Colotis evagore antigone (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 : 1551

Colotis evagore antigone (Boisduval, 1836)

Kielland 1990: 267, 1 female? Larsen 1996: pl. 7, figs 70 i, ii. d’ Abrera 1997: 83 (11 figs). SI: Figure 9a–j.

Forewing length: male 17.0– 19.50 mm (mean (n = 7) 18.46 mm, SD = 0.424); female 15.0–19.0 mm (mean (n = 6) 17.27 mm, SD = 1.131).

Records. Widespread and common in wooded habitats within Tanzania, from sea level to more than 1800 m ( Kielland 1990, p.57). Kielland did not give specific records, but the presence of this taxon on Mt Kilimanjaro was recorded by Butler (1888, p.92, under the synonym Teracolus comptus Butler 1888 and Aurivillius (1910a, p.12), and confirmed by Liseki (2009), who encountered this species on 9 September 2000 at 2000 m (voucher in BMNH). The BMNH also has old material from Kilimanjaro and Taveta. Beyond Tanzania, subspecies antigone occurs in dry habitats throughout most of Africa south of the Sahara, with other subspecies in North Africa and southern Spain, Socotra and Arabia ( Ackery et al. 1995, p.190).

Males of this small species vary somewhat with respect to the intensity of markings. Females are very variable, with dry season forms less marked with black than wet season individuals ( Larsen 1996, p.136). Some females lack orange at the forewing tip, with intermediates ( d’ Abrera 1997, p.84). Individuals with yellow ground colour also occur, but we have not seen any from the Kilimanjaro area.