Butterfly diversity in Ghana, West Africa.

The country of Ghana in West Africa supports a fauna of 890 butterfly species (out of 1,000 known from west of the Dahomey Gap). The results of an August 1996 expedition through Ghana to its principal parks and reserves are reported. The total number of species encountered by the expedition was 425, or 46% of the total Ghana fauna. The true total is probably closer to 450, or half of the known fauna, and a number of new records and interesting rare species were taken. A complete list of the butterfly fauna of Ghana is given, including annotations as to locality records from the 1996 expedition.