Pelopidas Walker, 1870

Cock, Matthew J. W. & Congdon, Colin E., 2012, Observations on the biology of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera) principally from Kenya. Part 4. Hesperiinae: Aeromachini and Baorini, Zootaxa 3438, pp. 1-42 : 11

Pelopidas Walker, 1870

Walker (1870) introduced this genus (without describing it) for his new species, P. m i d e a, now considered to be a synonym of P. t h r a x (Hübner) ( Evans 1937a). In his revision of the African Hesperiidae, Evans (1937a) included 16 species in Pelopidas , but when he revised the Eurasian and Australian Hesperiidae ( Evans 1949) he introduced a new genus, Borbo , for most of these, together with three Asian species. Pelopidas was thus restricted to two species found in Africa and Asia, P. mathias and P. t h r a x, and seven other Asian species. Evans (1949) separated the two genera on the basis that Pelopidas has a cell spot on the hind wing underside while Borbo does not, the mid tibia of Pelopidas are heavily spined whereas those of Borbo are unspined (Asian species and some African species) or weakly spined (some African species), and males of Pelopidas generally have a discal stigma on the forewing upper surface, not seen in Borbo . The latter character holds good for all African species of the two genera.