Leona
L. maracanda (Hewitson)
L. leonora
Zingiberaceae
L. stoehri (Karsch)
Amomum
Aframomum
L. halma Evans
Amomum
Aframomum
L. halma
L. stoehri
L. lissa
Dracaena
Leona
Leona
L. maracanda (Cock et al . 2014)
Semalea
Xanthodisca
Hypoleucis
Caenides
Observations on the biology of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera). Part 9. Hesperiinae incertae sedis: Zingiberales feeders, genera of unknown biology and an overview of the Hesperiinae incertae sedis
Cock, Matthew J. W.
Congdon, T. Colin E.
Collins, Steve C.
Zootaxa
2016
4066
3
201
247
92D38
Evans, 1937
Evans
1937
[151,385,1898,1925]
Insecta
Hesperiidae
Leona
Animalia
Lepidoptera
23
224
Arthropoda
genus
Lindsey & Miller (1965)and Ackery et al. (1995)treated Leonaas a synonym of Caenides, but Larsen (2005)treated it as a valid genus. Based on the male genitalia (uncus pointed in Caenidesand bifid in Leona) and some external characters they do seem to divide into these two groups, apart from L. lissaEvanswhich feeds on Dracaenaspp. (Cock et al. 2015) and L. luehderi(Plötz)for which the food plants are unknown; these two species may require a separate genus (T.B. Larsen pers. comm. 2015).
Leonagroup (1) includes L. maracanda(Hewitson), a palm-feeding species treated in Cock et al. (2014) and three species of unknown biology. The biology of L. leonora, the only species in group (2) is unknown, although Heath et al. (2002)suggest its food plant is possibly Zingiberaceae. Of the seven species in group (3), L. stoehri(Karsch)is reported to feed on Amomumsp. (likely to refer to Aframomumsp.) in Uganda( Le Pelley 1959, Sevastopulo 1975), L. halmaEvansis reported to feed on Amomumsp. ( Kielland 1990) or Aframomumsp. ( Heath et al. 2002, Larsen 2005, Vande weghe 2010) (but this may be carried over from when L. halmawas treated as a ssp. of L. stoehri), and L. lissafeeds on Dracaenasp(p). (Cock et al. 2015), while the biology of the other four species is unknown. Given that there has been some taxonomic confusion within group (3) as well as in the food plant names used, confirmation of these food plants is desirable. Based on the food plants alone, one might anticipate that Leonaas presently constituted is paraphyletic. Unfortunately we have no information on the early stages of any Leonaspp. apart from L. maracanda(Cock et al. 2014)so cannot comment further, or on whether the Zingiberaceae-feeding species show affinities with the Zingiberaceae- and Costaceae-feeding Semalea, Xanthodisca, Hypoleucisand Caenidesspp.