Ampittia kilombero Larsen & Congdon, 2012

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 : 4-5

Ampittia kilombero Larsen & Congdon, 2012 ( Figures 4–5 )

This newly described species is only known from two colonies in the Kilombero Valley at the south-eastern end of the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania ( Larsen & Congdon 2012). It seems to be a species of open wetland, where the food plant is an unidentified fine-leaved grass. The caterpillar ( Figure 4 ) is green with a pale lateral line, dark speckles T2–3 and anal plate; a narrow black dorsal plate T1; a pale brown head with dark brown markings—very different from that of A. capenas ( Figure 2 ); pale brown spiracles. The spiracles visible on A7–A 8 in Figure 4.4 are distinctly projecting; we have not noticed spiracles of this form in any other Hesperiidae . The pupa is cylindrical, white, with pale brown spiracles ( Figure 5 ). Like that of A. capenas , it has two frontal projections, but directed anterolaterally, not laterally. As for A. capenas , the pupa was formed in a closed grass leaf tube and attached at the cremaster. It was most inconspicuous, the blade having been partially severed so that the portion containing the pupa was hanging down.

Discussion

Larsen & Congdon (2012) considered whether the African and Asian Ampittia spp. were truly congeneric, and somewhat to their surprise concluded that they were, based on characters of the male genitalia and the unusual double frontal projections of the pupae. Nevertheless, this is not a character unique to Ampittia , as we have observed a similar structure in Gorgyra spp. ( Hesperiinae , incertae sedis) and several species of the Cyperaceaefeeding Australian genus Hesperilla (Trapezitinae) have pupae with two frontal projections ( Common & Waterhouse 1981).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Final instar caterpillar of Ampittia capenas on unidentified grass, Rondo Plateau, SE Tanzania, 850 m, 0 9 Feb 2005, TCEC. 1, dorsal view; 2, head anterior view.

FIGURE 4. Final instar caterpillar of Ampittia kilombero on unidentified grass, Mngeta, Kilombero Valley, S Tanzania, 450 m, 23 – 27 May 2010, TCEC. 1, dorsolateral view; 2, lateral view; 3, head anterior view; 4, posterior segments, dorsal view.

FIGURE 5. Pupa of Ampittia kilombero collected on unidentified grass, Mngeta, Kilombero Valley, S Tanzania, 450 m, 20 May 2010, 12 mm, TCEC. 1, dorsal view; 2, lateral view.