Colotis calais calais (Cramer, 1775)

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 : 1553-1554

Colotis calais calais (Cramer, 1775)

Larsen 1996: pl. 6, figs 45 i, ii (as C. amatus amatus ). d’ Abrera 1997: 72 (3 figs as C. amata calais ). SI: Figure 12a–d.

Forewing length: male 19–22 mm (mean (n = 5) 20.74 mm, SD = 0.658); female 18.5– 22.5 mm (mean (n = 5) 20.68 mm, SD = 1.169).

Records. Mainly in savannah areas of Tanzania, including Rukwa basin, Mpanda, Northern Highlands, Rubeho Mts, West Usambara (rare), Uluguru Mts, and Nguu, Kimboza, Dendene and Kiono forests, from sea level to 2100 m ( Kielland 1990, p.55). Kielland (1990) does not give specific records for the Northern Highlands, but the presence of this taxon on Mount Kilimanjaro was apparently first noted by Butler (1888, p.92), and has been confirmed by Liseki (2009), who encountered it at 2000 m in January and March. There is a single specimen from Taveta in the OUMNH. Recently elevated in rank from subspecies of the Indian taxon C. amata (Fabricius, 1775) , this species occurs from Mauritania south across much of Africa to Natal, including separate subspecies in Namibia / Angola and in Madagascar ( Nazari et al. 2011, p.214).

The females are variable but more or less dimorphic for male-like salmon pink versus off white. However, Tanzanian material in the BMNH main collection is largely male-like, pinkish, but white forms are present in BMNH from “ Nyasaland ” and Kenya (see also Larsen 1996, p.128). In general, females are more strongly maculated beneath, notably on the hindwing discal area.