Heteropsis perspicua perspicua (Trimen, 1873)

Liseki, Steven D. & Vane-Wright, Richard I., 2015, Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Mount Kilimanjaro: Nymphalidae subfamilies Libytheinae, Danainae, Satyrinae and Charaxinae, Journal of Natural History 50, pp. 865-904 : 876-877

Heteropsis perspicua perspicua (Trimen, 1873)

Larsen 1996: pl. 30, fig. 425 i,ii (as Henotesia perspicua ). d ’ Abrera 1997: 225 (2 figs; as Henotesia perspicua ). SI: Figure 9e – h.

Forewing length: male 19 – 24 mm [mean (n = 19) 22.21 mm, SD = 1.259]; female 20.5 – 27 mm [mean (n = 13) 24.59 mm, SD = 1.297].

Note: Kielland (1990, p. 83, as Henotesia perspicua ) considered this to be a polytypic species, with ‘ a distinct race in Cameroun ’, named in a later publication ( Kielland 1994). Only treated as monotypic by Ackery et al. (1995, as Henotesia perspicua ), and listed as without representation in Cameroon, because Kielland ’ s 1994 paper came too late for inclusion. Like many Mycaelsina, this species shows seasonal variation, notably with respect to expression of the border ocelli – for which Riley (1925, as Henotesia perspicua ) still offers a useful summary in relation to two closely related species, Heteropsis simonsii (Butler, 1877) and Heteropsis teratia (Karsch, 1894) , both of which occur elsewhere in Tanzania.

Records

Described by Kielland (1990, p. 84) as ‘ very common in woodland and savanna from sea level to 2150 m ... throughout the country in suitable habitats ’. In contrast, noted as ‘ rare ’ during the dry season only at Lake Manyara National Park ( Moehlman and Liseki 2003). This butterfly is included here as a member of the lower slopes fauna on the basis of 10 males in OUMNH from Taveta collected at c . 2500 ft by Rogers (see also Butler 1901, p. 23) and, in BMNH, several specimens labelled Kilimanjaro (mostly collected by F. J. Jackson), together with a single male from southeast Kilimanjaro obtained by Cooper at Marangu , 4000 – 5000 ft, during January 1937 . Liseki (2009), working at 2000 m upwards, did not encounter this butterfly on Kilimanjaro . Beyond Tanzania H. p. perspicua is found widely in eastern Africa , from Ethiopia to South Africa, but extending west only into parts of Zambia, the Congo Basin and Uganda .