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
134452
10.11646/zootaxa.3724.1.1
3fe084ed-d367-4d5a-9ed0-48882760ba96
1175-5326
5267833
7D05BB2E-4373-4AFB-8DD3-ABE203D3BEC1
Fresna
Evans, 1937
When
Evans (1937)
described
Fresna
as a new genus, he made
Fresna netopha
(Hewitson)
the
type
species and included three other species. Two more species have been described since then (
Larsen 2005
), making six at present. We have reared no members of this genus, but there are food plant records and at least one published picture of a caterpillar, and these are summarised below.
Fresna cojo
(Karsch)
was reared on four occasions by
Vuattoux (1999)
in
Côte d’Ivoire
, each from a different
Fabaceae
tree:
Andira inermis
,
Millettia thonningii
(Faboideae)
,
Anthonotha crassifolia
(Caesalpinioideae)
and
Albizia zygia
(perhaps a synonym of
A. brownei
) (
Mimosoideae
). Based on Vuattoux’s work, some or all these food plants were listed by
Larsen (1991)
,
Ackery
et al
. (1995)
,
Heath
et al.
(2002)
and
Larsen (2005)
.
Larsen (1991)
records R. Vuattoux rearing
F. netopha
(Hewitson)
from
Paullinia
(Sapindaceae)
, and
Ackery
et al
. (1995)
and
Heath
et al
. (2002)
repeat this. However, when
Vuattoux (1999)
published his rearing records, he gave only
Afrormosia laxiflora
(which has also been placed in the genus
Pericopsis
) (
Fabaceae
,
Caesalpinioideae
) as the food plant for
F. netopha
(Hewitson)
, which
Larsen (2005)
repeats. In contrast,
Vuattoux (1999)
records rearing
F. nyassae
twice from
Paullinia pinnata
. MJWC has examined a voucher
Fresna
sp.
reared by R. Vuattoux from
P. pinnata
and it is
F. netopha
. There seems to have been some confusion between these two
Fresna
spp.
and their respective food plants. Provisionally, the two entries in
Vuattoux (1999)
should be swapped, i.e.
F. nyassae
has been reared once from
A. laxiflora
, and
F. netopha
has been reared twice from
P. pinnata
, but this needs to be confirmed by further checking specimens and ideally, additional rearing.