Why should you become a member?

Firstly, it's not that expensive - ordinary membership costs only R350 per year, with rates for students (under 23) and pensioners (over 60) discounted to R180 and R260 resepectively. For R530 a married couple (or life-partners) may join LSA as full members, or for R400 if they are pensioners. In addition, membership is free to children under the age of 16. Additional rates apply to overseas members, or those wishing to receive printed copies of the Society’s journal Metamorphosis.

Furthermore, there are a number of benefits that only members can obtain, such as:

1. LepSoc Africa (LSA) is the major organisation on the continent that is directly involved in butterfly and moth conservation. By joining you will be directly supporting these efforts, mostly carried out by volunteers.
2. You will be able to get permits to collect Lepidoptera in protected areas, subject to the conditions attached to the permit.
3. You will be able to download a PDF copy of the Practical Guide, once you have logged in as a member.
4. You will receive every two months by email a PDF copy of African Butterfly News, with all the latest Lepidoptera news from around the continent. You will also receive email notifications to members about specific topics we believe will be of interest, including upcoming outings, events and projects.
5. Branch outings & meeting people. You will be able to make contact with all the other members in your area and make new friends. You can post events on the calendar, and learn what others have got planned. LSA caters for anyone interested in butterflies and moths - from the casual observer, to the 'butterflyer' and photographer, gardeners and lepidopterists.
6. The highlight of the year is our annual LSA conference and AGM, where members can present details of their recent research and experiences. They can also participate in our annual photography competition and have a say in the running of the Society. Non-members can and do attend, but members get a reduced rate for attending the conference.
7. You will be supporting Metamorphosis, Africa's premier open access peer-reviewed journal on Lepidoptera. The website publishes research papers “hot off the press”, as well as having a complete (searchable) archive of all issues of the journal since 1983. LSA members can publish in Metamorphosis without incurring any page charges. Furthermore, members will receive by email a PDF of new articles as they are published on the website.
8. You can participate in our conservation projects such as: 
   • BED: Butterfly Evolutionary Diversity project. We are collecting DNA samples for all of South africa’s butterfly species and subspecies.
   • BioGaps: A project which aims to increase our knowledge of the butterflies of the Karoo Basin, their distribution and habitat preferences.
   • Caterpillar Rearing Group: An LSA project that aims to record the life histories of all Africa's Lepidoptera – butterflies and moths.
   • COREL: Custodians Of Rare and Endangered Lepidoptera. This project aims to secure the survival of all our IUCN Red Listed species listed as “threatened”.
   • Lepidops: An all-Africa database of Lepidoptera field observation data.
   • LepiMAP: A joint project with the Animal Demography Unit (ADU) of the University of Cape Town, currently partly funded by LSA.
   • SALCA: South African Lepidoptera Conservation Assessment.  This project will evaluate or re-evaluate the conservation status of butterflies and moths in the southern African region. 

We believe that membership of the Society represents exceptional value; in addition to the benefits listed above, you will have friends who can help you learn about the fascinating world of butterflies and moths, and meet the equally fascinating people involved in this field!

Refer to the How To Join page for further information.