Observations on the Biology of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera). Part 5. Hesperiinae incertae sedis: Dicotyledon Feeders
Author
Cock, Matthew J. W.
C / o CABI Europe - UK, Bakeham Lane, Egham, TW 20 9 TY, UK (e-mail: m. cock @ cabi. org; mjwcock @ btinternet. com)
m.cock@cabi.org
Author
Congdon, Colin E.
African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI), P. O. Box 14308, Nairobi, Kenya (e-mail: colin. congdon @ gmail. com)
colin.congdon@gmail.com
text
Zootaxa
2013
2013-10-25
3724
1
1
85
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3724.1.1
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3724.1.1
1175-5326
5267833
7D05BB2E-4373-4AFB-8DD3-ABE203D3BEC1
Acada biseriata
Mabille, 1893
This species is widely distributed in the Miombo woodland belt from
Angola
, through
Zimbabwe
,
Zambia
and southern
DRC
to
Malawi
,
Mozambique
and East Africa. In
Tanzania
it can expected wherever there is extensive
Brachystegia
woodland.
Sevastopulo (1974)
reports it common in Makardara and Marere Forests of the Shimba Hills,
Kenya
, throughout the year, and
Larsen (1991)
considers this one of the commonest of coastal skippers (e.g. very long museum series from Rabai), and found inland as far as Kibwezi and the Ukambani Hills. In spite of this, MJWC encountered it just once in more than four years.
Food plants
The food plant in
Kenya
was identified as
Brachystegia
sp.
(
Fabaceae
) (
Sevastopulo 1974
,
1975
, unpublished). The only
Brachystegia
sp.
in
Kenya
is
B. spiciformis
(
Beentje 1994
)
, which is restricted to the coast.
Sevastopulo (1974)
points out that there must be other food plants as
A. biseriatus
occurs in the Makardara Forest in the absence of
Brachystegia
, and the same applies to the inland populations of
A. biseriata
from Kibwezi and the Ukambani Hills.
Independently,
Pringle
et al.
(1994)
gave the food plant as
B. spiciformis
citing R. Paré, and TCEC has reared it from the same food plant in
Tanzania
(Mufindi) and
Zambia
(Mutinondo). Subsequent authors are assumed to be repeating these published records:
Kielland (1990)
,
Larsen (1991)
,
Ackery
et al
. (1995)
,
Heath
et al
. (2002)
,
Woodhall (2005)
.
Leaf shelters
Two leaflets are spun together to protect the older caterpillars. The final instar larva binds two leaves together, one below the other, the larva living and pupating in the space between. It is thus very difficult to find in the wild.
Caterpillar
“Head bronzy black, slightly indented above. Body green, a dark dorsal line due to the contents of the gut, otherwise unmarked. Anal flap flattened, the outline rounded. The first somite narrow, forming a neck.” (Sevastopulo unpublished). L5 head dark brown, no markings (ABRI specimens).
Pupa
“Pupa in a cell formed of two spun-together leaflets. Yellowish, the thorax and wing cases tinged with green. Prothoracic spiracle large, crescent shaped, reddish brown. Proboscis sheath reaching the middle of the 6
th
abdominal somite ventrad. Cremaster triangular and fringed with a series of long, hooked, purplish spines, which are embedded in a slight silken pad. The pupa is not supported by any girdle.” Pupation took 11 days. (Sevastopulo unpublished).
There are three emerged pupae preserved in ABRI. They are 15, 15 and
16mm
long; brown; front flattened, and a small bump anterior to each eye; spiracle T1 brown, slightly raised; proboscis projects 1 segment beyond wing cases.