Colotis vesta catachrysops (Butler, 1878)

Liseki, Steven D. & Vane-Wright, Richard I., 2014, Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Mount Kilimanjaro: family Pieridae, subfamily Pierinae, Journal of Natural History 48 (25 - 26), pp. 1543-1583 : 1556

[ Colotis vesta catachrysops (Butler, 1878) ]

Kielland 1990: 267, 1 fig. Larsen 1996: pl. 6, fig 50 i,ii ( vesta hanningtoni). d’ Abrera 1997: 73 (3 figs). SI: Figure 14e,f.

Records. Coastal areas, inland to Morogoro, Mpwapwa and Ruaha Gorge, from near sea level up to 1500 m ( Kielland 1990, p.59). A male (forewing length 23.0 mm) from the Great Craters District considered to represent this race is illustrated in SI: Figure 12ef. However, Kielland (1980, p.158) records C. vesta from Ngorongoro as subspecies hanningtoni (Butler) (see below regarding this uncertainty). Although we are not aware of any records of C. vesta from Kilimanjaro, material of C. v. catachrysops in OUMNH from Taveta suggests that it is likely this taxon has occurred or does occur on the lower slopes of the mountain. Whether or not this is the taxon recorded from Taveta by Butler (1888, p.92) as Teracolus mutans Butler, 1877 (type locality “Lake Nyassa”) is uncertain but plausible.

More widely, subspecies catachrysops is said to occur in coastal areas of Kenya as well as Tanzania, while the species as a whole comprises about nine named races that, between them, occur through much of mainland Africa ( Ackery et al. 1995). The sexes are similar but variable. Kielland (1990, p.59) indicates that catachrysops is a large race in which the upperside dark markings “are more extended than in other races”. However, Talbot (1939, p.179) described C. v. hanningtoni as “the darkest form”. As intimated by Larsen (1996, p.130), the current subspecies divisions appear somewhat arbitrary, and should be re-assessed.

GROUP IX