A multigene phylogenetic hypothesis is presented for the Nysiades group of Afrotropical Neptis species. The tree shows evolutionary relationships among the 24 currently described species in the group and eight additional new species that are formally described here. The eight new species are assigned to three subgroups within the Nysiades group based on evidence of their evolutionary affinities. Multiple specimens of each of the novel species have been barcoded, K2P pairwise genetic distances among these new species further support their status.

The articles published since the author’s Publications on Afrotropical Papilionoidea during 2021 (Metamorphosis 32: 104–105, which dealt with scientific research into Afrotropical Papilionoidea, including those published in 2021 that were not included, are listed alphabetically by author.

It is shown that Liptena homeyeri straminea Stempffer et al., 1974 is a synonym of Liptena homeyeri Dewitz, 1884, and subspecies Liptena homeyeri bimacula ssp. nov. is described.

The molecular data of Talavera et al. (2020) is re-analysed to provide a foundation for a taxonomic revision of Chrysoritis. A COI phylogeny recovers most of the Chrysoritis species as monophyletic, and a few as polyphyletic but supported by the CAD gene. In the thysbe clade, most species, despite occurring in sympatry with at least one other species in the clade, maintain distinctive wing facies and ecological identity without intermediate forms. Within the thysbe clade, which contains the majority of species, sister taxon comparisons based on the COI phylogeny suggest speciation has been predominantly allopatric and accompanied mostly by minor morphological change and sometimes also a change in male patrolling terrain and/or host ant species. The diversification of the thysbe clade and the taxonomic implications of our results are discussed.

Interest in citizen science, notably biodiversity mapping, has soared recently in Africa, owing to several converging factors. First, is the growing recognition that biodiversity is threatened, and second, there is a need for collective effort among the public to improve the state of biodiversity, driven by human activities. Amongst the important biodiversity components is Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) which underpin crucial roles in the ecosystem. Although Lepidoptera has been a major field of study for the past decades, its ecology and distribution have only recently gained important attention among the public, particularly in West Africa. This paper reports on the number of butterflies and moths recorded for Nigeria on the LepiMap database. The database contains 1578 records from January 2010 up to August 2021, from 98 quarter-degree grid cells of the 1306 grid cells in Nigeria (7.5% of grid cells). There are 1219 recorded identified to species level (77%), with 359 awaiting identifications, mostly moths. The number of Lepidopterans recorded was 219 species belonging to 16 families. The most frequently recorded species were Catopsilia florella (28 grid cells, 64 records), Telchinia serena (27 grid cells, 61 records), and Danaus chrysippus alcippus (23 grid cells, 49 records). One of the most important successes of LepiMap during the last three years in Nigeria was the increase in the number of observers and coverage by 600%, which is crucial to gathering lepidopteran mapping data for conservation action. It is recommended that data collection be geared toward areas having no or low coverage, yet refreshing old records are also important for understanding changes in species composition across grid cells.