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Lepidopterology in Southern Africa: Past, Present and Future

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Abstract

The lepidopteran fauna (moths, skippers and butterflies) of southern Africa (including all countries south of the Zambezi-Kunene rivers) comprises about 9,000 ­species. This includes about 8,125 moth species in Southern Africa (Vári et al. 2002; Staude and Coetzer 2010, personal communication), with the largest families being the Noctuidae and the Geometridae [1,500 species in 221 genera (about 395 taxa having been added since 2002 (Staude and Coetzer 2010, personal communication))]. The ratio of described butterflies and skippers (about 875 species) to moths is about 1:9.3 for the subregion south of the Zambezi - Kunene rivers. Studies by Elliot Pinhey, Lajos Vári, Douglas Kroon, Martin Krüger, Arthur and Neville Duke, Hermann Staude, Jo Joannou and a few amateurs have added a considerable number of additional moth taxa in the last 30 years (for examples, see Joannou and Krüger 2009; Krüger 2002).

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Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge the camaraderie, friendship, sage advice, encouragement, support and gracious input of the following people: Brian, Barbara, Carolynn and Conrad Ball, Tony Brinkman, Andre Claassens, Izak Coetzer, Steve Collins, Alf Curle, Bernard d’Abrera, Dave Edge, Chris Ficq, Alan Gardiner, Henk Geertsema, Alan Heath, Graham Henning, Mervyn Mansell, Andre Marais, Piet Oosthuizen, Rob Paré, Ken Pennington, Ernest Pringle, Victor Pringle, Michael Samways, Mike Schlosz, Clarke Scholtz, Catherine Sole, Ruth Southey, Hermann Staude, Richard Stephen, Piero Stobbia, Dawid Swanepoel, Renier Terblanche, Simon Van Noort, Georges van Son, Lajos Vári, John White, Mark Williams, Steve Woodhall and Charles Wykeham. These have been the key players in the unfolding and expansion of my biophilia (Wilson 1992) (particularly entomophilia), which started out as a youthful passion for flowers and butterflies – ‘caterpillars in wedding gowns’ over half a century ago. My hope is that my beautiful granddaughters Anna and Livvy (and many in their generation) will grow in the love, care, appreciation and understanding of ‘the richness of life’ (Gould 2006).

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  1. Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa

    Jonathan B. Ball

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    Tim R. New

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Ball, J.B. (2012). Lepidopterology in Southern Africa: Past, Present and Future. In: New, T. (eds) Insect Conservation: Past, Present and Prospects. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2963-6_12

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