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 Pardaleodes tibullus torensis Bethune-Baker 1906 Evans (1937) and earlier authors treated this species as P. reichenowi ( Plötz 1879 ) (described from Aburi ( Ghana ), Bonjongo ( Cameroon ), Eningo ( Côte d’Ivoire )). Later, Evans (1951) stated that the previously unrecognised tibullus (Fabricius) was the senior synonym. Bethune-Baker (1906) described P. torensis from Toro, Uganda , as a valid species, but recognised that it might be the eastern form of P. tibullus . Evans (1937) treated the Kenya and Uganda population as torensis , which he considered a subspecies of P. tibullus . Lindsey & Miller (1965) found no reliable way to distinguish the two subspecies, and so considered P. tibullus monotypic, which has been followed by some subsequent authors (e.g. Carcasson 1981 , Ackery et al . 1995 ). However, Larsen (1991) recognised both subspecies, and in Larsen (2005) , justified their separation as ‘the orange markings of the forewing are consistently broader in ssp. tibullus and more strongly fused’. FIGURE 16. Adults of Pardaleodes tibullus , Kakamega Forest, Kenya, 6 Apr 1990. 1 , male sunbathing; 2 , at flower of Justicia flava . In Ghana , Sourakov & Emmel (1997) found caterpillars of ssp. tibullus on a ‘wide-leaved forest grass’, Cenchrus (= Pennisetum ) sp. ( Chemisquy et al . (2010) show that Pennisetum and Cenchrus should be combined under the older name, Cenchrus , although this is not followed universally; accordingly we show the synonymy in this paper where the earlier identification was as a Pennisetum sp.). They illustrate and briefly describe a mature caterpillar from Ghana : ‘The larvae have little pigmentation, so that some areas of the body are translucent. The subdorsal areas are coated with a wax-type substance, which creates white longitudinal stripes. The head is black.’ In Kenya , this is another species of western forests, particularly Kakamega Forest, where it is moderately common, and a species regularly seen. MJWC would consider it more common as an adult than P. b ul e , but collected only one pupa compared to several collections of P. bule early stages. The adult behaviour is similar to the last: resting, sunbathing (Figure 16.1) and feeding at flowers (Figure 16.2). Life history MJWC found the food plant in Kakamega Forest, Kenya , to be Setaria megaphylla , growing at the edge of a small clearing in the forest. Early stages of Pardaleodes bule were collected from the same plants in the immediate vicinity. The leaf shelters were not distinguished from those of P. b ul e . No caterpillars were found, but the cast final instar skin and head capsule associated with the field-collected pupa showed that the head is 2.6 x 3.2mm wide x high (n=1), dark brown, slightly paler on the dorsal part of the face, on the epicranium each side of the epicranial suture. The 23mm pupa ( Figure 17 ) was not distinguished from that of P. b ul e .