Acraea pudorella pudorella Aurivillius, 1898

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 : 2523

Acraea pudorella pudorella Aurivillius, 1898

Larsen 1996: pl. 54, fig. 686i,ii. d ’ Abrera 1997: 169 (2 figs). Bernaud and Murphy 2014: 159 (8 figs, Malawi, of A. p. detecta). SI: Figure 11a – f.

Forewing length: male 18.0 – 30.5 mm [mean (n = 9) 26.01 mm, SD = 2.247] (a dwarf male in NHMUK from Lake Baringo, western central Kenya, has forewing length = 18.6 and was not included here); female 22.5 – 29.0 mm [mean (n = 6) 25.10 mm, SD = 2.028] .

Note: the wing pattern of this species is considered very similar to that of Acraea caldarena Hewitson, 1877 ( Bernaud and Murphy 2014, p. 96, 8 figs). However, as originally pointed out by Eltringham (1912, p. 164), the genitalia of both sexes of both species are very distinct (those of A. caldarena are illustrated in SI Figure 2d – f). Bernaud and Murphy (2014, p. 158) give a fairly effective way to separate the two based on hindwing spot pattern, but rightly caution that literature records need to be treated with care, as these species have often been confused. Both could occur in the Kilimanjaro area, but currently we have no record for A. caldarena . It is our view that the current taxon, based on wing pattern and coloration alone, is also difficult to separate consistently from A. equatorialis anaemia (see key and figures in SI). Eltringham (1912) illustrates part of the female genitalia of both taxa, which appear to be very different.

The sexes of A. p. pudorella are similar, but the black spots and borders of females are slightly more heavily marked. The expression of the line of postdiscal spots in forewing cells R 1, R 5 and M 1 – M 3 varies individually, from 0 to 5.