Why would a butterfly be called Schaffgotsch's White Lady? A subgroup of African Graphium butterflies are called Swordtails if they have long "swallow tails" on their hind wings, or Ladies if they don't. None of the Ladies is pure white. The ones that show more white than black or brown, above, are White Ladies. Then again, sometimes people call this species Schaffgotsch's Swordtails. It's tradition; it doesn't have to make much sense. In view of its actual coloration, some have called this butterfly the Pinto Lady.
Photo from Wikipedia.
Some have proposed calling it the Angolan White Lady, a name that more logically fits Graphium angolanus, which these people call the White Lady.
Unfortunately a lot more is known about the Schaffgotsch family than about the butterflies. They are one of the obscure Graphium species that still offer opportunities for African students to become famous.
So what about Schaffgotsch? This was a wealthy family based in Silesia, a border area in present-day Poland that has also been claimed as part of Germany. The family name was originally Schaff, the sheep farmers; as the original family expanded some of them distinguished themselves as the descendants of the noble knight Gotsch Schaff. The butterfly might have been named in honor of General Hans Ulrich Schaffgotsch, a seventeenth century war hero who was later executed over a difference of opinion with his feudal overlord, or of Johanna Gryczik von Schaffgotsch, a miner's daughter who married into the rich family, received a title, put her money into business, and invested the wealth she gained in educational and humanitarian work.
Portrait of Johanna as a wealthy patron of universities. Wikipedia has an older portrait suggesting that she looked less off-putting in youth. Anyway she was the first successful business woman in Silesia and was seen as a heroine by Victorian and Edwardian women.
Schaffgotsch's White Lady is a butterfly of what Africans call the Albertine Rift. It is found in Angola, the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia--not often. It was also reported in Namibia, once, but has not been found there since. At this latitude seasons are defined more as "wet" and "dry" rather than "hot" or "cold." Weather permitting, these butterflies seem to fly at any time of year.
Before 1927 Graphium schaffgotschi was classified as belonging to a similar species, Graphium taboranus. These species are alike enough that they could probably be crossbred with each other or with the other White Ladies, Graphium angolanus, G. endochus, G. morania, and G. ridleyanus.
Photo by Rogerioferreira. Of a pair of Swallowtails, the larger one is usually the female; the more colorful one is usually the male. What about this pair?
What this butterfly eats, how long it lives, what it looks like at any time before it gets its wings, nobody knows yet. Africa needs more biologists.
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