Flandria, Larsen, Torben B., 2013

Larsen, Torben B., 2013, Ceratricula and Flandria — two new genera of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Hesperiinae (incertae sedis )) for species currently placed in the genus Ceratrichia Butler, Zootaxa 3666 (4), pp. 476-488 : 483-487

Flandria gen. nov.

Type species: Ceratrichia weberi Miller, 1964 (see Figure 3 ).

Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Afrique Noire (A) 26:646 (640–647).

C. weberi is chosen as the type species since it is available in larger numbers, in better condition, and in more collections than two other species. The genus is part of the subfamily Hesperiinae , the tribal structure of which is unclear (incertae sedis).

Background. Three taxa are included in this new genus and both surfaces of the males are illustrated in figure 5. F. kelembaensis (Strand 1918) was described in the genus Pardaleodes (Butler, 1870b) , which at the time was something of an “omnibus” genus for any ochreous Hesperiinae . It is known only from the holotype. Notably, Strand did not place it in Ceratrichia , which had already been described as far back as 1870. Evans (1937) treated F. kelembaensis as a junior synonym of Andronymus evander Mabille ; this seems an odd choice since all Andronymus Holland are—almost uniquely among the ochreous Hesperiinae—characterized by having some of the hindwing ochreous discal spotting hyaline. However, Evans probably never saw the only known specimen of F. kelembaensis .

Evans (1956) described Ceratrichia flandria which is rather ironic since this species is very close to F. kelembaensis that he had removed from Pardaleodes to Andronymus (Evans 1937) . This species was known only from two males collected at Botéké, on the Equator near the border between the DRC and Congo. Both are in the MRAC collection; the type was returned by Evans after its description, while the other was later dissected by L. A. Berger (figure 6). A third male specimen was recently procured from the same area as the type (coll. ABRI), as were two females that hardly differ from the males (in coll. P. Oremans).

Finally, Miller (1964) described Ceratrichia weberi from Efulen in eastern Cameroun; its genitalia are effectively identical with those of F. flandria , but the wing pattern is such that it should nonetheless be maintained as a valid species, at least until more comparative material from the DRC becomes available. About thirty specimens are now known from Cameroun (collections ABRI, James Stewart, Michel Libert) and two were found in Waka National Park in Gabon, now in ABRI (figured as “ Paronymus ” kelembaensis in Vande Weghe (2010)).

At the African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI), Nairobi in 1995 I dissected and photographed a Cameroun specimen of “ Ceratrichia ” weberi and concluded that it was very close to Pardaleodes kelembaensis , the holotype of which I had just photographed in Tervuren. My conclusion at the time was that the genitalia precluded its placement in any of the three genera mooted above, and that it probably required a new genus. This was summarized thus in the book on West African butterflies: “Evans (1937) synonymized Pardaleodes kelembaensis Strand, 1918 (the type of which was considered lost by Usher (1980)) with Andronymus evander . The type was actually sent to Strand and then returned to [the Royal Africa Museum] Tervuren, where I inspected it. It is close to, possibly even a senior synonym of, Ceratrichia weberi Miller, 1964 . This/these species probably deserve a genus of their own; the genitalia are most unusual and the antennae are much too short for Ceratrichia , where Miller placed it. They have no affinity whatever with Andronymus ” (Larsen 2005).

Description. The antennae are rather longer than half costa but nowhere near as long as in Ceratrichia . The palpi are semi-erect as is the most frequent in the Hesperiinae . The hindleg tibia has the usual two spurs. The venation was not studied in de-scaled specimens and seem similar to many other genera. There are no visible androconia.

The wing patterns of all three Flandria are very similar. The forewings are blackish-brown with white hyaline spots on the forewing: an upper cell-spot (a tiny additional lower spot in F. kelembaensis ), three subapical spots of which the one in space 6 is the largest and displaced far outwards, not in line with the two upper spots, a spot in 3, a larger spot in 2, and a small non-hyaline spot in 1b that is larger on the underside (except in F. w e b e r i). The hindwings are blackish-brown with a large yellow discal/tornal patch taking up about a third of the wing area – in all three including the abdominal fold. The yellow area has a brief black margin in F. w e b e r i, a margin that stops before the tornus in F. flandria , and one that just reaches the tornus in F. kelembaensis . The hindwing undersides in all three are mostly yellow with rather large brown submarginal spots. There is no costal dark scaling in F. w e b e r i, much such scaling in F. flandria , and an intermediate amount in F. kelembaensis . On the forewing underside F. w e b e r i differs from F. flandria in hardly having a spot in space 1b, where the latter has a large quadrate white spot, twice the size of the spot in 2. The males have no visible androconial structures. The abdomen is finely ringed with yellow. Only in F. w e b e r i (and in F. flandria (Oremans pers. comm.) is the female known. It is larger than the male and the marginal spots on the hindwing underside are larger, but the differences are small.

The genitalia of Flandria are completely different from Ceratrichia (figure 2), as well as from both Pardaleodes and Andronymus (figure 4), in which genera they have previously been placed. Their placement in a new genus is mainly based on the structure of the genitalia. The tegumen of the type species, F. w e b e r i, is small and fused with a short, but broad uncus terminating in a wide, slightly outward curved, distal edge. The two short lateral gnathos processes from the tegumen have narrow chitinized extensions that almost attach to the roof of the uncus, which is unusual. The valve is relatively narrow with almost parallel sides until the cucullus ends with a down-turned ventral lobe and with an evenly curved, serrated distal edge. There is small notch in the dorsal edge just before it turns downwards. On the middle of the valve is a small strongly chitinized harpe, shaped as a triangular thorn (which seems to have been inadvertently omitted in the original description (Miller 1964)).

The penis is massive (almost the size of the valve), gnarled at its basal end, and somewhat sheathed in membranous material. It contains a long slender cuneus that thickens towards the distal end (shaped much like a human spermatozoon), stretching over more than two-thirds the length of the penis from the entry point of the vas deferens to the tip. The saccus is rather long. There is only a modest fultura with short narrow featureless branches. The genitalia of F. flandria hardly differ from those of F. w e b e r i; on genitalic grounds they might be considered conspecific, but the differences in colour pattern seem too great to allow for this. Those of F. kelembaensis are structurally similar but differ more strongly. The tip of the uncus is also broad, but somewhat bilobed instead of evenly rounded. The gnathos structures are more heavily chitinized. The distal end of the valve is not rounded and not serrated, though slightly irregular. There is no downturned lobe as in the other two, the ventral tip of the cucullus being triangular. The saccus is shorter. The penis is evidently damaged in the slide and parts of it are missing. There does appear to be a long, narrow cuneus that must have been contained inside a penis of the same length as in the other two.

Diagnosis. The male genitalia of Ceratrichia have already been shown to be consistent and structurally quite different from Flandria (fig 2). There is no affinity with Ceratricula either. In the two other genera where members of the genus have been placed, Pardaleodes has a long slender uncus that is split into two long, narrow branches so close that that they almost touch in situ. The penis is very different, while the gnathos structure consists of two weak lateral branches only loosely attached to membranous tissues and not to the tegumen. The valve is more usual for the Hesperiinae , with the cucullus upturned and serrated only towards its dorsal edge, and the fultura is large with an irregular tip to the two branches. The colour and spotting pattern in Pardaleodes is also qualitatively different from Flandria , as is the hindwing underside. The male genitalia of Andronymus have a long very simple tegumen/uncus structure ending in a fine point and a very slender penis with a long, narrow basal end (figure 6). All members of the latter genus have some of the light markings in and around the hindwing cell hyaline (as also in Paronymus but in no other Hesperiinae ). In addition all males of Andronymus have a hair-pencil entering a fold in space 7 on the hindwing.

The genitalia apart, the Flandria have few special characters. They do share with Ceratrichia the outward displacement of the forewing subapical spot in 6, but lack spots in 4 and 5. They also lack the tiny costal spots in spaces 9–11 that are usually visible on the forewing underside of Ceratrichia .

The combination of well-separated white or light primrose forewing hyaline spots and a yellow tornal hindwing or marginal area is unusual amongst the Afrotropical Hesperiinae . The genus that comes closest is actually Ceratricula , described earlier in this paper. These are much smaller butterflies, the subapical spots (when present) are in line, the hyaline spots are tiny, the hindwing undersides are different, the males have a prominent androconial feature, and the genitalia are structurally quite different. Flandria is so special in pattern and genitalia that it seems impossible to place it phylogenetically within the Hesperiinae in the absence of a molecular phylogeny.

“ Paronymus ” xanthioides Holland (another species needing its own genus) is somewhat similar, but this species has a mealy forewing brand, while both sides of the hindwing have a broad black margin, and the genitalia are completely different.

Checking against colour pattern and genitalic structure of all genera within the African Hesperiinae , none provides an appropriate alternative berth for the homogenous Flandria . The three described species are here all maintained as valid despite the almost identical genitalia of two of the species. Their combined known range is limited to eastern Cameroun, Gabon, the Central African Republic, and the western DRC, giving the genus the smallest distribution area of any the African Hesperiidae genus in the forest zones.

Etymology. In the Royal Africa Museum, Tervuren (MRAC) collection L. A. Berger placed kelembaensis and flandria under his manuscript genus Flandria (a colonial ”homesickness” name for the town now called Botéké in the western DRC, the type locality of F. flandria ); Berger died before he could publish the genus and the name is adopted in his honour.

Figures

FIGURE 3. The male genitalia of Ceratricula semilutea and its subspecies: Left column: A. C. semilutea congdoni ssp. nov., DRC, Orientale, Afarama (ex RD—tbl BOL); B. ssp. congdoni DRC, Shaba, Kapanga (MRAC H. 147); Right column: C. ssp. semilutea Nigeria, Lagos (zmuc / tbl BPQ); D. ssp. indeterminabilis Cameroun, Ebogo (tbl BKF / scc 659) (ABRI).