Observations on the biology of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera). Part 7. Hesperiinae incertae sedis: grass and bamboo feeders Author Cock, Matthew J. W. Author Congdon, T. Colin E. text Zootaxa 2014 3872 4 301 354 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.3872.4.1 3278c375-6c89-42a2-b7ac-24b9bb91730e 1175-5326 251860 8FECCFC1-7CA9-4A90-B881-4BD40157AD99 Prosopalpus styla Evans, 1937 Evans (1937) indicates that P. s t y l a , which occurs from Sierra Leone to Kenya is very similar to the type species of the genus: P. debilis (Plötz) (= P. duplex (Mabille) . FIGURE 3. Adult and habitat of Prosopalpus styla , Kakamega Forest, Kenya, 31 Aug 1995. 1 , at rest; 2 , at flower of Justicia flava ; 3, this patch of water grass in Kakamega Forest is the only place MJWC has found P. styla in Kenya. Gillies (1985) in Gambia observed: ‘Locally common resting in vegetation in high shade or low down among tall reeds along the river bank; sometimes flitting along the shady margins of rice fields and, in the early morning, sitting in open sites.’ Similarly, Larsen (2005) associated this species with ‘open swampland in both savannah and forest’. In our experience too, adults (Figure 3.1–2) are perhaps most frequently seen in areas of grass growing in standing water. There is (or was) one such patch in Kakamega Forest where the construction of the track partially damned a small stream, making a small shallow grass-covered pond (Figure 3.3); MJWC’s only three records of P. styla from Kenya are from this spot. Food plants TCEC has seen P. s t yl a oviposit on an unidentified grass ( Congdon & Collins 1998 ). MJWC noted several P. s t y l a in a water meadow between the forest and lake at IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria ( 20 Mar 1994 ), which led him to search the grass, Leersia hexandra , for hesperiid caterpillars. The two caterpillars found on this occasion (94/110) appeared to be of a Metisella sp. but this genus is submontane in Nigeria ( Larsen 2005 ) and would not occur at such a low altitude as Ibadan ( 200 m ), so they are probably P. s t y l a . Their similarity to Metisella midas (Butler) , for example, will be apparent when we treat the Heteropterinae in a future contribution. Unfortunately neither caterpillar was reared through, so this food plant-caterpillar-adult association still awaits confirmation. Leaf shelters Caterpillar 94/110A appeared to be in the final instar and was found resting on the underside of a leaflet of L. hexandra , the surface of which was lightly silked, but not rolled, nor was there any sign of a shelter. In contrast caterpillar 94/110B appeared to be in the penultimate instar, about to moult, and was found in a shelter formed from the middle part of a leaf, rolled downwards. If these observations are representative, this is an unusual example where the final instar caterpillar does not form a shelter. If pupation is in the same situation, it seems likely that the pupa will be of the Baorini-type, as discussed in Cock & Congdon (2012) , i.e. green with longitudinal lines and an elongate, pointed frontal spike. Caterpillars Caterpillar 94/110A ( Figure 4 ), which appeared to be in the final instar, measured 17mm . Head oval, widest near base; matt translucent dull green; stemmata black. Body dull yellow-green; dorsal line dark green, bordered by subdorsal whitish line; dorsolateral line pale yellow, with a dark green border dorsally and laterally; spiracles pale, inconspicuous; all legs concolorous. Caterpillar 94/110B was in the previous instar preparing to moult and measured 13mm . Head translucent dull green; posterior margin narrowly black; dark brown line from apex laterally to stemmata; dark brown lines on epicranium from vertex, alongside epicranial suture and adfrontal suture to base of adfrontals. Pronotum black; narrow, wider laterally than dorsally. Body as final instar. FIGURE 4. Putative final instar caterpillar of Prosopalpus styla collected 20 Mar 1994 on Leersia hexandra , Ibadan , Nigeria; photographed 23 Mar; died; 19mm; 94/110A. 1 , lateral / dorsolateral view; 2 , detail of head, anterior view. TABLE 1 . Food plant records and illustrations of the early stages of Kedestes spp. from the literature.
Kedestes species 1 Food plants Location Reference Illustrations
K. barberae (Trimen) Imperata cylindrica (= I. arundinacea ) South Africa Murray 1959, Dickson & Kroon 1978, Pringle et al . 1994, Henning et al . 1997, Woodhall 2005 Clark (in Dickson & Kroon 1978)
K. brunneostriga (Plötz) Setaria spp. East Africa Van Someren 1974, Sevastopulo 1981
K. callicles (Hewitson) Imperata cylindrica Megathrysus maximus (= Panicum maximum ) Zambia South Africa (Kruger) Heath et al . 2002 Otto et al . 2013
K. chaca (Trimen) ‘On a grass? sp.’ South Africa Murray 1959
K. lenis Riley Imperata cylindrica (= I. arundinacea v. thunbergii , I. arundinacea ) South Africa Murray 1959, Dickson & Kroon 1978, Pringle et al . 1994, Henning et al . 1997, Woodhall 2005
K. lepenula (Wallengren) Imperata cylindrica (= I. arundinacea ) South Africa Dickson & Kroon 1978, Pringle et al . 1994, Henning et al . 1997, Woodhall 2005
K. macomo (Trimen) Imperata cylindrica (= I. arundinacea ) South Africa Dickson & Kroon 1978, Pringle et al . 1994, Henning et al . 1997, Woodhall 2005 Clark (in Dickson & Kroon 1978), Henning et al . 1997
K. niveostriga (Trimen) ‘on an unknown grass’ South Africa Murray 1959
Imperata cylindrica (= I. South Africa Dickson & Kroon 1978 , Clark (in Dickson arundinacea ) Pringle et al . 1994 , Henning & Kroon 1978 ) et al . 1997 Cenchrus caudatus (= South Africa Pringle & Schlosz 1997 Pennisetum macrourum ) (Eastern Cape) K. niveostriga Cenchrus caudatus (= South Africa Pringle & Schlosz 1997 , Pringle & Schlosz schloszi (Pringle) Pennisetum macrourum ) (Western Cape) Woodhall 2005 1997 normal food plant
Cenchrus clandestinus (= Pennisetum clandestinum ) once South Africa (Western Cape) Pringle & Schlosz 1997
K. sarahae Henning & Henning ‘Probably’ Merxmuellera sp. (? = Rytidosperma sp.) South Africa Woodhall 2005
K. wallengrenii (Trimen) Imperata cylindrica South Africa Woodhall 2005
1 Some of these records are allocated to subspecies in the sources, but these are not treated separately here, apart from K. niveostriga .