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
Gorgyra subflavidus
Holland
, 1896
Although described from Usagara,
Tanzania
(
Holland
1896
), this rare species is also known from
Mozambique
and
Kenya
. In
Tanzania
,
Kielland (1990)
associated it with riverine vegetation from sea level to
1200 m
. Although quite widespread in eastern
Tanzania
, it seems rare and localised in
Kenya
, e.g.
Sevastopulo (1974)
records very occasional specimens around Makardara Forest.
Food plants
Sevastopulo (unpublished) reared this species from
Kwale
(Shimba Hills,
Kenya
) but unfortunately did not record the food plant which presumably he was unable to identify. His photographs suggest a plant with small rounded leaves of about
30mm
. TCEC found this species (
Figures 18
and
19
) on what has been provisionally identified from a small sapling of sterile material of a
Meliaceae (Sapindales)
, initially identified as
Entandrophragma
sp.
, but now thought to be a
Khaya
sp.
, at Sanje, at the eastern end of the Udzungwa Mountains,
Tanzania
. As is often the case with
Hesperiidae
, and noted above for
G. bibulus
, the caterpillars feed on soft new growth, ignoring mature foliage.
Leaf shelters
A folded leaf.
Caterpillar
“Head dark purplish red. Body green, traces of a darker green dorsal line. Anal flap flattened and rounded. 1
st
somite [T1] narrow, forming a neck.” (Sevastopulo unpublished).
Pupa
“Pupa formed in the larval cell, with a curtain of whitish silk blocking the front and lightly coated with a white waxy powder. Pale green, the head, thorax and wing-cases more yellow. Head with a central, bifid, forwardpointing, brownish process. Pro-thoracic spiracle large and reddish in colour.” (Sevastopulo unpublished). Pupation took 10 days.