The Butterflies of Beyers Naude Drive.

Recently a Facebook friend posted a lovely pic of a butterfly, on which I commented with its name.

My friend replied saying he didn’t know the names of the butterflies he saw on his trail runs and that it might be a good idea for him to start learning them (he is an avid runner, photographer, Iphonographer, Instagramer, Twitterer, Whiskey drinker, general all around nice guy, and one of those people who seem to take an interest in everything).

And so, that is how this post came about.

Somehow Beyers Naude Drive has always played a role as a main artery in my life (even way back when it was still DF Malan) I’ve lived near it, worked near it, played near it (all roughly within 10ks) and used it as the main road to anywhere for a very long time. I’ve always been fascinated by butterflies, and ever since I bought my first camera, I have started spending hours out in the fields photographing them.
With a little help from the younger brother, quite a bit of pestering of the ADU, advice from my very knowledgeable and always helpful friend Tim and pulling out and scouring maps with my Dad, I’ve compiled a list of the local Butterflies.

The ADU (If you don’t know about them, I’ll explain who they are later in the post) lists are great, but are more designed toward the serious Lepidopterists (Butterfly enthusiasts) and I wanted this post to aim more toward those people who don’t spend the weekends, out in the fields, on hands and knees butterfly ‘hunting’ . Those who don’t own Steve Woodhall’s book “Field Guide to the Butterflies of South Africa” (which, while we are on the topic, I highly recommended. It’s an awesome reference book) Maybe I should have titled the post “Butterflies for Dummies”, but I don’t like the sound of that. (Don’t know how those “For Dummies” books ever took off)

Obviously this list will vary from place to place. But these are some of the most often seen and the most distinctly and easily identifiable.

So without further ado, in no particular order, here goes…

Eyed Pansy (Junonia orithya madgascariensis)

Yellow Pansy (Junonia hierta cebrene)

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

African Monarch (Danus chrysippus aegyptius)

Citrus Swallowtail (Papilio demodocus demodocus)

Brown veined white (Belenois aurota aurota)

Meadow White (Pontia helice helice)

Broad Bordered grass yellow (Eurema brigitta brigitta)

Garden Commodore (Precis archesia archesia)

Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus)

The ADU (The Animal Demography Unit)  (for those of you who don’t know about them – I was one of those people myself until recently) is a research unit of the University of Cape Town.
They have a number of projects which focus on animal populations, and their distribution. They encourage members of the public (“citizen scientists”) to upload images and locality information to their Virtual Museum. These records help them expand the distribution databases for the specific animal, which in turn can help with the conservation of the species. So if you’d like to help out with biodiversity projects, here’s  how to upload your images and become a Citizen Scientist.

If you’d like to get an identification on a butterfly you don’t know, there is a really helpful Facebook group run by the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa, if you upload a decent photo and a locality, they normally always help out with an ID. Find the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AfricanLepidoptera/