Iolaus schultzei Aurivillius, 1905

Sáfián, Szabolcs & Pyrcz, D Tomasz W., 2020, Further data on the butterfly fauna (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Mpanga Forest, Uganda, and the role of this forest in biodiversity conservation, Metamorphosis 31 (1), pp. 7-14 : 11

Iolaus schultzei Aurivillius, 1905

A male Iolaus with strongly deformed forewings was found in the ABRI collection collected in Mpanga Forest. Dissection of the genitalia (particularly the morphology of the aedeagus) confirmed that the specimen is a male I. schultzei , which was formerly known only from the type specimen collected in the Adamawa Plateau along the Cameroon / Nigeria border ( Larsen, 2005). The record represents the easternmost occurrence of the species with a significant range extension. However, the recently described Cigaritis stewarti Bouyer, 2017 first recorded from Wak in the northern edge of the Adamawa Plateau in Cameroon ( Bouyer, 2017) was also found recently in Central Uganda near Mubende (Sáfián, pers. obs.), so further butterflies are expected to be found with similar distribution patterns. They should also occur between these localities but butterflies in the northern transition zone of the Congolian rainforest in the DRC and the Central African Republic are very poorly studied. Based on genitalia morphology, I. schultzei is closely related to I. menas and I. trimeni , both savannah and woodland species and I. schultzei could also be associated with open habitats, rather than the closed-canopy high forest of Mpanga .