Description
The ABRI holdings of Acraea (Nymphalidae) have been catalogued and sum up to 45654 specimens and are the second most complete holdings in the world after www.acraea.com run by D. Bernaud (France) which number over 50000 specimens. ABRI and Bernaud work in close collaboration since 2021 and have published independent Acraea research papers. In this Data collection, we have followed the Pierre Bernaud arrangement of Acraea Actinote series of Butterflies of the World: Series Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach part 31. Pierre Bernaud Nymphalidae XVI. Acraea, subgenus Actinote, 2009 and Nymphalidae XXIII Acraea subgenus Acraea 2013 The Acraeainae are mainly Afrotropical 240 species and 72 subspecies. 5 species, from Indo Australian region and the genus Actinote 58 species of Neotropical origin In 2019 A.P. Carvalho et al wrote a paper entitled is sexual conflict a driver of speciation? A case study with a tribe of Brush-footed butterflies and they used the genera Acraea and its closely related Asian family Cethosia. The Baysian diversification rate analysis splits the Neotropical Actinote very neatly also the ex Bemitestis group is very old and distinct. They is an ongoing work on the generic status of the group Acraea but until such publication is in press and accepted by the Lepidoptera specialists, we prefer to retain the Pierre Bernaud arrangement and will retain phylogeny and alter the Acraea collection accordingly but for now all Acraeainae from Africa are considered as Acraea. The ABRI holding consist of all Acraea species but of which six of these are known only from the type specimens and are in the National Museums of London and Oxford in UK and Paris in France. The Carvalho et al work of 2019 shows the division of 7 Paraphyletic genera six of which are African. Whilst we await a revision of the tribe Acraeini. We have retained the Pierre and Bernaud arrangement of 2014. As stated earlier, this is not the Lepidopterists Society of Africa arrangement. The 8 missing species of Acraea in ABRI collection are; Acraea aureola Eltringham, 1911-Angola, Acraea onerata Trimen, 1891 -Angola/Namibia, Acraea lapidorum Pierre, 1988-S. DRC/Angola, Acraea lofua Eltringham, 1911- S. DRC, Acraea comor Pierre, 1992- G. Comoro, Acraea kinduana Pierre, 1979- E. DRC, Acraea actnotina (Lathy, 1903)-Nigeria, Acraea dimonika Bernaud, 2021-Congo. This dataset presents a total of 43,385 specimens of Acraea collected from different countries within the African continent.
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 43,381 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Collins S, Obondo D, Beta J (2023): Occurrence of Acraea Butterflies in Africa, 1892- 2022. v1.0. A Rocha Kenya. Dataset/Occurrence. http://ipt.museums.or.ke/ipt/resource?r=acraea&v=1.0
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is A Rocha Kenya. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 092cad26-523a-417a-8d8b-59af1da50e3c. A Rocha Kenya publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.
Keywords
Occurrence; Afrotropical; Actinote; Lepidoptera; Forest conservation and Acraea; Specimen
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Director
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator
- Data Capture Clerk
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator
- Data Capture Clerk
- Publisher
- Project Coordinator BID-GBIF
- Programmer
- Technical Liaison GBIF Kenya
Geographic Coverage
Butterfly collection was conducted along parks, forest reserves and primary montane forests in most of African countries.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-37.719, -23.906], North East [34.307, 45] |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 1892-09-01 / 2022-10-08 |
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Project Data
https://www.gbif.org/project/BID-AF2020-140-REG/raising-the-profile-of-data-for-the-conservation-of-four-forested-african-landscapes
| Title | Raising the profile of data for the conservation of four forested African landscapes |
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| Identifier | BID-AF2020-140-REG |
| Funding | Publication of this dataset was made possible through the BID programme led by GBIF. The project was funded by the JRS Biodiversity Foundation https://www.gbif.org/project/BID-AF2020-140-REG/raising-the-profile-of-data-for-the-conservation-of-four-forested-african-landscapes |
| Study Area Description | Butterfly sampling was carried out across almost all African countries. |
| Design Description | Butterfly collection was conducted along parks, forest reserves and primary montane forests in most of African countries. Butterflies were captured during the day using sweep nets either in flight or when settled while others were caught using bait traps. Thereafter the captured butterfly samples were collected carefully after stunning them by pinching the thorax and later preserved in the boxes. In some cases, eggs and caterpillars of different butterfly species were also collected and later bred within ABRI, this helps in the obtaining of perfect series within ABRI cabinets. Butterfly collection was aimed at 1. Having a comprehensive collection of different species for the restoration and conservation of different forest types 2. Understanding the biology and distribution patterns of butterflies, thus contributing to the knowledge of biogeography of African Acraea butterfly species. |
The personnel involved in the project:
- Point Of Contact
- Originator
- Originator
- Publisher
- Programmer
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
- Content Provider
Sampling Methods
The intensive butterfly sampling was conducted along paths and small forest roads in the vegetation types. The butterflies were captured during the day using sweep nets either in flight or when settled and traps. Specimens reared from larva or ova were also collected from the field. The collected specimens were then preserved in the ABRI collection.
| Study Extent | Butterfly collection was done across different countries within the African continent. |
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| Quality Control | Steve Collins, Director at ABRI and the lead author, did most of the butterfly identification and assisted by other lepidopterists including Szabolcs Safian, T. Pyrcz and Dr. V.G.L. Van. Someren The butterfly species names recorded were referenced using the following books and websites: 1. Dominique Bernaud’s Acraea website 2. Global Biodiversity Information Facility 3. Catalogue of Life 4. African Butterfly Database 5. Acraea metamorphosis Original dataset was then formatted while adhering to Darwin’s Core Standards. |
Method step description:
- The bait traps were laid along paths and small roads of different vegetation types to attract butterflies. The collectors captured butterflies either in flight or at rest using sweep nets. Sweep nets were held upside down to collect butterflies. The butterfly samples to be retained were then pinched on the thorax. With their wings over the back, the butterflies were then slipped into envelopes or paper triangles. Thereafter, specimens were dried, mounted, labelled, and preserved in the ABRI collection. Google Earth was the major tool used to generate each coordinate for each locality, each coordinate was taken from a central position to represent the general locality. Open refine was the ultimate tool used for data cleaning. With this put to proper use, the quality of data was enhanced and common errors made for localities were corrected and spellings were under check too.
Collection Data
| Collection Name | Butterfly specimens |
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| Specimen preservation methods | Pinned |
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Bibliographic Citations
- Butterflies of the World: Series Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach part 31. Pierre
- Bernaud Nymphalidae XVI. Acraea, subgenus Actinote, 2009
Additional Metadata
| Purpose | The dataset intends to give a focus for the contemporary survey work and management decision. The records also focus on the priorities of key actions by highlighting species of conservation importance. It also gives a baseline information on the occurrence of butterflies at the forests patches, forest reserves, national parks and montane forests in Africa which will help to create the best body of evidence possible to guide the conservation work and policy decisions of our focal landscapes. Butterflies are a useful insect group in environmental monitoring and evaluation studies and have been used in several biodiversity monitoring programs around the globe with considerable success. |
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| Alternative Identifiers | http://ipt.museums.or.ke/ipt/resource?r=acraea |