Dixeia pigea (Boisduval, 1836)

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 : 1572

Dixeia pigea (Boisduval, 1836)

Larsen 1996: pl. 9, figs 89 i,ii. d’ Abrera 1997: 103 (8 figs). SI: Figure 33a–j.

Forewing length: male 22–28 mm (mean (n = 6) 25.35 mm, SD = 1.518); female 23–29.5 mm (mean (n = 14) 26.94 mm, SD = 1.508).

Records. Most parts of Tanzania, in woodland and forest margins, up to 2000 m ( Kielland 1990, p.64). Cordeiro (1990) recorded this taxon from Lake Manyara National Park. Although Kielland did not give specific records for Kilimanjaro, and this species was not encountered in the forest zone by Liseki (2009), this butterfly almost certainly occurs on the lower slopes (two old specimens from “ Kilimanjaro ” in BMNH) – and was recorded at up to 1800 m above Kibongoto by Aurivillius (1910a, p.11). There are at least three ex Rogers specimens from the slopes of Kilimanjaro in OUMNH. Beyond Tanzania found in woodland and riverine forest in Cameroon, DRC, Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya (east, southwest), Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe (east and northwest), South Africa (Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu- Natal, Eastern Cape Province) and Swaziland.

Males are white, with variation in the amount of black scaling at the tip of the forewing apex upperside, and the marginal black spots. Females are polymorphic (white, piebald white/yellow, and yellow) and very variable regarding the extent of dark markings and different forewing and hindwing pinkish-grey or yellowish suffusions. However, the only two females we have seen from the Kilimanjaro massif are whitish, male-like. The BMNH has nine “yellow” females from Amani (Usambara Mts) collected by Pinkie Jackson. Talbot (1943b, pp.106/7) gave a key to 17 named female forms. Some of these forms are similar to other Dixeia , notably D. charina , but, according to van Son (1949, p.194), D. pigea can be recognized by its relatively short antennae (shorter than length of forewing discal cell). However, in our view this subtle difference is not easily relied upon.