Telchinia Hübner, [1819]

Williams, Mark C. & Henning, Graham A., 2023, Taxonomic revision of the tribe Acraeini Boisduval, 1833 (Papilionoidea: Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae), Metamorphosis 34 (1), pp. 35-49 : 44-46

Genus Telchinia Hübner, [1819] stat. rev.

Type species Papilio serena Fabricius, 1775 Synonyms : Gnesia Doubleday, 1848 ; Hyalites Doubleday, 1848 ; Pareba Doubleday, 1848 ; Planema Doubleday, 1848 ; Alacria Henning, 1992 ; Aurora Henning, 1992 ; Auracraea Henning, 1993

This is an almost exclusively Afrotropical genus of 102 small to fairly large species. One species ( T. issoria ) is found in the Oriental Region. The lineage arose ~ 23 Mya. Body: Head large, broad and hairy. Antennae shorter than half length of forewing, averaging 43% (38-48%) of forewing for both sexes. Palpi 1 st joint twice as long as broad, 2 nd joint three times longer than first joint and terminal joint minute, oval. All joints hairy. Thorax short, compressed laterally, hairy and scaly. Abdomen long, extending just beyond outer edge of hindwings, laterally compressed, broader distally. Legs: Anterior legs slender and less than half length of pterothoracic legs; tarsi of male single joint without spines, female tarsi five jointed with spines on each except last, no terminal spine. Pterothoracic legs, fairly robust, external claw of male without furrow on inner surface, terminal claws symmetrical or asymmetrical. Wing venation: Radial veins of forewing not stalked; R1 branching off from cell rather than stalked. Cell of hindwing about half of total wing length. The anacreon species group has a rudimentary vein between the second cubital and second anal vein, as found in the South American genus Actinote . Markings: Hindwing has the spots in the row below the apex joined to the central row creating a discontinuous arrangement of spots (7:2 configuration) forming a curved row of spots or spots may be restricted to basal area. Hyaline areas and hyaline patches present. There are no marginal markings or spots on forewing upper side in most species except anacreon species group and serena species sub-group. Male genitalia: Uncus beak-shaped, short or half the length of the tegumen, tip acute; aedeagus short, not narrow and not needle like, may be stout, distally truncate or acute, basally bulbous but not bifid; sclerotized and modified 8th tergite or sternite not present; valves may be long and elongated to short and broad, distally broad but tapering and rounded; juxta small, subtriangular, weakly sclerotized; vinculum fairly broad; saccus, short to pronounced. Female genitalia: Anal lobes short and broad, posterior apophyses shorter than the lobes; sterigma forms a pouch-like vestibulum with a posterior projection; ostium anteriorly or posteriorly placed; ductus short; bursa large, elongate to ovoid; single pair of signa, large patch, ovoid to elongated; sub-pupillary gland developed anteriorly; one terminal gland. Sphragis may be present or absent depending on the species group.

Early stages: Egg conical to barrel shaped, may be rounded or flat topped; usually laid in untidy clusters but in some species in a neat single layer. Larvae gregarious; often spin silk to form untidy shelters of dead leaves and entrapped larval frass. Pupa with wing cases usually lined in black. Host plant genera: Scepocarpus (23 records), Triumfetta (10 records), Pouzolzia (9 records), Laportea (8 records), Boehmeria (7 records), Fleurya (6 records), Adenia , Aeschynomene and Hibiscus (5 records each), Urtica and Musanga (4 records each), Myrianthus (3 records), Obetia , Commelina , Desmodium , Cephaloma , Clappertonia , Hermannia , Alchemilla , Tectona and Sparmannia (2 records each). One record each for Bridelia , Kolobopetalum , Mikania , Dioscorea , Ficus , Murdannia, Aneleima , Phaseolus , Corchorus , Cordia , Dombeya , Gmelina , Melochia , Nicotiana , Sida , Tilia , Waltheria, Chaemacrista , Lythrum , Nesaea, Rotola , Ipomoea, Lepistemom , Merremia , Passiflora , Solanum , Vernonia , Ancistrocarpus , Grewia , Lamium , Cliffortia , Wormskioldia , Cassia , Kotschya , Erigeron and Persicaria . Host plant families: Urticaceae (32 records), Malvaceae (11 records), Fabaceae (8 records), Moraceae (5 records), Passifloraceae (4 records), Asteraceae , Commelinaceae and Rosaceae (3 records each), Menispermaceae , Verbenaceae , Lamiaceae and Solanaceae (2 records each). One record each for Phyllanthaceae , Dioscoraceae, Boraginaceae , Lythraceae , Convolvulaceae , Turneraceae and Polygonaceae . Habitats (biomes): Telchinia is predominantly a forest genus. It is distributed as follows: Forest (42 spp.), submontane forest (9 spp.), montane forest (10 spp.), coastal forest (1 sp.), woodland (16 spp.), savanna (1 sp.) and grassland (6 spp.). Ten species are found in marshy areas in a range of biomes. Geographical range: The genus occurs throughout the Afrotropical Region, with a single extralimital species in the Oriental Region. The greatest number of species occurs in the forests stretching from Nigeria and Angola in the west to Kenya and Tanzania in the east, and south to Zambia.

Diagnosis

Facies: In the genus Telchinia the anacreon species-group has a rudimentary vein between the second cubital and second anal vein, as found in the Neotropical genus Actinote . Wings rufous to ochreous, spotted or with colour patches. Hyaline areas and hyaline patches present. There are no marginal markings or spots on forewing upper side in most species except the anacreon species-group and serena species-subgroup. Hindwing marginal spots absent in many species. The external claw of the pterothoracic legs is without a furrow on the inner surface, which is present in the other African genera; terminal claws may be symmetrical.

Genitalia: The male genitalia in Telchinia have the aedeagus short, not narrow and not needle-like, may be stout, distally truncate or acute, basally bulbous but not bifid; sclerotized and modified 8 th tergite or sternite not present. In the female genitalia the sterigma forms a pouch-like vestibulum with a posterior projection and the signa are a large patch, ovoid to elongated; in other genera they are small, rounded and spinose.

Species list

Telchinia bergeri (Gaede, 1915) is regarded to be a nomen nudem.

Telchinia acerata (Hewitson, 1874) comb. rev.

Telchinia actinotina (Lathy, 1903) comb. rev.

Telchinia acuta (Howarth, 1969) comb. rev.

Telchinia alalonga (Henning & Henning, 1996) comb. rev.

Telchinia alberta (Eltringham, 1911) comb. rev.

Telchinia alciope (Hewitson, [1852]) comb. rev.

Telchinia alciopoides (Joicey & Talbot, 1921) comb. rev.

Telchinia althoffi (Dewitz, 1889) comb. rev.

Telchinia amicitiae (Heron, 1909) comb. rev.

Telchinia anacreon (Trimen, 1868) comb. rev.

Telchinia anacreontica (Grose-Smith, 1898) comb. rev.

Telchinia anacreontica anacreontica (Grose-Smith, 1898)

Telchinia anacreontica chyulu (van Someren, 1939) comb. rev.

Telchinia ansorgei (Grose-Smith, 1898) comb. rev.

Telchinia aubyni (Eltringham, 1912) comb. rev.

Telchinia aurivillii (Staudinger, 1896) comb. rev. Telchinia aurivillii aurivillii (Staudinger, 1896) Telchinia aurivillii schecana (Rothschild & Jordan, 1905) comb. rev.

Telchinia bankoides (Collins & Larsen, 2021) comb. rev.

Telchinia baxteri (Sharpe, 1902) comb. rev.

Telchinia baxteri baxteri (Sharpe, 1902) Telchinia baxteri oldeani (Kielland, 1990) comb. rev.

Telchinia bomba (Grose-Smith, 1889) comb. rev.

Telchinia bonasia (Fabricius, 1775) comb. rev.

Telchinia burgessi (Jackson, 1956) comb. rev.

Telchinia burni (Butler, 1896) comb. rev.

Telchinia buschbecki (Dewitz, 1889) comb. rev.

Telchinia cabira (Hopffer, 1855) comb. rev.

Telchinia calida (Butler, 1878) comb. rev.

Telchinia cinerea (Neave, 1904) comb. rev.

Telchinia circeis (Drury, 1782) comb. rev.

Telchinia comor (Pierre, 1992) comb. rev.

Telchinia conradti (Oberthür, 1893) comb. rev. Telchinia conradti conradti (Oberthür, 1893) Telchinia conradti kuekenthalie (Le Doux, 1922) comb. rev.

Telchinia disjuncta (Grose-Smith, 1898) comb. rev.

Telchinia encedana (Pierre, 1976) comb. rev.

Telchinia encedon (Linnaeus, 1758) comb. rev. Telchinia encedon encedon (Linnaeus, 1758) Telchinia encedon rathjensi (Le Doux, 1933) comb. rev.

Telchinia encoda (Pierre, 1981) comb. rev.

Telchinia esebria (Hewitson, [1861]) comb. rev.

Telchinia excelsior (Sharpe, 1891) comb. rev.

Telchinia excelsior excelsior (Sharpe, 1891) Telchinia excelsior usambarae (Jackson, 1951) comb. rev.

Telchinia fornax (Butler, 1879) comb. rev.

Telchinia goetzei (Thurau, 1903) comb. rev.

Telchinia grosvenori (Eltringham, 1912) comb. rev.

Telchinia guichardi (Gabriel, 1949) comb. rev.

Telchinia hecqui (Berger, 1981) comb. rev.

Telchinia humilis (Sharpe, 1897) comb. rev.

Telchinia igola (Trimen, 1889) comb. rev.

Telchinia induna (Trimen, 1895) comb. rev.

Telchinia induna induna (Trimen, 1895) Telchinia induna salmontana (Henning & Henning, 1996) comb. rev.

Telchinia insularis (Sharpe, 1893) comb. rev.

Telchinia issoria (Hübner, [1819]) comb. rev. – Extralimital (Oriental)

Telchinia iturina (Grose-Smith, 1890) comb. rev.

Telchinia jodutta (Fabricius, 1793) comb. rev.

Telchinia jodutta jodutta (Fabricius, 1793) Telchinia jodutta aethiops (Rothschild & Jordan, 1905) comb. rev.

Telchinia johnstoni (Godman, 1885) comb. rev.

Telchinia kaduna (Pierre, 1993) comb. rev.

Telchinia kakana (Eltringham, 1911) comb. rev.

Telchinia kalinzu (Carpenter, 1936) comb. rev.

Telchinia lia (Mabille, 1879) comb. rev.

Telchinia lumiri (Bethune-Baker, 1908) comb. rev.

Telchinia lusinga (Overlaet, 1955) comb. rev.

Telchinia lycoa (Godart, [1819]) comb. rev.

Telchinia lycoa lycoa (Godart, [1819])

Telchinia lycoa aequalis (Rothschild & Jordan, 1905) comb. rev.

Telchinia lycoa fallax (Rogenhofer, 1891) comb. rev.

Telchinia lycoa kenia (Eltringham, 1911) comb. rev.

Telchinia masamba (Ward, 1872) comb. rev.

Telchinia masaris (Oberthür, 1893) comb. rev.

Telchinia masaris masaris (Oberthür, 1893) Telchinia masaris jodina (Pierre, 1992) comb. rev.

Telchinia melanoxantha (Sharpe, 1891) comb. rev.

Telchinia mirifica (Lathy, 1906) comb. rev.

Telchinia necoda (Hewitson, [1861]) comb. rev.

Telchinia newtoni (Sharpe, 1893) comb. rev.

Telchinia ntebiae (Sharpe, 1897) comb. rev.

Telchinia ntebiae ntebiae (Sharpe, 1897) Telchinia ntebiae nyongana (d’Abrera, 1980) comb. rev.

Telchinia obeira (Hewitson, 1863) comb. rev.

Telchinia oberthueri (Butler, 1895) comb. rev.

Telchinia oberthueri oberthueri (Butler, 1895) Telchinia oberthueri laetopicta (Rebel, 1914) comb. rev.

Telchinia ochrascens (Sharpe, 1902) comb. rev.

Telchinia odzalae (Collins, 1997) comb. rev.

Telchinia oreas (Sharpe, 1891) comb. rev.

Telchinia oreas oreas (Sharpe, 1891)

Telchinia oreas oboti (Collins & Larsen, 2000) comb. rev.

Telchinia orestia (Hewitson, 1874) comb. rev.

Telchinia orina (Hewitson, 1874) comb. rev.

Telchinia orinata (Oberthür, 1893) comb. rev.

Telchinia parei (Henning & Henning, 1996) comb. rev. Telchinia parei parei (Henning & Henning, 1996)

Telchinia parei orangica (Henning & Henning, 1996) comb. rev.

Telchinia parrhasia (Fabricius, 1793) comb. rev. Telchinia parrhasia parrhasia (Fabricius, 1793) Telchinia parrhasia servona (Godart, [1819]) comb. rev.

Telchinia pelopeia (Staudinger, 1896) comb. rev.

Telchinia peneleos (Ward, 1871) comb. rev.

Telchinia peneleos peneleos (Ward, 1871) Telchinia peneleos gelonica (Rothschild & Jordan, 1905) comb. rev.

Telchinia penelope (Staudinger, 1896) comb. rev. Telchinia penelope penelope (Staudinger, 1896) Telchinia penelope derubeswcens (Eltringham, 1912) comb. rev.

Telchinia pentapolis (Ward, 1871) comb. rev.

Telchinia pentapolis pentapolis (Ward, 1871) Telchinia pentapolis epidica (Oberthür, 1893) comb. rev.

Telchinia perenna (Doubleday, [1847]) comb. rev. Telchinia perenna perenna (Doubleday, [1847]) Telchinia perenna kaffana (Rothschild, 1902) comb. rev.

Telchinia pharsalus (Ward, 1871) comb. rev.

Telchinia pierrei (Berger, 1981) comb. rev.

Telchinia polis (Pierre, 1999) comb. rev.

Telchinia pseudepaea (Dudgeon, 1909) comb. rev. Telchinia pseudepaea pseudepaea (Dudgeon, 1909)

Telchinia pseudepaea ziama (Belcastro, Boireau & Safian, 2020) comb. rev.

Telchinia quirinalis (Grose-Smith, 1900) comb. rev.

Telchinia rahira (Boisduval, 1833) comb. rev.

Telchinia rahira rahira (Boisduval, 1833) Telchinia rahira mufindi (Kielland, 1990) comb. rev.

Telchinia rahira uasingishuensis (Stoneham, 1943) comb. rev.

Telchinia rangatana (Eltringham, 1912) comb. rev. Telchinia rangatana rangatana (Eltringham, 1912)

Telchinia rangatana basilewskyi (Berger, 1956) comb. rev.

Telchinia rangatana bettiana (Eltringham, 1912) comb. rev.

Telchinia rangatana ecketti (Jackson, 1951) comb. rev.

Telchinia rangatana maji (Carpenter, 1935) comb. rev.

Telchinia rileyi (Le Doux, 1931) comb. rev.

Telchinia rupicola (Schultze, 1912) comb. rev.

Telchinia safie (Felder & Felder, [1865]) comb. rev.

Telchinia sambavae (Ward, 1873) rev. comb.

Telchinia semivitrea (Aurivillius, 1895) comb. rev.

Telchinia serena (Fabricius, 1775) comb. rev.

Telchinia silia (Mabille, [1885]) comb. rev.

Telchinia sotikensis (Sharpe, 1892) comb. rev.

Telchinia sotikensis sotikensis (Sharpe, 1892) Telchinia sotikensis karschi (Aurivillius, [1899]) comb. rev.

Telchinia speciosa (Wichgraf, 1909) comb. rev.

Telchinia strattipocles (Oberthür, 1893) comb. rev.

Telchinia supponina (Staudinger, 1896) comb. rev.

Telchinia toruna (Grose-Smith, 1900) comb. rev.

Telchinia ungemachi (Le Cerf, 1927) comb. rev.

Telchinia uvui (Grose-Smith, 1890) comb. rev. Telchinia uvui uvui (Grose-Smith, 1890) Telchinia uvui balina (Karsch, 1892) comb. rev.

Telchinia ventura (Hewitson, 1877) comb. rev.

Telchinia vesperalis (Grose-Smith, 1890) comb. rev. Telchinia vesperalis vesperalis (Grose-Smith, 1890)

Telchinia vesperalis catori (Bethune-Baker, 1904) comb. rev.

Telchinia viviana (Staudinger, 1896) comb. rev.

Telchinia vuilloti (Mabille, 1889) comb. rev.

Telchinia wigginsi (Neave, 1904) comb. rev.

Telchinia wigginsi wigginsi (Neave, 1904) Telchinia wigginsi occidentalis (Bethune-Baker, 1926) comb. rev.

Telchinia zitja (Boisduval, 1833) comb. rev.