It's quite common in the garden at the Africa Butterfly Research Institute on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. I believe the rarity of the subspecies is, as Adam suggested, due to the remote & hostile locations in which its populations are found. I had colleagues (missionaries) working in the Im...

To add: Unlike most dardanus ssps., meriones & byatti females are not polymorphic. antinorii females being polymorphic and tailed is what makes it that much more special.

Females of ssp. byatti from Somalia are also tailed.

Then there's a ssp. from the Eritrean highlands, P. d. figinii , for which I have very little info, though I imagine it's females would be tailed as well. I've read that it may be synonymous with ssp. antinorii.

I understand the defensive advantages of having eyespots along the edge of the wings. What advantage would these insects gain with the eyespots being towards the middle?

nuscyrus is a synonym. cyrnus no longer has any subspecies.

here is a graphium from banqui Cameroon aug,2009 maybe weberi? G. weberi is a synonym G. fulleri boulleti . I don't believe this to be fulleri , which should have HW post-discal spots. This looks more like one of the ssps. of ucalegon to me (https://virtualcol.africamuseum.be/providence/pawtucket/i...

I find these remind me of moths. That said, some of my fellow Lep. Soc. of Africa members would be quick to point out that butterflies are moths.

Also, Dave, you'll probably want to swap that J. cymodoce around with the Kallimoides rumia above it (or beside it).

Just to address Adam's edit: The green specimens in the 5th row on the left side were formerly known as Kamilla ansorgei . In the seventh row of the same side, second from the left, is a specimen of what was formerly known as Kamilla cymodoce . Both of these species are now placed within Junonia . T...

One of the P. antimachus boxes at ABRI:

Just looks slightly aberrant to me. Interestingly(?), the Acraea & Telchinia it mimics are often slightly asymmetric. See the HW spots on this T. perenna perenna : https://imgur.com/LoUyL0v.jpg https://imgur.com/6sbKcqn.jpg (22/IV/2016Tumani River, near Mbogi, Djugu Territory, Ituri (1°41'55&quo...

P. ophidicephalus is the southern/eastern representative of the group.

Here's P. lormieri lormieri, which is found throughout central Africa.

Here in Bunia, Ituri (DRC) Precis octavia is an uncommon butterfly. Specimens fitting ssp. sesamus are present here, but some specimens are transitional to the nominate ssp. which is found only a hundred or two km to the north. Curiously in my almost 10 years in Bunia, I have yet to see a dry season...

I should also add the ventral HWs on both species are really variable. So much so, that they can't be distinguished based on the ventral HW alone.

Byblia ilithyia (note the "i" after the "y") is known as the Spotted Joker (because of the dorsal HW discal row of spots). The other species in the genus, Byblia anvatara , the African Joker, lacks those dorsal HW spots. Here's Byblia anvatara crameri : https://imgur.com/rtmIk8Z...

From another box in the ABRI collection:

A couple females:



Gyandromorph:


Deeper blue specimen (aberrant?):

These are from the African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI) collection:

One of the P. zalmoxis boxes:


Close up dorsal/ventral:


Close up Green specimen (natural variation as far as I'm aware):