Show us your butterflies...

[Towlersonsafari]

 and a day flying moth the Mother Shipman (Eucliclia mi)namedapparently after a famous -probably mythical phrophetess who lived in a cave near Knaresborough-the moth is supposed to have a profile of her "ugly" face on its wings!

[Towlersonsafari]

a damp windy day nonetheless allowed us to see the Black hairstreak, (Satryium pruni0 as we live near a hotspot-someone had travelled over 60 miles to look for them- they are local to the midlands and need Blackthorn on clay soil.it is one of the rarest uk butterflies and was one of the last to be named-in 1828- its location was kept secret so the discoverer could profit from his find!

[Towlersonsafari]

We also came across the Clouded Border moth (Lomaspilis marginata) and a Meadow brown, ( Maniola jurtina) sheletereing from some rain, one of the commonest uk butterflies

[offshorebirder]

Wow - Black Hairstreak - I was not familiar with that species.   Thanks @Towlersonsafari is is a beaut.

[inyathi]

Red admiral, England by inyathi, on Flickr 

[Towlersonsafari]

it is a lovely butterfly @offshorebirder and once you mange to find them amongst the bramble flowers, very confiding -apart from never quite co-operating enough for a perfect photo!

[inyathi]

I don’t have any more photos of UK butterflies, as far as I know, but I have a fair collection of African species, so all of my subsequent posts will be of African species taken over the years, in different parts of Africa, until I run out of African butterflies, I try to identify African butterflies for the most part with a bit of help from my friends in Tanzania and their website Tanzanian Birds and Butterflies, many species are very widespread, so butterflies that I have seen in other parts of Africa may occur in Tanzania as well. If I have a good photo, I may find it on the website or if not, I may find what looks like it could be a related species, it might possibly tell me what genus my butterfly may be in, I can then Google that and see what comes up. For some of the Ghanaian species I used a website based on the book Butterflies of Ghana, unfortunately clicking the link, that I put into my Ghana trip report reveals that the website no longer goes, this is a shame as it was very helpful. I don't guarantee that all of my IDs are correct, but I'm confident that most of them they are 

 

The following are all Acreas 

 

I'm not sure about this Acraea seen in Reserva Nacional do Niassa in Mozambique, as trying to establish the exact distribution of species is not easy, but I think it could be a Window Acraea (Acraea oncaea) 

 

. 

Broad-bordered Acraea (Acraea anemosa), Kasanka National Park,  Zambia

 

 

Namibian Acraea (Acraea hypoleucus), Naukluft Mountains in Namibia

 

 

Elegant Acraea, (Acraea egina) Ruaha National Park, Tanzania

 

Orange Acraea  (Acraea eponina) near Mbeya Southern Tanzania

 

Acraea macarista, Bigodi Swamp near Kibale Forest, Uganda

Edited July 5, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

I've just edited that last post, to add in a final Acraea, I had mistyped the name, so when I searched Flickr it didn't come up, if it has a common name, I haven't found out what it is.

 

African/Common or in this case Western Joker  (Byblia anvatara crameri) at Mikongo in Lope National Park, Gabon

 

Another Western Joker, Kakum National Park in Ghana

 

This is a very widespread butterfly, I don't have photos of B. a. acheloia the subspecies of African Joker, found throughout Eastern and Southern Africa but it looks very much the same.

Edited June 29, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Angola White Lady(Graphium angolanus) , Mbatamila, Niassa Reserve, Mozambique

Edited July 7, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

I don't know if this first Amauris butterfly, has a common name, I haven't managed to find one.

 

Amauris vashti butterfly in Ivindo National Park in Gabon

 

Monk Butterfly or Dusky Friar (Amauris tartarea) at Mikongo Camp in Lope National Park in Gabon

 

 

Monk Butterfly or Dusky Friar, Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana

[offshorebirder]

Thanks for these recent installments @inyathi   I like the names Western Joker and Dusky Friar.  

 

And Acreas are cool butterflies.

[inyathi]

@offshorebirder

 

Thanks, butterflies do have some pretty interesting names, plenty more to come, although most of my photos are probably of rainforest species, just because there are more butterflies in forests, some of the species I have shots of, are very widespread and found across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, so I thought adding them here might prove useful, anyone who has shots of unknown African butterflies, can then go through this thread and if they’re lucky they might find a shot of the right species or something similar. I hadn’t realised that I hadn’t actually looked through the whole topic from the start, I thought I'd better do that, I now see that there were very few African species, until I started adding mine, I suppose one reason is that if you are mostly game driving on your safari, you don’t get the chance to see and photograph lots of butterflies. That might be another reason why I have so many forest species, because in forests you are always on foot, I guess being a birder helps also as you have more opportunities to see butterflies, but they can be devils to get photos of.

 

 African Migrants, African Emigrants or Common Vagrants (Catopsilla florella), near Chiawa Game Management Area, Zambia

 

 

Autumn Leaf Vagrant or Orange and Lemon (Eronia leda), Ruaha National Park,  Tanzania

 

 

Lemon Dotted Border or Dusky Dotted Border (Mylothris sagala), Mufindi Highlands in Tanzania

 

 

[inyathi]

These Commodores and Pansies are all fairly widespread species found in many African countries

 

Wide-banded Commodore (Precis sinuata), Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana

 

 

Air commodore (Precis actia), Kasanka National Park, Zambia

 

 

Garden Inspector (Precis archesia), Isunkaviula Plateau, Ruaha National Park, Tanzania

 

 

Soldier Commodore or Soldier Pansy (Junonia terea), Serra Mecula, Reserva do Niassa, Mozambique

 

 

Soldier Commodore butterfly on The Royal Mile in Budongo Forest, Uganda

 

 

Soldier Pansy or Soldier Commodore, Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana

 

 

Little Commodore (Junonia sophia) in Nsuta Forest Reserve in Ghana

 

 

 

Dark Blue Pansy (Junonia oenone) coastal Tanzania

 

 

Dark Blue Pansy, Principe Island, São Tomé e Principe

 

 

Dark Blue Pansy in Nsuta Forest Reserve in Ghana

 

 

Dark Blue Pansy, Antikwa Road, Kakum National Park, Ghana

 

 

Yellow Pansy (Junonia hierta) South Luangwa, Zambia

Edited July 9, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

I've edited the preceding post to include one more Commodore species that I left out by mistake, so the second photo in that post is a new addition since I first posted.

 

This butterfly the Common Commander seems to have quite a wide distribution according to Wikipedia, suggesting it occurs from Senegal across to Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, however, it's not on the Tanzanian Birds and Butterflies website, but that might be an oversight, the African Butterfly Database does suggest it occurs in Tanzania, it is though a forest species, in Kenya it's just found in Kakamega, so its range in Tanzania and Zambia is probably very limited.

 

Common Commander (Euryphura chalcis) in Nsuta Forest Reserve in Ghana

Edited July 3, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

I should also perhaps say, that when it comes to identifying butterflies, there are a few experts on Flickr, all but one of the photos I've posted here, are on Flickr and most, probably all of them are in various butterfly photo groups, e.g. Fieldguide to the Butterflies of Africa, so if my ID is wrong, as is sometimes the case, then a friendly expert will correct me, as happened with this next one, I'd worked out that it was a Charaxes, but had picked the wrong species. If you use Flickr then these butterfly photo groups should be a big help for identifying butterflies, the one I've named has nearly 7,000 photos in it. I didn't do a good job of framing it, when I took the shot either, which is a little annoying, as it's a nice butterfly, but I suspect it wasn't being very cooperative at the time. It is another rainforest species so is mainly Western but does occur in some forests in Eastern Africa.

 

 

 

Western Red Charaxes (Charaxes cynthia) on The Royal Mile, Budongo Forest, Uganda

 

 

The following species the Western Blue Charaxes 

 

 

Western Blue Charaxes (Charaxes smargadalis), Isunkaviula Plateau, Ruaha National Park, Tanzania 

 

The butterfly perched on a dead elephant.

 

 

Hildebrandt's Charaxes, Mikongo Forest, Lope National Park, Gabon

 

 

 

Lesser Blue Charaxes (Charaxes numenes) Bonkro Forest, Ghana

 

 

Violet-washed Charaxes or Common Red Charaxes (Charaxes lucretius) plus Lesser Blue, Bonkro Forest, Ghana

 

 

 

White-barred Emperor or White-barred Charaxes (Charaxes brutus) Bonkro Forest, Ghana
 

Even if you manage to find an ID, not all species have common English names at least as far as I can tell, I've not found a common name for this next one.

 

Catuna sikorana, Udzungwa Mountains National Park in Tanzania

 

 

Catuna sikorana is a forest species and near endemic to Tanzania, I think in Tanzania it is restricted to the Eastern Arc Mountains and other forested mountains in the Southern Highlands, just crossing the border into a small corner neighbouring Northern Malawi. 

    

Edited July 12, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

The Danaid Eggfly or Diadem (Hypolimnus misippus) is one of the most widespread butterflies occurring throughout Africa, Tropical, Asia and Australia, it was introduced to the Caribbean and Central & South America, I read in an online guide to the animals of Trinidad & Tobago, that it is though that it could have been introduced during the slave trade. I knew that African mosquitoes and the diseases they carry had been introduced to the Americas by the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and likewise some African monkeys like Green and Mona Monkeys to a couple of Caribbean Islands, I’d not heard of butterflies being introduced by the slave trade.

 

Danaid Eggfly female (Hypolimnus misippus), Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana

 

Danaid Eggfly male at River Crossing Lodge, near Windhoek in Namibia

 

 

Danaid Eggfly, Arabuko Sokoke Forest, Kenya

 

Variable Eggfly or Variable Diadem (Hypolimnas anthedon) Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana

 

The Blue Diadem (Hypolimnus salamacis) is widespread forest species, mainly found in Western and Central Africa and some East African forests.  

 

Blue Diadem, Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana

 

Blue Diadem in Nsuta Forest Reserve in Ghana

 

Blue Diadem, Nsuta Forest Reserve in Ghana

Edited July 12, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Forester butterflies are as their name suggests forest species, this first one the Gold-banded Forester, is predominantly a coastal forest species found in Eastern Africa from Southern Somalia to South Africa, it occurs in some forests further inland as well such as in the Eastern Arc Mountains, where I found this one in the Udzungwas.   

 

Gold-banded Forester (Euphaedra neophron) Udzungwa Mountains National Park in Tanzania

 

There are many more Forester species found further West

 

Common Forester (Euphaedra medon fraudata), the Royal Mile Budongo Forest, Uganda 

 

 

Janetta Forester(Euphaedra janetta), Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana 

 

With so many species they are not always easy to tell apart, I think this next one is another Janetta, but it might not be 

 

Janetta Forester? Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana

 

I identified this next one as a Themis Forester (Euphaedra themis), but I've just seen a comment on Flickr, that I'd somehow missed, from someone who had looked it up in the Butterflies of West Africa by the late Torben Larsen, the African butterfly expert, they suggested it could be a Brownish Themis Forester (Ephaedra labournea eburnensis), I don't have that book which is now out of print, and there are almost no photos of the brownish online, so really it could be either, with these butterflies you really need to see the underside of the wings, but even if I could see the underside, without the book, I don't know what the difference is, I'd need photos to compare it to and there aren't enough of those, also with photos you can't always be certain, that they have been identified correctly. So I'll never know. 

Themis Forester (Euphaedra themis) or maybe not, in Ankasa Conservation Area in Ghana

 

Those butterflies were all in the genus Euphaedra these last four are in the genus Bebearia

 

Mandinga Forester (Bebearia mandinga) female, Kakum National Park in Ghana

 

 

Light Brown Forester (Bebearia zonara), Kakum National Park, Ghana

 

 

Common Palm Forester (Bebearia cocalia), The Royal Mile, Budongo Forest Uganda

 

Western Fantasia (Bebearia phantasina) male, Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana

Edited July 5, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

The Forest Glade Nymph (Aterica galene) is a very widespread African species

 

Forest Glade Nymph male, Udzungwa Mountains National Park

 

 

Forest Glade Nymph, The Royal Mile, Budongo Forest, Uganda

 

Forest Glade Nymph female, Katavi National Park. Tanzania

 

Forest Glade Nymph male, Nsuta Forest Reserve, Ghana

 

Forest Glade Nymph female in Ankasa Conservation Area in Ghana
 

Forest Glade Nymph, Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary, Ghana

Edited July 12, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Fiery Yellow Glider (Cymothoe lucasii) in Ivindo National Park in Gabon

 

 

Large Lurid Glider (Cymothoe hypatha), Ivindo National Park, Gabon

 

These next ones are all Common Yellow Gliders (Cymothoe egesta) there are two subspecies a West African one that occurs from Sierra Leone to Western Nigeria and a Central African one that occurs from Southeast Nigeria to Uganda and Northwest Tanzania.

 

Yellow Glider(Cymothoe egesta confusa), The Royal Mile, Budongo Forest, Uganda

 

 

Yellow Glider (Cymothoe egesta confusa) Royal Mile Budongo Forest Uganda

 

 

Common Yellow Glider (Cymothoe egesta egesta), Ankasa Conservation Area in Ghana

 

 

Common Yellow Glider male, Kakum National Park in Ghana

 

 

Common Yellow Glider (Cymothoe egesta egesta) female, Kakum National Park in Ghana

 

Edited July 10, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

The Large Fairy Hairstreak (Hypolycaena antifaunus) is a butterfly of primary forest, from Guinea across West Africa, to parts of East Africa and down to Northwest Zambia, this one sadly didn't open its wings which are at least partly bright blue. 

 

Large Fairy Hairstreak, Kakum National Park in Ghana 

[inyathi]

When I started posting African butterflies, I thought rather than go through each of my albums on Flickr looking for butterflies, and risk missing some, it would be simpler just to search Flickr for butterflies and that would give me all my Flickr shots, as when you search Flickr it finds your own photos first. That worked fine, but not all of my safaris are on Flickr and the ones that are, don’t have all of the butterfly photos, I took on those trips, there are photos that I didn’t upload. Having looked at some of these photos, I can see that some of them are actually not bad photos, I’m not sure why I didn’t upload them. Seeing how many species I’ve posted already, I thought maybe, I should check all of my photos, going through the safaris that aren’t on Flickr and look for new species, that perhaps I’ve missed. This means of course that I have found more species, some of which I would have posted already, if I had remembered I had them found them earlier, so I decided to edit the earlier posts to add photos of some the extra species and put in a couple more shots of species already posted. I’ve put in nine photos and four more species, when I get to the end I will be interested to see what the final species total is. 

 

This next little butterfly landed on my foot whilst at Langoue Bai in Ivindo National Park in Gabon, after cropping the photo heavily I realised it was actually not a bad shot. I don’t know what species it is, my initial thought was that it is a butterfly called Jeannel’s Blue (Leptotes jeanneli) as the markings look near identical, but I quickly ruled that out, as it doesn’t occur in Gabon and nor do any other species of Leptotes. This leads me to conclude that it has to be a Hairtail Anthene species, but I haven’t found a perfect match yet, so I don’t know which one it is, if I perhaps find out from Flickr, I will come back and edit this post.

 

Hairtail Anthene species? Langoue Bai, Ivindo National Park, Gabon

[inyathi]

White-banded palla, Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary in Ghana

 

 

[offshorebirder]

On 7/7/2021 at 8:29 PM, inyathi said:

The Large Fairy Hairstreak (Hypolycaena antifaunus) 

 

What a striking creature!

[Towlersonsafari]

i like that the large failry hairstreak as the same stripy legs as the green and black hairstreaks. in Northamptonshire a lot more species have emerged and here is a couple of large skippers (ochlodes sylvanus)- not that they are larger than the small skippers, but they have a mottled or paterned wing

Edited July 10, 2021 by Towlersonsafari

[Towlersonsafari]

and the small skipper, (Thymelicus sylvestris) not that it is smaller than the lare skipper.it is also very similar to the essex skipper.the males of both small and essex skippers have a black line or sex-brand on the wing, the small has orange under the tips of the antenna the essex has glossy black-these are evry small butterflys!

Edited July 10, 2021 by Towlersonsafari