Spialia mafa higginsi Evans, 1937

Cock, Matthew J. W., 2016, Observations on the biology of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera) with particular reference to Kenya. Part 10. Pyrginae, Carcharodini, Zootaxa 4173 (4), pp. 301-350 : 323

Spialia mafa higginsi Evans, 1937

Spialia mafa (Trimen) is the only Kenyan representative of the sertorius group of Spialia (De Jong 1978) . Larsen (1991) suggests that S. galba ( Figure 1 ) replaces it in Asia. Trimen (1870) described mafa from Botswana (Basutoland), but the range of the species (or superspecies—see De Jong 1978) extends through East Africa to India and Hainan. Subspecies mafa is restricted to southern Africa , while subspecies higginsi which was described from Mumias , Kenya (Evans 1937), is recorded from Saudi Arabia and Yemen, through Ethiopia to southern Zaire and northern Malawi .

In Kenya (the only country where S. mafa higginsi seems fairly common), this species is widespread through the highlands of central and western Kenya. It is reported from the Chyulu Hills (Van Someren 1939), but De Jong (1978) does not list any material from this area, so this locality should be considered unconfirmed. It seems to be associated with open grassy spaces rather than forest.

Food plants. The two subspecies of S. mafa currently have slightly different food plant lists ( Table 5). Sevastopulo’s (1975) records are based on those of Van Someren (1974) as Sevastopulo (unpublished) did not rear this species himself. I have only found caterpillars of S. spio and S. diomus on Sida spp. and Hibiscus spp. when collecting in Kenya in areas where S. mafa higginsi is known to occur or might be expected to occur, which leads me to the suggestion that confirmation of Van Someren’s records would be desirable.

Life history and natural enemies. G.C. Clark (in Dickson & Kroon 1978, Plate 17) illustrates the detailed life history of ssp. mafa from South Africa. Dickson & Kroon (1978) suggest parasitism is similar to that of other members of the genus.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Biology of Spialia galba, collected as caterpillars on Sida sp., Islamabad, Pakistan, 5 Jul 1995. 1, penultimate instar, dorsal / dorsolateral view; moulted to final instar 18 Jul; photographed 18 Jul; pupated 28 Jul; MJWC 95 / 203 B. 2, final instar, detail of head, anterolateral view; as # 1. 3, pupa, lateral view; pupated 13 Jul; photographed 15 Jul; emerged 23 Jul; 12 mm; MJWC 95 / 203 A. 4, adult male, emerged 23 Jul 1995; MJWC 95 / 203 A.