Diario del proyecto Southern African Butterflies

Observations
57,239 South Africa
2,921 Zimbabwe
2,031 Namibia
1,886 Mozambqiue
1,743 Botswana
1,652 Eswatini
33 Lesotho

Species recorded (677)
563 Africa
255 Mozambqiue
246 Zimbabwe
202 Eswatini
149 Botswana
133 Namibia
17 Lesotho

67,461 Observations by 5,129 observers of 677 species

• 86% Research Grade
• 13% Needs ID - help ID them here [Quick Two-minute tut on using the ID-curation tool]

Imagos: 32,547
Larvae: 2,278 see them
Pupae: 494 see them
Eggs 51 see them

Visiting flowers: 2,407 see them
Eating: 388 see them

134,330 identifications by 1,837 identifiers.

Top ~20 species (over 700 records):

2453 Vanessa cardui Painted Lady
2253 Acraea horta Garden Acraea
2234 Danaus chrysippus Plain Tiger Butterfly
2199 Papilio demodocus Citrus Swallowtail

1501 Zizeeria knysna Sooty Blue
1413 Mylothris agathina Eastern Dotted Border
1321 Junonia hierta Yellow Pansy
1149 Dira clytus Cape Autumn Widow
1119 Belenois aurota Pioneer White
1113 Junonia oenone Dark Blue Pansy
1024 Bicyclus safitza Common Bush Brown

966 Belenois creona African Caper
948 Precis archesia Garden Commodore
858 Acraea serena Small Orange Acraea
849 Junonia natalica Natal Pansy
846 Hypolimnas misippus Common Diadem
830 Pieris brassicae Cabbage White

774 Pontia helice Meadow White
721 Eurema brigitta Broad-bordered Grass Yellow
719 Catopsilia florella African Migrant

Top ~10 observers (over 600 observations):

1 bushboy 2,331
2 magdastlucia 2,237
3 colin25 2,050
4 peters5001 1,837
5 suncana 1,293
6 phil183 1,266
7 tonyrebelo 1,038
8 stevewoodhall 938
9 bartwursten 716
10 shauns 693
11 peter_erb 636
12 timmcclurg 620

Top species recorders (over 150 species):

1 mr_fab 222
2 lourense31 208
3 bartwursten 207
4 magdastlucia 180
5 phil183 176
6 richard_johnstone 173
7 steveball 172
8 erwinsieben 155
9 stevewoodhall 155
10 suncana 154

Top identifiers (over 3,000 Identifications):

1 cabintom 28,068
2 colin25 19,457
3 nicovr 13,879
4 beetledude 6,499
5 phil183 6,435
6 andrewmorton 6,351
7 stevewoodhall 6,347
8 traianbertau 4,284
9 konrad_k 3,855
10 surfinbird 3,561
11 tonyrebelo 3,035

The problem with iNaturalist is that two plus (or 67% of) identifications are need for research grade.
Now that is great, but sometimes the identifiers actually know exactly what the are identifying, and iNat does not differentiate between experts and novices.
We do have some specialists on iNaturalist. Perhaps you may want to make supportive IDs. You will need to be above novice level, but most of our specialists leave explanatory notes when there are issues, making agreeing with their identifications a little easier.

Our southern African active Butterfly specialists are:

@cabintom - Thomas Desloges - DRC : 59k lepidoptera IDs in Africa
assist with cabintom's identifications

@nicovr - Nico Vromant - Zambia : 27k lepidoptera IDs in Africa
assist with nicovr's identifications

@beetledude - Riaan Stals - South Africa : 11k lepidoptera IDs in Africa
assist with beetledude's identifications

@andrewmorton - Andrew Morton - regional chairman of Lepsoc Africa for WC. (South Africa) : 11k lepidoptera IDs in Africa
assist with andrewmorton's identifications

@stevewoodhall - Steve Woodhall - South Africa : 8k lepidoptera IDs in Africa
assist with stevewoodhall's identifications

@traianbertau : 8k lepidoptera IDs in Africa
assist with traianbertau's identifications

@konrad_k - Konrad Kałużyński - Poland : 6k lepidoptera IDs in Africa
assist with konrad_k's identifications

We do have many other specialists, but by their sheer volume, these tend to get to all the observations that need attention sooner or later. If you know of any Butterfly specialists who you feel should be added here, please tell us below.

Not all species are identifiable. There are some groups that can only be identified in some areas to Generic level or to "complex" - please help support these IDs here if you are familiar with these taxa.

• https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/870944-Afrogegenes - in many areas these 3 species cannot be told apart from below, and even the males above are difficult. Help ID these to Research Grade at complex level here
• https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1068886-Leptotes-pirithous - in many areas these 3 species cannot be told apart. Help ID these to Research Grade at complex level here
• https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/141724-Pelopidas - females cannot be told apart (but males can). . Help ID these to Research Grade at generic level here