Acraea equatorialis anaemia Eltringham, 1912

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 : 2521

Acraea equatorialis anaemia Eltringham, 1912

Larsen 1996: pl. 54, fig. 684i,ii. SI: Figure 8e – j.

Forewing length: male 24.0 – 30.5 mm [mean (n = 7) 26.96 mm, SD = 1.577]; female 22.5 – 32.5 mm [mean (n = 11) 26.55 mm, SD = 2.167].

Note: sexual dimorphism and variation seem to us slight, although females vary subtly in ground colour notably of the hindwings, from olivaceous through male-like pale buff- orange to whitish. Whether or not this level of variation prompted van Someren (1939), who found this butterfly to be common in the Chyulu Hills, to note ‘ very considerable variation in the female forms ’ is uncertain. Females of subsp. anaemia have wider and darker hindwing margins, with the discal spots more strongly marked than in the nominate race. See A. pudorella pudorella (below) regarding difficulties of separation from that taxon based on wing coloration and pattern alone.