Our mission, objectives and scope

Our mission is to promote research into and the conservation of Afrotropical butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera). The Society publishes peer reviewed and less scientific articles including newsworthy events related to the foregoing.

Our geographical area of interest is the Afrotropical zone: sub-Saharan Africa, including islands such as the Seychelles and Madagascar. This represents the second richest group of butterflies and moths in the world, with over 4 500 species of butterfly and more than 50 000 moths; only the South American region contains more species.

To this end the Society coordinates and promotes interaction among its members and lepidopterists worldwide; it liaises with conservation officials and interacts with the public as far as possible. The emphasis of LepSoc Africa is increasingly moving towards conservation initiatives.

The Society is currently actively involved with the following projects:

Southern African Lepidoptera Conservation Assessment (SALCA); Karoo BioGaps; Custodians of Rare and Endangered Lepidoptera (COREL); LepiMAP; Butterfly Evolutionary Diversity (BED); the Caterpillar Rearing Group (CRG); and Lepibase. There is place for everyone to participate in one or more of these projects! We also have an active research and conservation group, which is investigating new methods and techniques to improve our conservation outcomes.

Membership fees go towards supporting these conservation-focussed projects. Unfortunately, as a membership based Society, LepSoc Africa has not been able to register as a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) and directly receive tax exemption for our donors. However, our conservation arm the Brenton Blue Trust (BBT) has been able to secure PBO status, and we encourage major donors to make their donations through this vehicle, since the BBT is able to issue tax certificates to donors. The BBT originally focussed on the conservation of the Brenton Blue, the founders gave it the scope to cover the conservation of ALL Lepidoptera across ALL of Africa. Since LepSoc Africa has provided most of the funding and personnel resources for the Trust, it plays a leading role, alongside other trustees such as WESSA and EWT, who give us access to their much broader membership bases and contacts with government officials.