Narrative

Eudicella Genus contains about 16 different species. Following Allard in Sciences Nat they are listed below with their approximate ranges: (An * indicates the 10 species that are pictured herein.)

SPECIES - - - - - - RANGE
E. aethiopica - - - - - Ethiopia
E. colmanti* - (Blunt Tips) - Congo, C. Africa, and NE Zaire
E. ducalis* - (Giant) - East Zaire
E. euthalia* - - - - - Kenya to Natal
E. frontalis* - (Blunt Tips) - Ivory Coast, Ghana, etc.
E. gralli* - (Wide Fork) - Ivory Coast to Kenya
E. hereroensis* - - - - - Namibia
E. immaculata* - - - - - S. Kenya
E. inexpectata - - - - - North Congo
E. intermedia - - - - - S. Cameroon
E. morgani - - - - - Ivory Coast, Ghana, etc.
E. nyassica* - - - - - S. Tanzania
E. smithi* - - - - - Kivu to Zimbabwe
E. tetraspilota* - - - - - Katanga to Burundi
E. trimeni - (Unusual Orange) - Natal to S. Africa
E. woermanni* - (Narrow Fork) - Cameroon to Malawi

All the species of Eudicella share the common feature of a forward pointing male head horn that is forked some distance away from the head. Because of the variation in size and horn development between individuals, it is difficult to separate the species based upon horn size and horn shape. However, E. colmanti and E. frontalis have unusual thickened horns that do not terminate in a sharp point.

Two of the most widespread species, woermanni and gralli, both have multiple color forms which mimic each other in selected portions of their ranges. For example, both E. gralli gralli and E. woermanni woermanni have solid green forms, and E. gralli gralli and E. woermanni pogei have striped forms. These two species both also contain spotted forms. The way to separate the two species is not based on color patterns, but that E. gralli has a very wide forked horn, and E. woermanni has a forked horn with smaller less diverging branches.

Taxonomy

References