Pentila pauli, the Paul's buff, Paul's pentila or spotted pentila, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The habitat consists of deciduous woodland and forest margins.
The larvae feed on very dark, blue-green (black) algae (cyanobacteria) growing on tree trunks.
Subspecies
- P. p. pauli (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, western Cameroon)
- P. p. abri <small> Collins & Larsen, 2001</small> (south-eastern Senegal, western Guinea)
- P. p. alberta <small> Hulstaert, 1924</small> (western Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Tanganika)
- P. p. benguellana <small> Stempffer & Bennett, 1961</small> (Angola: Benguella and Bihe districts)
- P. p. clarensis <small> Neave, 1903</small> (Uganda, western Kenya, Tanzania)
- P. p. dama <small> (Suffert, 1904)</small> (southern coast of Tanzania)
- P. p. elisabetha <small> Hulstaert, 1924</small> (northern and western Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Shaba, Sankuru, Kasai and Maniema)
- P. p. leopardina <small> Schultze, 1923</small> (southern Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Cataractes, Kinshasa, Equateur, Tshuapa and Mongala)
- P. p. multiplagata <small> Bethune-Baker, 1908</small> (southern Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Uele, Ituri, Tshopo and North Kivu)
- P. p. nyassana <small> Aurivillius, 1899</small> (Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia: east of the Luangwa Valley)
- P. p. obsoleta <small> Hawker-Smith, 1933</small> (Zimbabwe: Lomagundi district to the southern bank of the Zambezi River and the Victoria Falls, as well as Dichwe, Zambia)
- P. p. ras <small> Talbot, 1935</small> (south-western Ethiopia)
References