Acraea egina egina (Cramer, 1775)

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 : 2517

Acraea egina egina (Cramer, 1775)

Larsen 1996: pl. 54, fig. 677i,ii (as A. egina egina and A. e. areca ). d ’ Abrera 1997: 173 (3 figs, as A. egina ). Bernaud and Murphy 2014: 106 (8 figs, Malawi, as A. egina ). SI: Figure 3a – d.

Forewing length: male 31.5 – 40.0 mm [mean (n = 14) 37.07 mm, SD = 1.941]; female 37.0 – 45.0 mm [mean (n = 6) 41.07 mm, SD = 2.296].

Note: many authors have subdivided this butterfly into subspecies; Larsen (2005, p. 455) even suggested that Acraea areca Mabille, 1889 , might be specifically distinct. However, Bernaud and Murphy (2014, p. 104) state that all supposed subspecies are invalid, having the status at most of polymorphic forms. Here we follow Pierre and Bernaud (2014), who recognise two races: A. egina bellehui Carcasson, 1961 (from Ethiopia), and A. e. egina (to include, inter alia, areca , harrisoni Sharpe, 1904, and pembanus Kielland 1990). Eltringham (1912, p. 107) listed Pemba within the range of typical egina .