This excellent total was recorded by Christopher Willis on a recent trip to the reserve.
Big-eye Small Ringlet (Paternympha loxophthalma) – photograph taken by Christopher Willis on a recent visit to Verloren Valei
Christopher Willis, Chief Director: National Botanical Gardens at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) is a frequent visitor to Verloren Valei. During January 2025, he made his regular annual pilgrimage to the reserve, and was rewarded with a record total of 11 identified butterfly species, among them Big-eye Small Ringlet (Paternympha loxophthalma).
Other sightings included:
- False Silver-bottom Brown (Pseudonympha magoides)
- Orange Amber (Telchinia Anacreon)
- Long-winged Amber (Telchinia alalonga)
- Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus)
- False Silver-bottom Brown (Pseudonympha magoides)
- Southern Gaudy Commodore (Precis octavia sesamus)
- Lilac-based Black-eye (Leptomyrina gorgias gorgias)
- Stoffberg Russet (Aloeides rossouwi)
- Northern Amakosa Rocksitter (Durbania amakosa ayresi)
He was disappointed not to spot the Dullstroom Blue, whose reproductive behaviour he has previously written about with David Edge. Read the article in Metamorphosis.
Reprinted and adapted from African Butterfly News, March 2025.
