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Papilio bromius Doubleday, 1845 was reported in western Kenya by:

Kühne, L., Collins, S.C. and Kinuthia, W. (2004).Check-list of the butterflies of the Kakamega Forest Nature Reserve in western Kenya (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea, Papilionoidea). Nachrichten der entomologische Verein, Apollo 25: 161-174.

Recently I received some pupae from western Kenya as "Papilio bromius". Is this name still accepted?

Please find below the picture of a male that emerged from the pupae.

All best wishes, Marco

Papilio bromius is a junior homonym and permanently unavailable. It was declared a homonym by Koçak (1983) and replaced by the name nurettini which is now the name for the West African subspecies, since there was already an older available name, chrapkowskoides Storace, 1952 (type locality: 'Kalinzu Forest, Uganda occidental; Entebbe'). Thus the species name is now Papilio chrapkowskoides Storace, 1952, with 3 subspecies; the third is called nerminae Koçak, 1983 and comes from São Tomé Island.

If your specimen really is this species then it is Papilio chrapkowskoides chrapkowskoides, but there are several similar species in W Kenya. If you can post an underside photo that would help confirm its identity.

Adam.

Hi Adam,

Thank you for your input. Today I have taken some more pictures of the male and the female.

What do you think?

All the best, Marco

From what I can see of the male forewing underside it is NOT Papilio chrapkowskii Suffert, 1904, so it could be Papilio chrapkowskoides ('bromius') but I suspect it is Papilio interjectana Vane-Wright, 1995. However, I don't think Papilio chrapkowskoides actually reaches W Kenya. It is in Uganda and westwards from there.

The forewing underside of Papilio chrapkowskii has a 'two-tone' apex, somewhat similar to the female above but less obvious, whereas the apex of male P. chrapkowskoides and P. interjectana is unicoloured brown.

This group needs revision, and I would be interested to hear the opinion of some of the members who are more familiar with these than I am.

Adam.

Thank you Adam for your helpful comments!

All best wishes, Marco

Thank you for posting. The nireus species group is among my favorites of the African Papilios, with their iridescent, greenish/bluish markings.