Chrysoritis beaufortia, Dickson 1966: 109

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

beaufortia Dickson 1966: 109 . Holotype: NHM, London. Type locality: Nieuwveld Mts. MPT: montane prominences. Host ant: Crem. peringueyi ; larval host plant Dimorphotheca cuneata Thunb.

Taxonomy: Monophyletic and well supported in the COI tree (100%). In the CAD tree, three of the four C. beaufortia samples form a well supported (99%) clade. Morphologically similar to C. stepheni (see below), and there is also overlap among all three subspecies.

C. beaufortia beaufortia . Appearance remarkably uniform, with prominent white interneural flecks at the margin of both wings. Although it is only known from the Nieuwveld Mountains near Beaufort West, a single worn specimen answering to this taxon was once taken from the Compassberg area in the Eastern Cape (E. Pringle). Conservation status: LC .

C. beaufortia sutherlandensis Heath & Pringle 2007 . Type locality: Swaarweerberg , Sutherland. This subspecies occurs from the Komsberg to the Swaarweerberg , Sutherland district and has the black markings reduced to a variable extent. Host ant and plant as in nominate subspecies. Conservation status: LC.

C. beaufortia charlesi (Dickson 1970) , Poecilmitis beaufortia charlesi Dickson, 1970: 93 . Holotype: NHM, London. Type locality: “Quagga Fontein, 25 miles N.W of Sutherland”. Although variable, this is a much darker subspecies, often with an almost black forewing. It occurs on upper montane slopes from its type locality on the Roggeveldberge close to the NC Province and Tankwa Karoo boundary and northward to Kieske Mt. (within 17 km of Hantamsberg, Calvinia). Host ant and host plant as in nominate subspecies. Conservation status: LC – Rare.

Chrysoritis stepheni (Dickson 1978) stat. rev. Poecilmitis stepheni Dickson 1978: 294 . Holotype: NHM, London. Type locality: Hantamsberg, Calvinia. See also Heath & Pringle (2007: 24). MPT: montane slopes and prominences. Host ant: Crem. peringueyi . Larval host plants: Dimorphotheca cuneata Thunb. , at Calvinia and Osteospermum amplectens (Harvey) T.Norl. , at Garies; both Asteraceae and of very similar structure. In captivity late instar larvae readily transferred from one of these host plants to the other with no change observed in feeding behaviour (A. Heath).

Taxonomy: Chrysoritis stepheni has 100% bootstrap support in the COI tree and is sister to C. beaufortia . Thus far C. stepheni has been treated as a subspecies of C. beaufortia due to its morphological similarity with the subspecies C. b. beaufortia and its shared ecology with all of C. beaufortia (same MPT, elevation, and host ant species). Chrysoritis stepheni is separated from the similar looking C. b. beaufortia by 270 km, but from the darker C. b. charlesi, it is separated by only 17 km. The long subtending branches between C. beaufortia and C. stepheni in the COI tree indicate deep divergences and warranted a look at their pairwise fixation index (ΦST see Note S 2 in QEA22) from the AMOVA analyses. The ΦST value for C. beaufortia (n = 6) vs. C. stepheni (n = 4) is 0.725 (p <0.05; see Note S3 here). Thus, despite only a 17 km (minimum) separation, an overwhelming proportion (72%) of the total genetic variation among all individuals occurs between the two taxa (versus 28% within taxa). This is much higher than a typical range for subspecies (explained in Note S3). Thus, C. beaufortia stepheni is raised to C. stepheni stat. rev.

Chrysoritis stepheni itself consists of two discrete populations known to the authors, one on the Hamtamsberg, Calvinia (n = 2) and the other 195 km NW on the Kamiesberge (n = 2), Despite their geographic distance, they are ecologically comparable and morphologically identical – two populations yet to meet the requirements for subspecies ( Braby et al., 2012). Conservation status: LC – Rare.

Chrysoritis beulah (Quickelberge 1966) . Poecilmitis