Phasis thysbe (Linnaeus, 1764)

Heath, Alan, 2023, Chrysoritis Butler (Papilionoidea: Lycaenidae: Aphnaeinae) - Part III: An integrative taxonomic revision, Metamorphosis 34 (1), pp. 11-28 : 26

thysbe mt Clade 4 for species description.

thysbe mt Clade 4

Mt clade 4 comprises long-established species – each has a long subtending branch in the COI tree; only one species, C. beulah occurs at low elevations, the rest occurring at mid to high elevations. Chrysoritis penningtoni , C. orientalis , C. braueri and C. beulah all occur outside the GCFR. The former three are montane; C. beulah occurs with C. braueri on the Somerset East mountains but at a lower elevation. The mt clade 4 matriline appears to have originated in the Eastern Cape (the first two branches of the clade lead to Eastern Cape species, C. penningtoni and C. braueri ; see Fig. 1A in QEA22) and then spread progressively westward, first to the Great Karoo region (where C. beaufortia and C. stepheni occur), then on to Namaqualand (where another population of C. stepheni occurs). The lineage leading to C. orientalis also spread from the Eastern Cape, heading northeast to the Kwazulu-Natal & Lesotho area.

Chrysoritis beaufortia (Dickson 1966) . Poecilmitis

Figures

Figure 1 – C. oreas (Bushman’s Nek). 1st instar (top) and ~4th instar (bottom). Not to scale.