Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Mount Kilimanjaro: family Pieridae, subfamily Pierinae
Author
Liseki, Steven D.
Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, Arusha, Tanzania; & School of Anthropology and Conservation, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK;
Author
Vane-Wright, Richard I.
School of Anthropology and Conservation, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK; & Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK; & Geographical and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK
text
Journal of Natural History
2014
2014-04-28
48
25 - 26
1543
1583
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2014.886343
journal article
10.1080/00222933.2014.886343
1464-5262
5193830
Pontia helice johnstonii
(Crowley, 1887)
Larsen 1996
: pl. 9, figs 87 i,ii.
d’ Abrera 1997: 101
(2 figs). SI: Figure 26a–d. Forewing length: male
22–26.5 mm
(mean (
n
= 7)
24.70 mm
,
SD
= 1.180); female
23– 26.5 mm
(mean (
n
= 7)
24.44 mm
,
SD
= 0.802).
Records.
Mufindi, West Usambara and Northern Highlands, in open grasslands and bush at
1500–2200 m
elevation (
Kielland 1990
, p.63). Based on
14 specimens
collected by Johnston, this butterfly was recorded from “Kilima-njaro, wooded, rocky, and cultivated ground, grassy downs, at
4000 to 5,500 feet
, July and August” (
Godman 1885
, p.539, as
Pieris hellica
), noting that it differed slightly in coloration from “the examples in our own collection”. Two years later Crowley described
Synchloe johnstonii
[sic] based on material from the same source. A pair in OUMNH were collected on the slopes of
Kilimanjaro
in
September 1905
, at about
5000 ft
, by K. St Aubyn Rogers. Aurivillius (1910a, p.11), based on the fieldwork of Sjöstedt, recorded this butterfly from Kibongoto, flying up to at least
1200 m
. This species, not encountered by
Liseki (2009)
at
2000 m
or above, is included here as a member of the lower slopes fauna, flying below the main forest zone at c.
1200–1800 m
.
Beyond
Tanzania
, subspecies
johnstonii
occurs in grassy areas in the highlands of
Uganda
,
Kenya
,
Rwanda
,
Burundi
and eastern
DRC
(
Kivu
and Ituri). The nominate
race flies
from eastern
Zimbabwe
south to Cape Province (
Ackery et al. 1995
, p.210). There is slight sexual dimorphism and minor variation in this species, but in appearance compared with most other regional
Pierinae
this is a constant and distinctive butterfly.