Acraea cabira Hopffer, 1885

Liseki, Steven D. & Vane-Wright, Richard I., 2018, Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Mount Kilimanjaro: Nymphalidae subfamily Helconiinae, Journal of Natural History 52 (39 - 40), pp. 2511-2552 : 2541

Acraea cabira Hopffer, 1885

Larsen 1996: pl. 53, fig. 667i,ii. d ’ Abrera 1997: 153 (4 figs). Bernaud and Murphy 2014: 92 (8 figs). SI: Figure 29e – h.

Forewing length: male 19.5 – 25.5 mm [mean (n = 13) 22.70 mm, SD = 1.291]; female 23.5 – 30.0 mm [mean (n = 11) 24.96 mm, SD = 8.21].

Note: This species is very similar to Acraea sotikensis Sharpe, 1892 . Both have red and yellow forms, but the species are separable on details of the basal patterning of the hindwing underside ( Pierre and Bernaud 2007; Bernaud and Murphy 2014, p. 90). So far we have not found convincing evidence that A. sotikensis occurs on the Kilimanjaro massif, but all material of the cabira phenotype encountered should be checked. To this end we have included A. sotikensis in the key and provided an illustration (SI Figure 29i,j) to help ensure correct identification. Material in OUMNH suggests that A. cabira is sexually dimorphic in size, but not strongly sexually dimorphic in colour pattern (in females, hindwing upperside usually with submarginal pale spots; males without). Van Son (1963) recognised five forms of this species in South Africa.