or visit the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/caterpillarrg/).

“LEPIDOPTERA

Lepidoptera are caterpillars, mainly phytophagous but some specialized to feed on lichens, cyanobacteria, arthropods and vertebrate remains.

They have a brief, scale winged adult form, commonly called butterflies and moths”

Herman Staude

COREL

We are busy restructuring COREL (Custodians of Rare and Endangered Lepidoptera).

There is a lot of work to do in this vital undertaking; if you would like to assist in any capacity, please contact me at [email protected]

A link to the latest COREL guidelines is attached below:

COREL - Structure and guidelines

Aloeides Project (Jeremy Dobson)

A summary of Aloeides Project data collected to date is as follows (these samples have all been submitted to BED, apart from 27 samples which were barcoded by BOLD):

Collector Records Taxon Records Jeremy Dobson 150 Aloeides damarensis damarensis 37 Alan Gardiner 76 Aloeides trimeni trimeni 36 Peter Ward 48 Aloeides henningi 33 André Coetzer 29 Aloeides pierus 25 Mark Williams 23 Aloeides dryas 20 Christopher Dobson 19 Aloeides aranda 19 Peter Webb 13 Aloeides swanepoeli 16 Harald Selb 10 Aloeides oreas 15 Andrew Morton 9 Aloeides taikosama 15 Dave Edge 9 Aloeides macmasteri 14 Andrew Mayer 7 Aloeides penningtoni 14 Reinier Terblanche 5 Aloeides titei 14 Steve Woodhall 5 Aloeides dicksoni 9 Hayden Warren-Gash 4 Aloeides dentatis dentatis 8 Ray Jones 4 Aloeides depicta 8 Graham Henning 4 Aloeides maluti 7 Etienne Terblanche 2 Aloeides susanae 7 Johan Greyling 2 Aloeides juana 7 419 Aloeides molomo molomo 6 Aloeides rossouwi 6 Aloeides barklyi 6 Aloeides margaretae 5 Aloeides almeida 5 Aloeides bamptoni 5 Aloeides arida 5 Aloeides thyra thyra 5 Aloeides carolynnae carolynnae 5 Aloeides simplex 5 Aloeides dentatis maseruna 5 Aloeides gowani 5 Aloeides caledoni 4 Aloeides nubilus 4 Aloeides pallida littoralis 4 Aloeides plowesi 4 Aloeides thyra orientis 4 Aloeides molomo krooni 3 Aloeides quickelbergei 3 Aloeides damarensis mashona 3 Aloeides stevensoni 3 Aloeides vansoni 2 Aloeides griseus 2 Aloeides apicalis 2 Aloeides rileyi 2 Aloeides trimeni southeyae 2 Aloeides nollothi 2 Aloeides barbarae 1 Aloeides caffrariae 1 Aloeides egerides 1 Aloeides molomo handmani 1 Aloeides pallida grandis 1 Aloeides pallida jonathani 1 Aloeides pallida pallida 1 Aloeides mbuluensis 1 419

Before publishing the initial paper, my Missing Taxa Author goal is to acquire a minimum of 500 Aloeides angolensis Tite & Dickson, 1973 records, containing samples of 60 taxa; Aloeides argenteus Henning & Henning, 1994 80% of the currently recognized Aloeides braueri Tite & Dickson, 1968 taxonomic list (75 taxa). Currently, we Aloeides carolynnae aurata Pringle, 1994 have 419 records, comprising 53 taxa, so Aloeides clarki Tite & Dickson, 1968 we are 84% and 88% of the way Aloeides conradsi angoniensis Tite & Dickson, 1973 respectively! Aloeides conradsi conradsi (Aurivillius, 1906) Aloeides conradsi jacksoni Tite & Dickson, 1973 I had planned to produce the initial paper Aloeides conradsi talboti Tite & Dickson, 1973 this year, but unfortunately I think we are Aloeides kaplani Tite & Dickson, 1977 Aloeides lutescens Tite & Dickson, 1968 going to have to wait another season. Aloeides merces Henning & Henning, 1986 I’m sure we can acquire another 81 Aloeides molomo coalescens Tite & Dickson, 1973 Aloeides molomo kiellandi Carcasson, 1961 records before 2021. Obtaining records Aloeides molomo mumbuensis Riley, 1921 for another 7 taxa might be trickier, but to Aloeides monticola Pringle, 1994 assist you, I’ve attached a list of the Aloeides mullini Henning & Henning, 1996 “missing” butterflies. Aloeides namibiensis Henning & Henning, 1994 Aloeides pallida juno Pringle, 1994 Ultimately, I’d like to obtain samples from Aloeides pallida liversidgei Pringle, 1994 all these taxa, but this will probably still Aloeides pringlei Tite & Dickson, 1976 take a few years. Aloeides tearei Henning & Henning, 1982

Aloeides Gallery (2019 – 2020 Season)

Aloeides taikosama Aloeides damarensis mashona Aloeides henningi Laurentia Farm, Gauteng Bateleur, Limpopo Glenharvie, Gauteng Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson

Aloeides molomo molomo Aloeides aranda Aloeides nubilus Kalbosfontein, Gauteng Ruimsig, Gauteng Elandshoogte, Mpumalanga Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson

Aloeides dryas Aloeides griseus Elandshoogte, Mpumalanga Nyika, Malawi Aloeides caffrariae Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson Grahamstown, Eastern Cape Lynette Knott Rudman

Aloeides quickelbergei (?) Aloeides mbuluensis Aloeides pallida jonathani Kammanassie, W Cape Tsomo, Eastern Cape Kammanassie, W Cape Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte Jeremy Dobson

PUBLICATIONS

Metamorphosis

Dave Edge is the Editor of Metamorphosis; Silvia Kirkman is the Sub Editor responsible for production.

Due to the large number of articles, Volume 29 (2018) has been produced in two editions, to make the publications more manageable and less expensive to post:

• Metamorphosis journal Volume 29 Part 1 : R150 excluding postage

• Metamorphosis journal Volume 29 Part 2 : R160 excluding postage

Please contact Dave at [email protected] or Silvia at [email protected] should you wish to purchase copies.

New articles in Metamorphosis:

• Publications on Afrotropical Lepidoptera during 2019 Mark Williams

• Description of four new species of Crambidae from the Afrotropical region (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea: Crambidae) Koen V.N. Maes

• Specialized wing scales in the male of the South African moth Leto venus (Cramer, 1780) (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) John R. Grehan, Colin D. Ralston & Simon van Noort

• Some phenotypic variation in Leptotes pirithous on the Cape Verde Islands, in a wider geographical context (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) W. John Tennent and Peter J.C. Russell

• First report of Eriocottidae from Madagascar (Lepidoptera: Tineoidea) Wolfram Mey

• Observations on feeding behaviour of adults of the Common Buff butterfly, Baliochila aslanga (Lycaenidae: Poritiinae) at extra-floral nectaries on Adenopodia spicata (Mimosaceae) Simon van Noort and Eugene Moll

• A new species of Leptomyrina Butler, 1898 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Mts Mecula, Namuli, Inago, Nallume and Mabu in Northern Mozambique. Julian Bayliss, Oskar Brattström, Ivan Bampton and Steve Collins

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Gauteng

Szabolcs Sáfián (Safi) and Martin Lunderstedt joined me for a visit to the hills above Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens. Safi, for all his African adventures, had never previously encountered Protea butterflies (Capys) in the wild. He was therefore delighted to break his duck, as we found a couple of male Russet Protea (Capys disjunctus). Of more interest – from my perspective – was Safi finding a Van Son’s Charaxes (Charaxes vansoni); I’m fairly certain that this is the first record from WSBG and possibly from the greater Johannesburg area. As this was a female specimen, it seems unlikely that it had flown far. This species Safi (left) and Martin Lunderstedt, surveying the hills above the Walter Sisulu may now breed on Peltophorum found in Johannesburg Botanical Gardens gardens, or it may have adopted a new larval host plant. We encountered a team from the Botanical Gardens, that were busy clearing alien vegetation and rehabilitating some erosion channels: good luck to Eliot and his team!

We recorded 32 species: Abundance Index 3.8 (Average), including Barber’s Ranger (Kedestes barberae barberae).

Capys disjunctus Cigaritis mozambica Lepidochrysops plebeia plebeia Rangeview, Gauteng Rangeview, Gauteng Rangeview, Gauteng

A visit to Suikerbosrand in early December yielded 21 species (AI 3.6), including Roodepoort Toothed Russet (Aloeides dentatis dentatis) and Barber’s Ranger (Kedestes barberae barberae).

Aloeides dentatis dentatis Kedestes barberae barberae Lepidochrysops patricia Suikerbosrand, Gauteng Suikerbosrand, Gauteng Suikerbosrand, Gauteng

Mpumalanga

Safi and I visited KwaMhlanga on 28 November. We recorded 30 species (Abundance Index 3.6 - Average).

Silvery Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops glauca glauca) were fairly common, but there was no sign of Stoffberg Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops rossouwi). Having broken his duck with Capys the previous day, Safi was delighted to find another genus that has been eluding him: we found several Northern Yellow Zulu (Alaena amazoula ochroma).

Acraea barberi Lepidochrysops glauca glauca Alaena amazoula ochroma KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga

KZN

Mark Liptrot visited several KwaZulu-Natal localities in November, including Krantzkloof Nature Reserve where he recorded 51 species: Abundance Index 3.9 – Average.

He didn’t find anything too special in November and December, but has taken some nice photos:

Axiocerses tjoane tjoane Papilio constantinus constantinus Graphium antheus Babanango, KZN Babanango, KZN Harold Johnson, KZN Mark Liptrot Mark Liptrot Mark Liptrot

Steve Woodhall has also been busy:

Acraea natalica Apallaga mokeezi mokeezi Durbania amakosa natalensis Krantzkloof, KZN iNgele, KZN iNgele, KZN Steve Woodhall Steve Woodhall Steve Woodhall

Northern Cape

Reinier Terblanche forwarded me this great picture of King Copper (Tylopaedia sardonyx sardonyx), taken at Tswalu in October.

Unfortunately, it’s time-barred from the photographic competition, but I thought I had to find a place for it somewhere! Tylopaedia sardonyx sardonyx Tswalu, Northern Cape Reinier Terblanche Limpopo

Mark Williams and I visited Bateleur in December, to look for Waterberg Acraea Copper (Erikssonia edgei). After recent rains, the veld looked promising, but butterflies were fairly scarce and there was no sign of edgei. This butterfly has not been seen since January 2017. We recorded 28 species: Abundance Index 3.2 (Average), including Silver-spotted Grey (Crudaria leroma) – a new record for Bateleur - and Small White-lady Swordtail (Graphium morania).

Euchrysops malathana Graphium morania Myrina silenus ficedula (Larva) Bateleur, Limpopo Bateleur, Limpopo Bateleur, Limpopo

OTHER BUTTERFLIES

Johan Heyns has a large collection of photographs, which we will include as a regular feature in this newsletter.

More from the Eribidae family; these belong to the Arctiinae subfamily:

Leucaloa eugraphica Rhodogastria similis Saenura flava Johan Heyns Johan Heyns Johan Heyns

Siccia caffra Thyretes caffra Utetheisa pulchella Johan Heyns Johan Heyns Johan Heyns

AFRICA DESK

Uganda

Telchinia alciope Cynandra opis bernardii Acraea insignis insignis Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda Mpanga, Uganda Rogers Muhwezi Rogers Muhwezi Rogers Muhwezi

Angola

Eribidae sp. Eurema hecabe solifera Bicyclus sp. Riquita Sampaio Riquita Sampaio Riquita Sampaio

Cymothoe excelsa deltoides Euphaedra coprates Euphaedra medon celestis Rogerio Ferriera Rogerio Ferriera Rogerio Ferriera

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FOCUS ON…

Etienne Terblanche, Reinier’s brother, is featured this month

“O the mind, mind has mountains,” writes that nature-loving poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, in a poem. This indelible phrase has been my companion since I encountered it as a young man. Literally, the brain consists of waves, physical pinnacles and valleys. And the soul enjoys enormous heights and depths, as any human who has lived knows all too well. How wondrous that the earth has its mountains where we can meet it (or her) on its own terms, where fantastic butterflies haunt the slopes and summits. Where what is inside finally discovers its match outside.

Behind the Lydenburg high school hostel buildings there was a rectangle of relatively intact grassland that offered a view to the railway line and a black steam locomotive passing by sometimes. We travelled by train only, not possessing a car until I was about seven. How I prayed, literally, that my dad would buy one with which we could travel to exotic butterflies. In the forests of my mind they wimpled limply with rich, wet, yellow, tropically slow wings.

I saw huge images of the cars he considered for purchase at the garages down the tarred main street where they were on shiny display behind tall glass. Before going to sleep, I would see these images. A bright red round-and-box-like Opel with a black vinyl roof he painfully seriously contemplated as our car. Similarly, a white Colt Ranger with black stripes down the doors. I could not understand his wavering around those stripes. To me, they were symbols of determination and speed.

Eventually he settled for a cream Vauxhaul Viva. And we travelled, especially to the Manoutsa resort below the Strydom tunnel at the foot of the Devil’s Chair in the Drakensberg, that beloved stone dragon. At Manoutsa, my brother, Reinier, would much later discover one of his two new Anthenes.

To this day, I find this place on the earth magical. It enjoys a tangible aura of wilderness and discovery. The greenish-sulphur cliffs talk to me with their rough, rocky, sometimes seriously frowning faces. A pastel drawing Reinier made of them as a child, showing the absolute aliveness of their shapes and colours, haunts me with delight. Not to mention how, when we were in love with comics, he drew with colour pencils a caped hero named “Skoenlapperman.” Now, there’s a real hero.

When later we moved to Fochville in the North West (then “Western Transvaal”), under the broad umbrella of our high and huge grape bower full of five different kinds of grapes, my dad sold the Viva to a black man for R 50.00, and bought a box-shaped Ford Escourt, white with a caramel brown vinyl roof cover; and we continued to drive back to the “Eastern Transvaal,” boisterously singing “January, February, March” on the way to Manoutsa. Our gusto and gumption filled the little cabin moving across grass plains from our new home in western sweet-thorn rantjies to the dragon in the east, patiently still carrying abundance and diversity in its grass folds and woodland plains. These odysseys were pinnacles of our childhood joy.

Readily the butterflies caused moments of heightened awareness. Those Charaxes coming down from thorn canopies to sip water or minerals on the shaded sand in the heat! Charaxes brutus! 60

Velvety rich black, its pure white band coming down in blocks of shape when it opened its wings to the sun, like a funnel leading into its strong body. The white band at once formed a ladder into butterfly heavens and earthly depths. Charaxes bohemani sucking gum oozing from a stem next to the furrow, sharply flicking its wings to ward off competition. No, was it really true that a metallic blue flame on its inside (upper side) was flicking along? Could such creatures exist? Could “mere” insects take on such spectacular and perfect forms, enormous wings slanting down into usually- brittle bodies, somehow so tough? When (much later) I heard the saying “four wings and a prayer,” it made immediate sense.

We learned of trap nets only later, scanning branches for Charaxes and collecting them by hand with our nets. Collecting one this way gave a thrill of achievement. And when we climbed up or down a slope or rocky cliff, we would throw our nets up or down to where we could reach them again, freeing our hands and bums for scaling tight corners.

Back on the rectangular universe behind the hostel buildings, where we lived during my impressionable years between ages three and seven, Reinier and/ or I sometimes went wild, for instance when the occasional salmon-pink and darkly mottled summer form of the gaudy commodore would put in a quickly meandering appearance. It was rare to me, certainly rare on our rectangle. It appeared as if from a magical kingdom of nowhere.

Initially, I had my own names for some of them, such as “the American brown,” which I believed to have arrived over immense distances to flutter against the mesh-wire fence as it tried to make it across into our domain. We carried rude nets made of sticks and loops and orange raffia bags used in those days, and still today, for oranges or gem squashes. In the waists of our pants we stuck flat Stuyvesant 30 boxes left over from my dad’s energetic smoking with his black hair, mint blue eyes, and nose like a sharp white flag. Into these boxes we stashed our initial catches. I remember vividly how the red-brown-amber pirate with its row of spiritually-blue false eyes visited the rectangle, and how I struggled to catch it as it fluttered down tightly down the mesh-wire. Reinier was three-four, I six-seven. Our first impressions were exactly of butterflies, and to this day I can’t properly understand why the whole world is not constantly occupied with their presence. To me, their forms and behaviours are world news of the highest order. They should be in the papers every day, instead of so much of the rote, violent stuff we humans, their fellow citizens, endeavour in again and again as though insane; as though we’ve become a collective teenager drunk with our new-found power over the earth.

In our case, little as we were back then, we were fortunate that a bright and warm lepidopterist, Danie Rossouw, whom we knew of course as Oom Danie, was teaching science at the high school. He and Oom Vossie, who later turned to naturalist botany, encouraged us, bringing us specimens and teaching us the beginnings of scientific nomenclature. Oom Danie’s tangible vibrancy of mind and spirit is perhaps unsurpassed by any other human in my memory. His strong, sallow frame and ready laughter from a small mouth set in a full head remain with me, though I haven’t seen him in a long time. He is a good man.

Much later, when we had moved to Bloemfontein, Oom Danie continued to write us amazing letters arriving via air mail in blue envelopes folded and glued in three parts that opened up to reveal the ink. I am saddened that, due to so many moves made by my nomadic parents, who later got divorced, and due to our not realising as children how valuable these letters were, we’ve lost them over time.

Meanwhile, at Lydenburg, they took us on collecting trips. I recall Oom Vossie, gingerly built, standing on a boulder mid-stream at what we knew as Groenplaat, a kloof running up into the mountain from a picnic spot near Strydom tunnel. He deftly collected individuals patrolling the stream. When the collecting day was over, I asked him to please show me some of the material

61 stashed in the little leather pouch on his hip. A Protogoniomorpha parhassus lying with delicate perfection in its hazily transparent folded wax paper triangle stays with me. It has been a pinnacle image in my mind’s eye.

One day, Oom Vossie swapped an entire tray full of large beauties, after considerable negotiations as well as doubt on my side, for a single brown I’d been lucky to collect on what I remember as Oom Danie’s little farm some distance outside Lydenburg, on the road to Ohrigstad, if I recall right. I wish I could remember what species this brown was. For a while I called it the “three days in a year,” getting my facts wrong about the brevity of its appearance, which was the reason for the spectacular swap. Was it a Dingana? In any event, collecting it, I learned that physical prowess was not the only way to find extraordinary species. I was scratching around down below a slope, in the shades below thickets, when it jumped up in front of me. My brief essay in Metamorphosis 1.25, “Deloneura millari—die besonderhede van twee papies” (Dilloneura millari—particulars of two pupae), attempts to convey my sense of this early recognition as embodied in a later survey. Like a meandering man influenced by butterfly movement—somewhat like every lepidopterist, I guess—here I stray from the topic, boldly introducing a new one. One of the supposed low points in a lifetime is known as the dreaded “midlife crisis.” I have certainly reached mine. I’m not old by any means, but I know there are fewer years ahead than behind. A tipping point has been reached. But a crisis can be positive. In its root the word “crisis” simply means “a turning point.” A low that changes and begins to curve upwards, or at least in the direction of change, leading to places outside a comfort zone.

As my crisis approached, I felt an increasingly intense yearning for Limpopo and Mpumalanga, the “Eastern Transvaal” of my childhood days. The Long Tom Pass, undulating grass lines of Steenkampsberg, and roads that curve in the mist. I felt an increasing need for water, moistness, abundance, diversity, heights, depths. And so, my family and I took our place here in the “land of the silver mist” in Haenertsburg, as close as I could come to those childhood mountains and, in its different way, very much “Eastern Transvaal.”

I felt increasingly stagnant in my university job, which I had enjoyed thoroughly for seventeen years in Potchefstroom. I wanted to reconnect with life itself, my own life, in its terms, like a Lepidochrysops at home in its microhabitat. After years of visiting Lekgalameetse and The Downs, our family had dreams of staying there for many consecutive months on a research ticket, but this could not materialise. When my significant other’s language practice had grown too big for her to handle all the texts to work on, we saw an opportunity to move. Christien gave enormous impetus to my longing for a move such as this.

Oom Danie spoke of a book by W. A. de Klerk, Die uur van verlange (The Hour of Yearning). He said a place deep in one’s mind calls one at some point, like an ache of longing. For him it was the “Western Transvaal,” low koppies where sweet thorn patches meet gently undulating grassland around rocky ridges. For me, it has been Limpopo/ Mpumalanga, and the ache sometimes became visceral.

Only later in life, though, had I gotten to know the Wolkberg leg of the Drakensberg that diverts deep into the Lowveld towards the north-west like a bend in a leg. It is beautifully tucked away from the main tourist routes. Over time, visits by Christien, the boys, and I led to discovering the bookshop in Haenertsburg, named after John Buchan’s autobiography, Memory-Hold-the-Door. Then we got to know Louis and Linda Changuion, and then the community and the safety of the town. Now our boys ride on bicycles in town and outside, and walk freely to visit friends, as I had done when I was a boy. We live in Kerk Street in a small double story house, bought from Linda Changuion in the most coincidental way that made one think it was meant to be. I watch the annual migration of pierids (and, here, mixed with other kinds of butterfly) from my deck, where Cape parrots can be heard across our road in the tall trees, and so on. And Kerk

Street soon becomes a pinkish gravel road, while three kilometres of that gravel road takes you into Forest Glens (as it is named on the 1:50 000 map), a lovely patch of montane forest, on the ecotone of which flies the Wolkberg Zulu where Swanepoel, known to us as Oom David, found it and showed it to the indomitable hiker, nature-lover, and historian Louis Changuion, who showed it to me. The legendary status of this little butterfly here in “the village,” as the town is known, probably surpasses that of Oom David, who has remained in the collective memory as a singular butterfly man, not least because almost no-one could believe that a barman at the Great North Hotel in Polokwane (Pietersburg) came up with a butterfly book as he did in 1953.

In Haenertsburg’s bottle store, bookshop, everywhere, the Wolkberg Zulu is the talk of the town. Sometimes someone comes up with a false sighting. These I haven’t been correcting, because I wanted the news of the butterfly to stay as alive as possible. But I made a big mistake this way. I did not correct one of the bright elderly people around, who later corrected me about its flight period. Now, I no longer know what to do when a sighting that is probably false is reported to me. Wisdom will have to arrive about this in the future, if ever!

I’ve always wanted to stay in a small town tightly close to special butterflies. Taking after my dad, who was a bit of a nomad as mentioned, I’ve therefore lived at the Moffat Mission in Kuruman, Witsieshoek in Phuthaditjhaba below Mount QwaQwa, and Clarens. Haenertsburg will be my forever home. I’m considering calling my house Viva Lepidoptera! Lepidoptera Poetica! Already I’ve met astounding people and butterflies here, including the Thompsons of Wegraakbosch, the Egans, the Kremer-Köhnes, the Van Niekerks, and more. Friends come to visit from Potchefstroom: the Taylors, the Meihuizens, the Dos Santos Nuneses. There are enormous fields of discovery around here; the feeling of surface scratching is impossible to shake off. And then there’s been the meeting with the Wolkberg russet, Aloeides stevensoni, reported in a recent issue of African Butterfly News.

Finally, my long-standing love for russets has begun to be rewarded by a special discovery. Finally, my work has begun. And now that the honeymoon period of arriving in the new town has worn off, I find that a growing sense of joy related to the village and these mountains, so lyrical and dramatic at once, has begun to replace it. May the town and its butterflies live long!

PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MONTH

Please forward any photographs that you would like to display in this Newsletter, with your identification and the month that the photograph was taken, to [email protected]. There will be a Photograph of the Month (two in each episode); the season runs from August to July and the annual winner is announced in September’s edition. The decision, by the editor, is final and will be based on photographic merit, but may be swayed by donations to the Society. Entries for September

Chrysoritis beaufortia beaufortia Lepidochrysops balli Axiocerses amanga amanga Raimund Schutte Raimund Schutte Jeremy Dobson (Moteno Pass, N Cape) (Kammanassie, W Cape) (KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga)

Cigaritis mozambica Graphium endochus Coenyra aurantiaca Jeremy Dobson James Steamer Corne Rautenbach (Rangeview, Gauteng) (Andasibe, Madagascar) (Alexandria Forest, E Cape)

NOVEMBER

OK, it’s high time we had an Aloeides winner

This great shot of the Outeniqua Russet (Aloeides quickelbergei) was taken by Raimund Schutte, during the course of the LepSoc Africa visit to Kammanassie on 15 November. Aloeides quickelbergei is restricted to a few mountain ranges in the southern parts of the Western Cape

Entries for December

Junonia sophia infracta Nepheronia argia argia Acraea natalica Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson Steve Woodhall (Zika, Uganda) (Zika, Uganda) (Krantzkloof, KZN)

Belenois gidica Papilio phorcas ruscoei Bebearia absolon entebbiae Steve Woodhall Rogers Muhwezi Rogers Muhwezi Harald Johnson, KZN (Mpanga, Uganda) (Mpanga, Uganda)

DECEMBER

We have a first-time winner in December: Lourens Erasmus for this photo of a female Battling Glider (Cymothoe alcimeda alcimeda), taken near Plettenberg Bay.

This butterfly is found in Afromontane and coastal forest, from Swellendam to Knysna; Plettenberg Bay represents a range extension.

TRAWLING THE ARCHIVES…

HAZARDS OF BUTTERFLY COLLECTING - SPARE THAT BOUQUET Ethiopia, 1982

By Torben B. Larsen

The Ghion Hotel in central Addis Ababa is a rambling old-fashioned place set in huge untidy grounds which used to provide interesting butterfly collecting on business trips till, sadly, they were converted into formal gardens some years later. At the time, years after the toppling of Haile Selassie's regime, the words 'Imperial' could still be made out faintly under an inadequate layer of revolutionary paint. There were better hotels in town - of the homogenized Hilton variety - but butterflies apart, the Ghion retained a certain charm which compensated for slipping standards of service and - shall we say - maturing of the buildings and furniture. Many of my best butterfly photographs from Africa were taken in the gardens of Ghion after work, since the cool afternoons at 2000 m. with occasional clouds, quietened down butterflies to a wonderfully cooperative level. In lowland areas butterflies are generally hyperactive till light for photography is insufficient. One of the most interesting butterflies in Ethiopia is the African Cabbage White (Pieris brassicoides), obviously closely related to the Palaearctic Cabbage Whites of the same genus, perhaps most strongly to the Afghan and Himalayan Pieris deota. I was delighted to find this present in the garden. As far as I know no-one had ever seen the early stages of Pieris brassicoides and, more importantly, its chromosome number was unknown. So here was a real chance of making some useful entomological discoveries during a business trip.

Walking to work the next morning, I saw a female Cabbage White flying about with the unmistakable air of being on the look-out for somewhere to lay her eggs. Since timings in Africa are not always precise, I stayed to see what happened, and very soon she began to lay eggs on a Rape plant (Brassica napus), an imported weed, also used by the Cabbage Whites of Europe and the Himalayas. And, contrary to the smaller Cabbage Whites of the genus Artogeia, she laid her eggs in small, evenly-spaced clutches, just like the other Pieris. I marked five or six egg-clutches to be picked up on my return in the afternoon. Males were common in the garden later that day, so not only did I gather the plants with eggs, I also got some good photographs. More importantly, a small series of fresh males was collected in order to determine the chromosome number. The true members of the Pieris have a haploid chromosome number of n=15, while the smaller members classed in the genus Artogeia have n=25-26. Unfortunately you do not just count the chromosomes. You have to extract the testicles from a freshly killed male butterfly, pickle them in Bouin's Fluid, and - in my case - send them to Dr. Saitoh in Japan for microscopic study, as was duly done. The scraggly weeds with the egg-clutches were placed in an empty vase in my room to await hatching. I really wanted to see the colour pattern of the caterpillars, since those of the true Pieris differ from those of the Artogeia. I would also be able to delight many colleagues in Europe with gifts of the unknown caterpillars of this interesting butterfly; it might even be possible to get a laboratory population going for cross-breeding experiments.

When I came back from work the following day, there was a huge bouquet of pretty flowers on my desk. Well, room service was obviously improving. But where were my scraggly weeds and their precious eggs? Nowhere! The horror of the situation dawned on me. My little collection of flowers had been interpreted as a criticism, as a sign that I would like proper flowers in the room. I called in the staff - the eggs could not be re-found, and I did not have the heart to be overly cross. And I had wonderful fresh flowers in my room every day. I did not manage to find more eggs in the wild, but the pickled testicles made it to Japan, and in due course the chromosomes were counted. The haploid number was n=14, one short of those of the other true Pieris, validating the division of the genus into Pieris and Artogeia. And deep in my heart I still know that the caterpillar of Pieris brassicoides is going to match that of the European Cabbage White.

December 1993 METAMORPHOSIS, VOL. 4, No. 4

FOOTNOTE

This newsletter is compiled by Jeremy Dobson and is edited by Mark Williams, who endeavours to correct grammatical or taxonomic errors, while retaining the style and tone of the original article as submitted by the author.

This magazine relies on material from you, the members of LepSoc Africa. Please forward any news or photographs that might be of interest to [email protected].

If anyone has any ideas regarding future format or content, please feel free to make suggestions.

PDF’s of previous editions of African Butterfly News can be downloaded here:

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