Cephetola wingae Sáfián, 2015

Sáfián, Szabolcs, 2020, Description of the previously unknown sexes in four West African Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera) with new data on their distribution, Zootaxa 4834 (2), pp. 219-230 : 224-226

Cephetola wingae Sáfián, 2015

( FIGS. 6A,B ; 7 )

Sáfián, Sz. (2015): 16–18.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:03AD959B-1B2C-42C3-97F9-42A74FB095B8

Illustrated specimen data. ♀ LIBERIA, Lofa County, Wologizi Mountains, Ridge Camp 8°7’10.26”N, 9°57’10.14”W, 865 m, 24-29.XI.2017, General collecting, Aristophanous, M., Sáfián, Sz., Simonics, G., Smith, L. Leg. ANHRT : 2017: 33

ANHRT unique number: ANHRTUK00039163

Note. Identification of females in some groups of Cephetola is often extremely difficult due to the similarity of several species combined with intraspecific variability. The female of C. wingae was expected to be similar to that of C. izidori (Kielland & Congdon, 1998) , illustrated in Libert (1999) and also examined in the ABRI collection, as they are closely related (Sáfián 2015b). In West Africa there are only a couple species with similar females, both appear to be in the C. cephena sub-group, previously listed under the name C. cephena (Hewitson, 1873) . The newly described C. daveyi occidentalis Libert, 2020 is known from Ghana, while the resurrected C. doleta (Kirby, 1890) from Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea ( Libert 2020). The similar but much darker C. mercedes ivoiriensis (Jackson, 1967) is known from Ivory Coast and Liberia, and only C. doleta is relatively common. C. mercedes ivoriensis has a reduced blue area on the hindwing and a more mottled pattern on the underside, as seen on the female allotype illustrated by both Libert (1999) and d’Abrera (2009).

Description and identification. Forewing length: 16.9 mm. Wingspan 30.5 mm. The general appearence of the female is like that of several species in the genus including those in the C. cephena subgroup as described in Libert (2020). The upperside ground colour is blackish, with light a light blue patch on the forewing that covers roughly the median area of space 1a, the basal two-thirds of 1b and appears as a small oval spot turining whitish towards its tip in space 2. The usual white sup-apical row of spots is present with only two spots properly formed, the lowest one in the upper half of space 5 and the top one in space 9 are obsolete. The spots are also speckles with a few light blue scales. The hindwing has a large light blue patch in the centre between veins 1 and 6. The edge of the patch is largely diffuse, particularly in space 1b, in the discal cell and along its outer edge. The forewing underside has the usual black centre and the upperside blue patch and the sub-apical spots appear as dirty white spots. The rest of the forewing is greyish-brown with some grey chevrons along the outer edge. The hindwing is greyish-brown with diffuse grey chevrons along the out margin and grey specks in the outer half of the wing and along the inner margin.

New records. The species was described from the Liberian Nimba Mountains and was known from two upland localities on the summits of Mount Beeton (type locality) and Mount Bele (Blei) (Sáfián 2015b). The female (specimen data shown above) was collected on a hilltop in the Wologizi Mountains , also in upland forest .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Cephetola females: C. wingae (Liberia, Wologizi Mountains) upperside—A, underside—B; C. doleta (Guinea, Labé) upperside—C, underside—D; C. daveyi occidentalis (Ghana, Volta Region) upperside—E, underside—F.

FIGURE 7. Known localities of C. wingae.