Colotis elgonensis (Sharpe, 1891)

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 elgonensis (Sharpe, 1891) subsp?]

Larsen 1996: pl. 7, figs 60 i. d’ Abrera 1997: 79 (4 figs). SI: Figure 14g,h.

Forewing length: male, about 23–26 mm. Records. Colotis elgonensis nobilis Carcasson, 1960 , occurs in undisturbed submontane forest in western Tanzania at 1300–2200 m ( Kielland 1990, p.57). Typically encountered flying incessantly along forest edges, it occasionally visits flowers ( Larsen 2005; Williams 2010, p.94, for subspecies glauningi Schultze, 1909), and it may also be found in grassy clearings between forest patches ( Congdon and Collins 1998). Rogers (1913, p.99), who encountered this species in Kenya, states that its habits “are very different from those of the genus generally as it frequents forests and flies rather high.” Kielland (1990, p.57) does not give any records for the Northern Highlands of eastern Tanzania, but Liseki (2009, p.121) stated that he encountered this species on Mount Kilimanjaro during January and March 2001. There are no specimens from eastern Tanzania in the BMNH or OUMNH, nor, unfortunately, is there any voucher material for Liseki’ s record. Colotis elgonensis is not included in our Kilimanjaro list here, as the record clearly requires investigation. However, there is in the BMNH a Colotis specimen identified as C. elgonensis kenia Talbot, 1939 , from Kibwezi (SI: Figure 13g,h, forewing length 23.1 mm). The town of Kibwezi is only about 100 km north of Kilimanjaro. Torben Larsen (pers. comm.) suggests that, if there is a population of this species on Kilimanjaro, it could well represent a new, previously unknown subspecies. Beyond western Tanzania, C. elgonensis occurs in Nigeria, Cameroon, DRC, southern Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya ( Larsen 1996, p.133).