Pentila pauli

Pentila pauli
Pentila pauli
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Pentila
Species:	P. pauli
Binomial name
Pentila pauli Staudinger, 1888[1]
Synonyms
Pentila radiata Lathy, 1903 Pentila multipunctata Lathy, 1903 Pentila nyassana alberta Hulstaert, 1924 Pentila nyassana benguellana Stempffer and Bennett, 1961 Pentila clarensis Neave, 1903 Pentila nyassana elisabetha Hulstaert, 1924 Pentila nyassana elisabetha ab. nigribasis Hulstaert, 1924 Pentila leopardina Schultze, 1923 Pentila multiplagata Bethune-Baker, 1908 Pentila amenaida var. nyassana Aurivillius, 1899 Pentila amenaida daina Suffert, 1904 Pentila amenaida f. amenaidana Strand, 1911 Pentila nyassana obsoleta Hawker-Smith, 1933 Pentila nyassana obsoleta var. cataractae Stevenson, 1940 Pentila nyassana ras Talbot, 1935

Pentila pauli, Paul’s Buff; Paul’s Pentila or Spotted Pentila, is a butterfly in the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.^[2] The habitat consists of deciduous woodland and forest margins.

The larvae feed on very dark, blue-green (black) algae (Cyanophyta) growing on tree trunks.

Subspecies

• Pentila pauli pauli (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, western Cameroon)
• Pentila pauli abri Collins & Larsen, 2001 (south-eastern Senegal, western Guinea)
• Pentila pauli alberta Hulstaert, 1924 (western Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo: Tanganika)
• Pentila pauli benguellana Stempffer & Bennett, 1961 (Angola: Benguella and Bihe districts)
• Pentila pauli clarensis Neave, 1903 (Uganda, western Kenya, Tanzania)
• Pentila pauli dama (Suffert, 1904) (southern coast of Tanzania)
• Pentila pauli elisabetha Hulstaert, 1924 (northern and western Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo: Shaba, Sankuru, Kasai and Maniema)
• Pentila pauli leopardina Schultze, 1923 (southern Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo: Cataractes, Kinshasa, Equateur, Tshuapa and Mongala)
• Pentila pauli multiplagata Bethune-Baker, 1908 (southern Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo: Uele, Ituri, Tshopo and North Kivu)
• Pentila pauli nyassana Aurivillius, 1899 (Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia: east of the Luangwa Valley)
• Pentila pauli obsoleta Hawker-Smith, 1933 (Zimbabwe: Lomagundi district to the southern bank of the Zambezi River and the Victoria Falls, as well as Dichwe, Zambia)
• Pentila pauli ras Talbot, 1935 (south-western Ethiopia)

References

1. Pentila at funet.fi
2. Afrotropical Butterflies: Lycaenidae - Subtribe Pentilina