Currently (July 2019) some 206 species of butterflies have been recorded in the Waterberg and a further ten may occur but confirmation of this is required. A spreadsheet of their names can be downloaded here and a PDF which illustrates all the species, both male and female, from above and below, can be downloaded here. Those that have been photographed in the Waterberg are marked below by   and these can be viewed by clicking on the species name – additions to this very incomplete photographic collection are welcomed.

Waterberg target species (red-listed and/or endemic) are highlighted in red. RC = requires confirmation.

For a quick overview of each of the five families, Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Pieridae, Papilionidae,  Hesperiidae you can see a composite of each by clicking on the required family name.

Most of the butterflies found in the Waterberg are widespread savanna species but there are two endemics, both with very restricted ranges: Jerine’s Widow Dingana jerinae is confined to high-lying areas in and alongside Marekele National Park and the Waterberg Copper Erikssonia edgei (red-listed as Critical) is restricted to a few hectares of grassland in Bateleur Nature Reserve – you can find out more about it here. A third range-restricted species, near-endemic to the Waterberg is Barber’s Acraea Acraea barberi.

To increase what is known about the butterflies of the Waterberg please consider submitting any geo-referenced, dated photograph of any butterfly taken here to the Atlas of African Lepidoptera. The site is referred to as LepiMap and details of how to submit records can be found at vmus.adu.org.za – we’d welcome the photos too, to add to this collection.

Reference: Mecenero et al. 2013. Conservation assessment of butterflies of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland: Red list and atlas. Saftronics, Johannesburg & Animal Demography Unit, Cape Town.