On the pierid butterflies of the West Shewa Zone (Ethiopia) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

Abstract

An annotated list of the pierid butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) of the West Shewa Zone is presented. The material was investigated during short-term field works which were conducted in different types of biotopes in the vicinities of the Ambo Plant Protection Research Center, in the Crater Wonchi, in the forest of Chilimo near Ginchi and in vicinities of Menagesha. 19 species of pierid butterflies (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) belonging to nine genera were recorded in West Shewa. In the proposed annotated list, we present bibliographic data for both the nominal taxon and all its synonyms. For each taxon, its type locality is cited in the original spellings. If necessary, the modern geographical name is given in square brackets. For each species in the section ―Bionomics‖, data on the larval host-plants, preferred biotopes and the fly time are presented. In the section ―Distribution‖, in addition to general distribution of the species, data on findings in Ethiopia are given. The studied material is cited only from the investigated area. The section ―Note‖ contains data on the intraspecies subdivision into subspecies and indicates which subspecies inhabits the region. All studied species are illustrated with two pictures: recto and versus.

Keywords/phrases: Distribution, Ethiopia, Lepidoptera, Pieridae, West Shewa Zone