Amauris (Amauris) niavius dominicanus Trimen, 1879

Liseki, Steven D. & Vane-Wright, Richard I., 2015, Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Mount Kilimanjaro: Nymphalidae subfamilies Libytheinae, Danainae, Satyrinae and Charaxinae, Journal of Natural History 50, pp. 865-904 : 871

Amauris (Amauris) niavius dominicanus Trimen, 1879

d ’ Abrera 1997: 187 (1 fig.). SI: Figure 4a – d.

Forewing length: male 41.5 – 50 mm [mean (n = 8) 46.25 mm, SD = 2.177]; female 43 – 49.5 mm [mean (n = 9) 46.56 mm, SD = 1.576].

Records

According to Kielland (1990, p. 75), occurs in eastern, northern and southwestern areas of Tanzania, from sea level to over 2300 m. Carcasson (1963, p. 23) recorded it from Moshi, and in the BMNH there are several Moshi specimens collected by Cooper, and others collected by Fountaine. Cooper also collected at least one male from Engare Nairobi, West Kilimanjaro, at 4500 – 5500 ft. E. Barns obtained this butterfly in the Taveta Forest, at c. 2500 ft, where Rogers (1908, p. 499) evidently found it abundantly. Not encountered in the forest zone by Liseki (2009). We regard this as a member of the lower slopes fauna – but it would appear to have the potential to enter the lower levels of the forest. Subspecies dominicanus occurs widely in eastern Africa, from Kenya south to Natal, whereas the nominate race occurs from western Kenya west to Guinea. A third subspecies is found in northern Uganda, southern Sudan and Ethiopia. According to Ackery et al. (1995, p. 271; based on Talbot 1940, p. 320), it is possible that a fourth, unnamed race occurs on Bioko ( Fernando Po) – however, although the species is confirmed for the island by Spearman et al. (2000, p. 457), and there do appear to be minor differences in phenotype (photographs made available by J.D. Weintraub), these authors make no comment on status.