NOVEMBER 2019 EDITION: AFRICAN ABN 2019 - 6 (SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2019) BUTTERFLY

THE LEPIDOPTERISTS’ SOCIETY OF AFRICA NEWS

LATEST NEWS

Welcome to November’s newsletter!

Spring has been and gone and, on the Highveld at least, we’ve had a better season than we’ve had for several years. There haven’t been any remarkable records, but off hand, I can’t think of any “missing” spring butterflies. Unfortunately, with persistently hot, dry weather, things are tailing off a bit now.

A final reminder that our annual Conference starts on Saturday 16 Oct; the venue is the Knysna Hollow Conference Centre, Webedacht Road, Knysna. Registration starts at 7h30.

I’ve attached a link to the conference program below:

2019 LepSoc Africa Annual Conference

Further phosphor frolics (Mark Liptrot)

Mark Liptrot recently found the Southern Forest Opal (Chrysoritis phosphor phosphor) at Hogsback. As far as I’m aware, these are the first photographs ever taken of this taxon in the wild

It was a sheer fluke that I was in the right place at the right time to see this one. We’d just arrived in Hogsback at the Air B&B Bramber Cottage at mid-afternoon on 4th October, and settled down to have coffee at the outside table. I noticed a lot of insect activity on the adjacent Mexican Orange (Choisya ternata), an exotic aromatic shrub. This attracted plenty of honey bees and a Bradypodion ventrale, the eastern Cape dwarf chameleon (see photo).

My wife Cecily and I were lamenting the fact that the Hogsback gardens were full of exotics (Azaleas in particular), and that the Chrysoritis phosphor phosphor (Mark Liptrot) surrounding plantations (mainly pine and wattle) were infesting the gardens and the Afromontane forests.

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Then along came the butterfly, which originally to me looked like an Aloeides. It made a brief appearance – I managed to get a couple of photos - then disappeared, never to be seen again, despite some serious observing the following day (perhaps it ended up inside the chameleon?)

I didn’t know the significance of the sighting until I checked the ID on the ADU, and (very) casually remarked on it to Steve Woodhall, who was a tad jealous…

Mexican Orange (Choisya ternata) (Mark Liptrot)

Hungry chameleon Chrysoritis phosphor phosphor (uns) Mark Liptrot Mark Liptrot

Forest Opal – Looking for clues (Steve Woodhall)

I’ve been looking for a specimen of this plant for ages and finally found one; It’s Osyridicarpos schimperianus which has no Afrikaans or English common name - in Zulu it’s ‘umalala’ or ‘umayime’. It’s the only member of the Santalaceae that grows in forests in South Africa. Santalaceae is the family of Thesium, which is one of the preferred host plants of the genus Chrysoritis. You can see the similarity in the flowers. Elsa Pooley has a photo of the flowers and foliage, but not the whole plant, which doesn’t help a lot! Now we have the whole thing. Osyridicarpos schimperianus Identification was confirmed by Geoff Nichols.

If you look it up in Elsa Pooley’s Wildflowers of KZN, it’s got pretty much the same distribution as the Forest Opal (Chrysoritis phosphor). I know not everyone thinks C. phosphor is a Chrysoritis; there are some who would place it in Lipaphnaeus and it’s been hinted to me that the host plant would be the same as L. aderna spindasoides - Maesa lanceolata, or here in KZN perhaps M. alnifolia. However, neither plant is found in the high Afromontane forests along the Drakensberg, where we know C. phosphor is found. Osyridicarpos schimperianus is. It’s also found lower down in the escarpment forests of KZN but it’s very rare there. I was told there is one in Roosfontein Nature Reserve but despite lots of searching I never found it. My photo is from the higher altitude forests at Mariannwood above Pinetown, and I suspect my informant mixed up his reserve names, because it was bang on the main path a couple of hundred meters from the entrance like he told me the putative Roosfontein specimen was. Maybe someone will find one of these in the Karkloof or Shiyalongubu, with a nice fat Crematogaster nest in it, and find little black pupae in that nest! 2

Ruimsig (Jeremy Dobson)

Jan Praet, Martin Lunderstedt and I decided to have a quick (pre- rugby) look at Ruimsig on 21 September. A fairly superficial survey counted 12 species, which is not bad for a small patch of veld surrounded by suburbia.

We were, of course, hoping to find the Roodepoort Toothed Russet (Aloeides dentatis dentatis), but drew a blank. There were plenty of other Russets however, mainly A. aranda and A. taikosama. There is an abundance of Aloeides food plant Jan Praet and Martin Lunderstedt at Ruimsig, Roodepoort (Hermannia depressa) and, judging by the number of Aloeides, plenty of host-ants. We’ll try again later in the season.

Colias (Joseph Verhulst)

Steve Collins told me about a new book on Colias of the world; it is in French but illustrates all species. It is available from Joseph Verhulst (the author), who may be contacted at [email protected]

The book costs €50 - there is a limited print run so anyone interested should not wait too long.

Some interesting Charaxes early stages (Steve Collins) Steve sent me the following pictures The caterpillar on the left is Charaxes cithaeron kennethi, which was found feeding on Urera trinervis, which is an unrecorded food-plant. The three pupae on the right represent the resulting C. cithaeron (centre), straddled by a pair of Charaxes lasti – a brown and a green morph. Steve has encountered similar colour forms with Charaxes protoclea azota

pupae, but never with C. lasti. The resulting pupae of C. cithareon together with Charaxes lasti dimorphic pupae colours never before illustrated Charaxes cithaeron kennethi larva on Urera trinervis

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Butterfly Calendars (Andrew Mayer) Andrew Mayer has produced a Butterfly Calendar for 2020. Please refer to details below – if you wish to order copies, please message or WhatsApp Andrew at 083 601 2643

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SQUIRTY QUEST: Rearing Phycitimorpha dasychira

By: Sharp I. C. & Family

Collecting larvae to rear for the Caterpillar Rearing Group project expectantly leads to many stories of victories and losses. One such victory took almost seven years to manifest with many disappointments along the way. It is fitting that this ‘adventure’ took place in our family’s favourite caterpillar hunting destination: Franklyn Park.

Franklyn Park has featured in our contributions to SABCA (now LepiMap) since 2010 and more recently in the Lepidoptera breeding challenges of the Great Caterpillar Rearing Challenge initiated by Mr H. Staude in 2012. There are many stories to tell on the visits to this wonderful location but the one that has captured our imagination is that of the ‘Squirty Caterpillars’.

On a collecting trip a particular larva was discovered on Zanthoxylum capenses in an area half way up the mountain path through the forest of Franklyn Park. There was great excitement as this larva had the interesting feature of a pair of tubes extending from its last abdominal segment. The specimen was promptly put in a container and a bag full of host plant material collected. The walk down the mountain on that particular day was light-hearted with the expectation of the rearing to come.

On arriving home, the container was opened to remove the larva for the required photo session. Deep was the disappointment when the container was found to be empty! On inspection it was noted that there was a small hole in a corner of the container. The next hopeful step was to search the vehicle but to no avail – the larva was missing. Host plant material was placed in the car with the hope of attracting a hungry ‘squirty’ but once again our efforts came to nothing.

Early instar larva.

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Final Instar Larva.

And so there began the SQUIRTY QUEST. Every visit to Franklyn Park was overshadowed by the hunt for a ‘squirty’. The forest walk would always be to the area where the first larva was originally found as there were a number of the particular host plant growing in that area. February 2014 finally brought some reward as ‘squirty’ larvae were once again discovered. What we did not count on was the virility of the parasitic wasps that plague these larvae. The first specimen was doing well and had reached the final instar and the expectation was that pupation would soon occur. But alas! On inspection one morning the specimen was found to be elevated on a wall of parasite cocoons. Further disappointment awaited with the other two specimens as one died and a second suffered the same parasitic fate as the first specimen.

December 2014 brought some more reward with a further discovery. Once again failure – the ‘squirty’ larva had made it to the final instar and pupated but after some weeks it was noted that the pupa had failed. More than a year passed before another specimen was found at the locality. Here again the parasite reigned supreme as the numerous cocoons once again appeared under the body of the larva.

Parasitized larva – on a bed of parasitoid cocoons.

Allison, now living in Pretoria, then discovered a ‘squirty’ at Roodeplaat Dam in mid-January. The specimen died and further searches at the dam bore no fruit.

In November 2018 I received a WhatsApp message from Allison with an image attached of a ‘squirty’ larva. Someone else had found one and posted the image on the CRG Facebook page (07 November 2018). Great disappointment in the Sharp family – our ‘squirty’ quest has failed as another rearer is about to pip us at the post. Then came the news that this ‘squirty’ rearing ended as the larva had escaped! The ‘squirty’ quest was back on.

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Early March 2019, some three years since we had last found a ‘squirty’ larva, the next specimens were discovered. Walking along a much lower section of the path, Allison clambered halfway down the embankment of the small river to search a 1,5 m Zanthoxylum capenses for ‘squirty’ specimens. I scoffed saying that the tree was too small and it was too low down the mountain slope. Then, to her delight, she turned with a huge smile informing me that she had found a number of specimens. They were small and just recently hatched as egg casings were noted on the leaves. We collected some samples and of course, a bag full of host plant material for feeding.

Excited Sharp family at ‘squirty’ find.

The size of the larvae was a double-edged sword. Would we be able to rear them from so small? On the positive side however, the possibilities of the larvae once again being parasitized was greatly reduced.

The rearing of the ‘squirty’ larvae went well for a while but then the host plant material in the refrigerator was becoming depleted and starting to wilt. Not having any specimens of the host plant growing near home, a search for fresh material became critical to the survival of the ‘squirty’ larvae. Contacts on reserves and in areas where the host plant was known to occur were contacted. An offer from the head ranger at the Royal Malewane lodge to collect host plant material was gratefully accepted. Arrangements were made for the package to be brought into Hoedspruit from the lodge for me to collect. In this way food for the larvae was obtained and the larvae continued to grow, finally entering their final instar.

Finally: an eclosed adult.

Soon after, the larvae pupated thereby releasing a load of pressure: Sharp family 1 – Parasitoids 0. With a number of viable pupae available, the hopes were high for a successful rearing. Anticipation

7 for the arrival of the first adult was building as the days passed. Fourteen days later, on 02 March 2019, the first adult eclosed followed by a second the next day and the third twelve days later. On seeing the adult for the first time the heavy air of disappointment must have been tangible. After all these years, the expectation was for something spectacular but, as could be expected in a majority of moth species, the adult was a drab grey colour with snow-white rear wings.

And so ended a near six-year quest to rear our nemesis, the ‘squirty’ caterpillar! Hopefully there will be more such adventures to come in the years ahead but it will take a lot to beat this one.

Ditsong Museum Posts

Christopher Willis forwarded me a notification, advertising two new positions at the Ditsong Museum; I’ve attached a link below:

Distsong Museum

National Biodiversity Assessment 2018

The National Biodiversity Assessment Synthesis Report for 2018 has been published by SANBI. You may remember that an invitation to submit butterfly-photographs, for inclusion on the cover of the report, was included in March’s newsletter this year; entries were judged on photographic merit as well as the degree of conservation-concern of the butterfly. The competition was won by Reinier Terblanche, with this photo of the Waterberg Acraea Copper (Erikssonia edgei), taken at Bateleur, Limpopo.

The butterfly has been “cut-out” and sits proudly in the centre of SANBI’s report.

https://www.sanbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NBA-Report-2019.pdf?sfns=mo

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Zambia and Malawi, via Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe - what could go wrong? (Jeremy Dobson)

Mark Williams had planned an exciting butterfly expedition: a camping safari through Botswana and Zambia, culminating with a stay at the Nyika Plateau in Malawi. In preparation, I’d bought a car freezer, battery-pack and camping-trailer. For those of you on a budget, I suggest you rather take a Lear Jet to Lusaka, hire a Range Rover and stay at the most luxurious hotels you can find along the way - you’ll save a lot of money and avoid some of the pitfalls that we encountered on our journey.

We hadn’t even left Mark’s house before the first mishap occurred: I noticed water pouring out from beneath the car; we discovered that one of the large water bottles was leaking - it was promptly ditched. We had a relatively uneventful journey to our first stop, the aptly named Elephant Sands, about 200 km northwest of Francistown, Botswana (the trailer swimming in spilled banana bait and the car interior drenched in cooking oil).

Day two involved a rather complicated and unpleasant border crossing at Kazungula ferry (a new, Chinese built bridge will be opened next year) - and a tortuous journey to Lusaka, via Livingstone, involving lots of trucks and diversions: more banana bait (this time the spillage was contained without too much damage) and the plug socket on the battery pack - used for the spotlight and recharging of cell phones - stopped working.

On our third day we visited some Brachystestegia woodland that Mark had identified using Google Earth, which was near Kashitu, about 200 km north of Lusaka. It was very hot and dry, but we found a couple of nice butterflies, including Lilac Tree Nymph (Sevenia rosa) and Cream-patch Bush Brown (Bicyclus cooksoni). Despite some bad advice from the Google Maps lady we arrived at Nsobe Camp that evening - this is a really nice venue, owned by Fiona Tomlinson, who hails from Cape Town. Sevenia rosa Kashitu, Zambia We spent the following day at Nsobe, where we found Light-banded Judy (Afriodinia rogersi rogersi) and Southern Fairy Hairstreak (Hypolycaena hatita japhusa). In the afternoon we visited Miengwe a few kilometres to the southwest, where I had my first encounter with the amazing Naval Pansy (Junonia touhilimasa) and got thoroughly and scarily lost - not for the first time in my life I have to admit. Day five involved a trip to the Kafue River, west of Luanshya, Junonia touhilimasa Miengwe, Zambia where I had another date with touhilimasa.

Our next destination was Mutinondo Wilderness, about 500 km northeast of Lusaka. “Wilderness” is an overused term, but Mutinondo certainly fits the bill - it is a magnificent park and is well worth a visit. We camped there for four nights and found some great butterflies, such as Speckled Lilac Commander (Euryphura concordia), Leopard Nymph (Pseudargynnis hegemone), Plain Tiger False Acraea (Pseudacraea poggei), Central Pied Zulu (Alaena nyassa marmorata) and Zambezi Paradise Skipper (Abantis zambesiaca). Alaena nyassa marmorata Mutinondo, Zambia

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On our third day at Mutinondo I picked up my son, Chris Dobson, who had flown to Ndola: In the “planning” phase, I’d misjudged the distances involved and ended up with a return journey of similar duration to a drive from Johannesburg to Cape Town. We’d billed our trip as the great Zambian Lepidochrysops Adventure, but were getting increasingly conscious of the lack of Lepidochysops of any description: numerous searches through grassy “Dembos” (boggy seepage areas within the miombo) failed to produce a single Giant Cupid, despite the presence of Ocimum and the other usual host plants. Following an unproductive visit to Zimbabwe at the same time last year, I wonder whether there isn’t a major problem with early-summer Lepidochysops in Southern Africa? I’d appreciate any comments or observations you may have.

Next up was Shiwa Ngandu, a great resort owned by the gregarious Mark Harvey. The Kapishya hot springs at Shiwa are extraordinary and we found Red Mimic Forester (Euphaedra zaddachii crawshayi) (Mark) and Lilac Tree Nymph (Sevenia rosa) (Chris) nearby. Chris and I visited an adjacent hill and found several Blue Playboys: Kafue Fairy Playboy (Paradeudorix kafuensis) and Midnight-blue Playboy (Pilodeudorix zeloides); also, the White Flat (Calleagris jamesoni jamesoni) and White- Paradeudorix kafuensis Shiwa Ngandu, Zambia banded Savanna Charaxes (Charaxes penricei penricei).

Up to this point our mishaps had been irritating rather than serous, but this all changed on our twelfth day, the trip from Shiwa to Nyika. The bolts connecting the tow-hook socket to the frame of the trailer had been coming loose fairly regularly, but about 100 km from Isoka, the trailer’s jockey- wheel dropped down and in the process of destroying itself, severely bent the aluminium channels forming the chassis of the trailer. The trailer’s electrical socket was also torn off. Chris and I removed the jockey-wheel assembly (we considered that we could manage without it) and drove on. Within minutes there was another ominous noise, and, on inspection, we found that the spare wheel of the trailer had lowered itself half-way to the ground and was occasionally hitting the “road”. We discovered that we had no tools to either tighten or remove it, so we carried on and resolved to keep an eye out in case it fell off completely. Not more than 5-minutes later, yet another disturbing sound could be heard from beneath the car: the supplementary diesel tank, that I’d installed in the Pajero a few months previously, had fallen off and a full tank of fuel was lying in a large puddle beneath the car. We chucked the R12 000 tank into a ditch (we had nowhere to stow it) and tried to plug the broken connector-pipe with plastic bags and toilet paper. We abandoned our attempt to reach Nyika that day and limped into Muyombe, where we camped next to a rowdy Zambia Independence Day party - not one of my better days to be honest.

Day 13 dawned with understandable foreboding, but as the rudimentary repairs to the remaining fuel tank seemed to be holding and the trailer hadn’t completely fallen to bits, we decided to push on for Nyika: once you’ve travelled 4 500 km it seems a pity to cut your journey short for the sake of a further 150 km. The day didn’t have an auspicious start - the trailer spare wheel finally fell off and, returning to look for it, I had to buy it back from a couple of guys who had already loaded it onto a bicycle. We finally arrived at Chelinda Camp in Nyika and this Lepidochrysops chalceus female on stage turned out to be the highlight of our trip. The grassland, Ocimum. You can see an egg to the right much of which had been burnt in winter, was in pristine of its hindwing. condition, full of flowers and teeming with butterflies, including some of the endemic Nyika specials species, like Nyika Bronze Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops chalceus). For interest, the plates in D’Abrera Vol 3 of Lepidochrysops chalceus and L. cupreus appear to be photographs of the same male and female specimens.

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Central African Clouded Yellow (Colias electo hecate) and Nyika Pink- spotted Coster (Telchinia parei orangica) were common and there were many other nice species like Malawi Mountain Blue (Harpendyreus juno), MacKinnon’s Swallowtail (Papilio mackinnoni isokae), East African Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas abbottii) and African Queen Fritillary (Issoria smaragdifera smaragdifera). A visit to Juniper forest yielded the extraordinary Giant Heart (Uranothauma crawshayi) - imagine a lurid Uranothauma nubifer Uranothauma crawshayi the size of a Junonia - and Nyika Painted Bamboo Ringlet Juniper Forest, Nyika, Malawi (Aphysoneura pigmentaria latilimba).

A few butterflies that are hard to find in South Africa, such as Red-Clover Rayed Blue (Actizera stellata), Jeannel’s Zebra Blue (Leptotes jeanneli) and Marbled Elf (Eretis djaelaelae), are common at Nyika. I’d recommend Chelinda Camp to anyone, but please don’t try and get there from Isoka on the Zambian side. On reflection, Chelinda would be a great venue for an Afrotropical Lepidoptera Workshop: October 2023 perhaps?

Harpendyreus juno Our return journey, through Malawi (Nkhotakota - camping on Nyika, Malawi the shore of the lake), Mozambique (Tete) and Zimbabwe (Lion and Elephant Park) was relatively uneventful and the roads were much better. One matter that deserves a mention: the Beit Bridge border post on the South African side is a national disgrace; after sailing through the Zimbabwean side in 30 minutes, we encountered a queue of pedestrians, almost half a kilometre long, being served by a single official at the immigration counter. Mark didn’t require too much encouragement (or acting skill to be frank) to impersonate an infirm geriatric on his last legs. We managed to acquire special dispensation and were moved to the front of the line. This lucky break meant that were able to stop at “The Dros” in Polokwane and watch the Rugby World Cup final on our way home.

My crippled trailer - which we found to be an extraordinarily effective particle annihilator - is now coated with a tough epoxy-like film of banana bait, orange juice and diesel; my car is ok, but has lost 50% of its range. Does anyone want a pretty good car-freezer and a battery pack?

Despite some of the mishaps, we all agreed that it had been an epic trip!

Roan Antelope were common at Nyika Southern Reedbuck. You can see some of Our pet Raven – a real pest at the the Nyika flowers in the foreground Chelinda campsite

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Some butterflies from Zambia and Malawi (Jeremy Dobson)

Abantis paradisea Acraea periphanes Abantis zambesiaca Mutinondo, Zambia Mutinondo, Zambia Shiwa Ngandu, Zambia

Afriodinia rogersi rogersi Brakefieldia simonsii Pseudargynnis hegemone Nsobe, Zambia Mutinondo, Zambia Mutinondo, Zambia

Colias electo hecate Lepidochrysops chalceus Actizera stellata Nyika, Malawi Nyika, Malawi Nyika, Malawi

Telchinia sotikensis sotikensis Telchinia parei orangica Lycaena phlaeas abbottii Nyika, Malawi Nyika, Malawi Nyika, Malawi

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Some scenery photos from Zambia and Malawi (Chris Dobson)

Shiwa Ngandu, Zambia Tete Campsite, on the Zambezi Nyika, Malawi

Mutinondo, Zambia Hill at Shiwa Ngandu, Zambia Kasungula ferry, Botswana

Namibian record for Linda’s Hairtail

Fanie Rautenbach identified a really interesting record recently, that was submitted to the Virtual Museum on 19 October. The submission was by Neil Thomson who, while birdmapping for SABAP2, found Linda’s Hairtail (Anthene lindae) a few kilometres southeast of Windhoek. The butterfly was photographed under a tree (possibly a Camelthorn) on the east side of a dry river course. Neil noted that there are Camelthorn trees all along this watercourse and there is Anthene lindae a forest of mature Camelthorn trees a few hundred metres to the Windhoek, Namibia north on the western side of the river. The area is extremely dry Neil Thomson and desperately in need of rain. There is virtually no grass cover.

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Beauties of the Night

By Hanna Roland, Solingen, Germany; September 2019

Although we live in a densely populated area in Northrhine-Westfalia between Düsseldorf and Solingen, we can consider ourselves lucky, because our bungalow is bordered by a small creek. This summer it surprised us with many weeks of total dryness. And on the other side there is a totally neglected terrain with birch, willow, hazel, poplar, walls of blackberry, shrubs and grasses. The Freeway A3, a six lane always busy life arteria, is 300 m away, delimiting a small (147 ha) Nature Reserve, Ohligser Heide.

In the early 90’s I was working outside every night during the moth season. And it is nearly unbelievable, what a treasure of moths I succeeded to photograph. Less and less visitors came in the following years. That is why I decided to devote our frequent journeys to different parts of Southern Africa increasingly to Insect-Photo-Safaris.

The summer 2019 has been extraordinarily warm and dry – and it seems, that our moths loved it. This was a temptation for me to “hunt” again regularly at our humble house-lights at night. Till now, we can count 190 different moth species – including Micros.

From this summer-gift, I want to present you a small selection of beauties, a sensational caterpillar, which recently crossed my way in the garden, and three delicate Micro-moths.

Laothoe populi, Sphingidae Selenia tetralunaria, Geometridae

Cerura erminea, Notodontidae Ourapteryx sambucaria, Geometridae

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Callimorpha dominula, Arctiidae Gandaritis pyraliata, Geometridae

Pheosia gnoma, Notodontidae Spilosoma lutea, Arctiidae

Pseudoips prasinana, Nolidae Deilephila elpenor, Sphingidae

Cryphia muralis, Noctuidae Triodia sylvina, Hepialidae

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Scoliopteryx libatrix, Noctuidae Watsonalla binaria, Drepanidae

Acronicta psi, Noctuidae. Harpella forficella, Oecophoridae

Argyresthia goedartella, Yponomeutidae Alucita hexadactyla, Alucitidae

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A partial Aloeides phylogeny (Jeremy Dobson)

To try and maintain momentum with the Aloeides Project, I forwarded a few samples to BOLD (University of Guelph, Canada), in my personal capacity. BOLD produced a computer-generated phylogeny (below), which seems to make sense to me - for my first venture into the brave new world of DNA-based phylogeny I’m really impressed: Aloeides dentatis, A. dryas and A. titei are clustered together, as are Aloeides henningi, A. susanne and A. almeida (but not A. macmasteri). Aloeides dryas crops up in two locations, but in retrospect Sample 47, from above Barberton, is possibly A. titei. Sample 50 is from Elandshoogte (Schoeman’s Kloof). A. barklyi and A. aranda don’t appear to have any close relatives, as might be expected. Sequences could not be obtained for A. rossouwi, A. plowesi, a single A. trimeni trimeni sample, A. molomo molomo or Erikssonia edgei. I threw in a few non-Aloeides samples to keep BOLD honest and these consistently came out differently. The number of samples was determined by the necessity to fill a single sample-plate and I forwarded 38 samples of which I received 33 results; an 87% success rate. Not bad, as several specimens were a few years old - much of my recent material is missing legs, as a result of BED and the Aloeides Project...

Should anyone require the relevant bar-codes, for work on the Aloeides Project, please contact me at jchdobson.com

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Geometrid moths win photo competition (Pasi Sihvonen)

Pasi forwarded the following article

Photography trainee Max Salvador Söderholm did his internship at the Finnish Museum of Natural History, and he photographed reproductive organs of geometrid moths for an upcoming photo exhibition at the museum under the theme “Hidden beauty of nature”.

Photos of Hypomecis roboraria (Ennominae) and an undescribed Problepsis (Sterrhinae) from Africa were amazing and were submitted to the Science Photo Contest organized by The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. Max’s photos won the competition and his amazing photos indeed unravel nature's hidden beauty!

Pasi Sihvonen supervised the internship. https://www.tsv.fi/fi/tiedotteet/tieteellisten- seurain-valtuuskunnan-tiedevalokuvakilpailun- voittajaksi-valittiin-max

Hypomecis roboraria, male genitalia Photo: Max Söderholm

An undescribed Problepsis, male genitalia Photo: Max Söderholm

Hypomecis roboraria, male aedeagus Photo: Max Söderholm.

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The Road to Stevensoni (Etienne Terblanche)

I have been undertaking a project to examine butterflies in the Bewaarkloof Reserve around Ribbokkop since June 2018. Rummaging around on Google Earth revealed this reasonably inaccessible peak at an altitude of more than 2000 metres, putting it on par with only a few peaks in the surrounding mountains such as Iron Crown, Serala and, further South, the Berg. I thought fascinating butterflies would fly on and around this peak, speculating that its relative remoteness probably meant that it had not been covered by lepidopterists past and current with the same intensity as in the cases of other localities around Haenertsburg. I conjectured that the relative aridity of the area in contrast with those surrounding it might over long periods of time have engendered interesting or perhaps even new butterflies.

The project is entitled “The Idea of a New Butterfly at Ribbokkop in the Bewaarkloof.” I obtained ethical clearance from the North-West University (NWU) and a permit from the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) to undertake it. I thought if I did not find something new—by far the more likely outcome—I could still write a valuable essay on why and how new taxa are gripping, how the hope for new species propels the continued building of lepidopteran knowledge, and so on. Gathering information for this essay has however led to a dilemma. There is so much material available that the situation has become bewildering. I don’t know where to start writing it. Meanwhile, in accordance with a promise made to LEDET, I’m writing popular-formal pieces emanating from the project, such as the one here.

Over Christmas and New Year of 2018-2019 I undertook a first two-week period of researching the project. I stayed in Haenertsburg and rented a 4x4 with grateful university funding. I drove in to the Ribbokkop area as frequently as possible. African Butterfly News (2019-5) includes a brief report of an aberrant Lepidochrysops plebeia that was found in that period—a singular Christmas gift. My notes show that ten of my fourteen days involved mist that had drifted in from the Indian ocean. I still find it extraordinary that this occurs at all: the sea is hundreds of kilometres away. One could say that the weather was not ideal for butterflying just then. But the mist was poetic, especially when Acraea anacreon emerged like slow, long red flashes from the moist, melting white gnarls dissipating into a fresh blue sky. This was on a steep southern slope below a peak about three kilometres East of Ribbokkop. With the help of a 4x4, and if one knows where to find the “pass” that zigzags its way there (I missed it several times!), one can drive up to this peak and its amazing southern slope. It reaches an altitude of 1890 metres. For the sake of convenience I will dub this peak adjacent to Ribbokkop the Peak above Z-pass. I immediately explain where “Z- pass” comes from.

On one of my project days I took my sons, who had come over for a brief visit, up the mountain. Benjamin, the youngest, dubbed that road up the mountain “Z-pass.” We loved wobbling around in the 4x4. We drank in the difference from the usual trip to school in Dad’s ordinary car in a town. Once there, the boys climbed around the peak, finding strange rocks, cautiously exploring old mine shafts (not the deep ones), View of Ribbokkop from a peak three and enjoying the vast view of the Strydpoortberg and Wolkberg kilometres to the East of it below.

Since those days, Christien and I have finally been able to move to Haenertsburg, a wish that had been growing on us for handfuls of years. And so, in extension of my Bewaarkloof project, on 19 and 20 October this year (2019) I found a 4x4 lift back into the mountain, returning to the Peak above Z-pass. Vaughan Jessnitz offered to take us there in his short-wheelbase Landie, which carries a guttural, symphonic V8 Rover engine as well as bright orange fenders. He has been 19 doing great work in Limpopo, enthusing people about the lepidopterans in our province. Now he was ready for collaborating in field work even if, while waiting to be placed on a permit, he diligently hunted with his camera instead of a net. And what hunting it turned out to be! But not before a bit of disappointment first. We climbed to the top of the Peak above Z- pass, searching first along its considerable southern slope just below the peak for the A. anacreon that had flown there in Ribbokkop becoming visible along the way December 2018. They were absent. At the top, so were other beauties I had seen hilltopping back then, such as Capys alpheus extentus. Steve Woodhall hits the nail on the head when he says that the male of this species “is a familiar, glorious sight buzzing along mountain and hill tops” (2019). But it was so dry - folk around here say the longest arid stretch they’ve encountered in a long time - that even the orange-banded Proteas were not hilltopping. We did find one or two indomitable A. dryas, striking butterflies that tie one over to continue exploring.

I had a hunch that there could be more excitement further down that southern slope under the Peak above Z-pass. It is steep and seems endless, dropping 400 metres in just over a kilometre of slanting. We followed a bend in narrow, overgrown path, indeed a road “less travelled,” to go further down. Tiptoeing with big tyres across bumps, rocks, and branches while steep walls sometimes gaped just to the left of the vehicle, Vaughan and I simultaneously saw two dark little butterflies flying up towards us The slope over the still-yellow grass. They were engaged in a whirligig around each other as they zoomed along towards the road we were on. We knew something was on the butterfly cards right away. On a knoll upstairs we had just observed a dark flat skipper that we could not identify, and Vaughan wondered if these two new arrivals were of the same kin. But something about them told one instantly that they were not.

I have loved russets (Aloeides) all my life, since the encounter where I put my net over my first one. It refused to fly up when I held up the bag of net! Instead, it simply walked on the ground to the rim of the net, crawled out, and flew away! I was so impressed with this behaviour. The love affair started right there. Now, an instinct told me the ones we saw in the whirligig might well be tiny, dark, important russets.

Vaughan studying the slope. Landie to the Vaughan keenly saw a female perching in front of his Landie’s left. A “road less travelled” in the stationary nose. He found her on a tiny flower, urging her vocally background to open her wings for a good picture. But russets tend to keep their wings closed, incidentally urging renewed respect for Steve Woodhall’s photographs. A quick count shows that he captured nearly half of the known russet species and subspecies with their wings open in the wild.

We found that the slope was covered in moderately-sized Proteas interspersed with grass patches and numerous loose rocks bordering on scree in places, especially where attempted mining had occurred years ago. Many rocks were of a russet colour; closer attention however showed among them stones with weird shapes, colours, textures, and patterns.

Going down the slope below the road, we found that a whole colony of those dark russets were frolicking around close to the earth! I suspected they were Aloeides stevensoni. We camped on

20 the road, each in a small tent. After good conversation and little sleep, we woke early the next morning to adore our slope afresh.

It was 7 am. I sat under a leafy Protea tree, enjoying shade, since the day was warming up fast. I had eyes only for the russets. But about ten metres in front of me an amazing big blue suddenly wimpled up from the veritable soil! I stumbled down and, focussing intently, managed to catch a fantastic female Orachrysops regalis amidst a tangle of black and grey Protea branches lying face down on the ground. I shouted the news of the big blue to Vaughan before prancing down to catch her, putting enormous pressure on myself not to miss!

Quasi-mystified by the amazing butterfly forms and species around, I nonetheless continued to look out for what I hoped would be, on this new day—and at times still with a lingering mixture of certainties, scepticism, and excitements—stevensoni. Soon they were flying about! As can be the case in russets, seeing them in the veld in their own terms clinches the knowledge that they embody a taxon. A “big picture” larger than the sum of parts occurs there in their own world, and ticking the boxes of diagnostic features during quiet study at home may well float on that first impression in the veld. I was struck for instance by the combination of their generally slow (though sometimes fast!) flight and how low they kept to the soil, almost always lower down than halfway between knee and ankle.

The part of the slope on which they flew at an altitude of between 1750 to 1800 metres fortunately enjoyed burnt patches, apparently from the previous season. As Vaughan pointed out, our stevensonis preferred these patches above those not burnt. Their food plant must therefore be dependent on fire as is the case in many russets. And the colony size was restricted, though I would not say “small,” since that could be vague and misleading. Curiously, there was no relative divide between males that flew a bit higher up versus females a bit lower down, as is sometimes the case in russet populations. Females regularly mixed with males inside the colony’s boundaries. It could be that they preferred the fringes to some extent, from where they would then move in, but one must return to the site to make further observations around this.

Nodes, each comprising of a contracted density in numbers, occurred within the organic boundaries of their domain: every now and again I found a handful of males and females flying together, perching on flowers and rocks or dead, burnt Protea branches, which bulged up from their horizontal positions on the soil like ancient vegetal skeletons.

For future reference, I would like to mention that the A. stevensoni female. Consider the russet conspicuously small size of males combined with their darkness “blush” near the hindwing apex, downy or in low flight help to identify the species in the wild. Either in the even furry texture of the hindwing underside, against which the reduced and veld or at home, the following features may also help: on the curving median pattern stands out hindwing underside, thinly curving median patterns against dun- (Picture: Etienne Terblanche, still grabbed greyish or dun-brownish ground coloration. There is also a from video footage) downy and even furry aspect to the texture and appearance of the entire hind wing underside.

Further useful diagnostic features as found in Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa include the restricted range of orange on the forewing underside and, perhaps more pronouncedly than in other species within the henningi group, a rufous-brown smudge around the hindwing underside apex and also around the tornus, but to a lesser extent in the latter case (Pringle et al. 1994).

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Jeremy Dobson’s elegant separation of the russets into three groups - speckled, patterned, and plain (personal communication) - aided identification. It prompted instant confirmation that the russets in front of me belonged to the henningi group characterised by plain hindwing undersides. At home, with a good handful of specimens to set, I was worried by the orange on the upper sides of their wings. It seemed some of the literature indicated that no orange was allowed in the upper sides of this species. I consulted all possible sources and found that some specimens previously collected did also show sparse orange markings on the upper side. Mark Williams’ Afrotropical Butterflies brought further relief with its crystal-clear pictures of males showing condensed orange markings in little postdiscal ladders tapering towards the costa.

When I let Graham Henning know we’d found a new colony of the species, he rightfully wanted to see pictures first. It had been misidentified in the past. And, yes! He sent us a warm email of congratulations on having found stevensoni! To my deep joy, this colony is healthy, even flourishing. Vaughan and I agreed conservatively to having observed 25+ on the first day.

Back on the slope I climbed up above the road to look for male regalis. It was still early in the morning. Now and again one came tumbling down, up, or across. They did not fly straight as some literature suggests. They were nimble and meandered, perhaps flurrying about in zigzags in a less pronounced way than other members of their group. The spring rains had also not occurred yet: literature suggests regalis emerges after spring rains. But pockets of mist, sometimes containing flags of drizzle, must have occurred here and there by that time. I could not catch a male up there. Back down among the stevensoni I managed to collect two. They were hard to collect in the Protea maze, popping out from behind a tree. You had only one limited shot at catching it. If you missed, it was nigh impossible to get hold of the same individual again.

Orachrysops regalis on the slope Fresh O. regalis in its envelope Beautiful O. regalis female on (Picture: Vaughan Jessnitz) the setting board. The second pin is to keep her body straight while spreading her wings

But our fortunes really were abundant. Back on the 19th, our first day of the weekend, we had arrived latish, at around 10:30 am. Every now and again a full-bodied black form with cream tips would emerge from the Proteas, cross the grass, and sail for a while along the yellow-white fringe where the road cut into the slope. Having been mesmerised by stevensoni, and assuming immediately that these black beasts were Dingana clara, I collected three specimens.

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It is sometimes averred that Dingana gets up and settles early, say, from 9 am to 11 am or 1 pm. These Dingana were however still flying in the same numbers by 2:30 pm. Vaughan and I made a note that the last one we saw on the day was up and about at 5 o’clock that afternoon. Though browns are adapted to shade and coolness more so than other butterflies, Dingana behaviours around this adaptation continue to call for examination.

The specimen we saw at 5 pm turned out to be our penultimate encounter of 2019 with these Dingana. I was hoping to collect more on the subsequent day, the 20th. Promising cirrus clouds and slightly cooler weather moved in as the morning was simultaneously heating up, Dingana species, probably clara or close to clara—specimen on the right could be which made me anticipate that female or not: author must see more specimens to tell the sexes apart with certainty. Dingana would come out. Colour representation (also of postdiscal bands) close to actual colours, but hard to get exactly right on camera, not least since specimens carry various tones and intensities Hotter and cooler pockets or of dark ground coloration as well as metallic gleaming. For instance, in some light at moments occurred in the certain angles these specimens glow with a metallic green sheen, in others a golden broad, gulley-like swells and streak, and in still others a breath-taking purple-blue and pink! (Pictures: Etienne dents within the slope. But the Terblanche) impressive Dinganas put in a limited appearance on that day, as I will explain briefly further below.

At home, when I had a moment to look at the three specimens collected on the 19th, I found their forms and coloration interesting: at least worth a second look. I think most Dinganas have a similar effect especially if, like me, the last time you saw the ones that fly around in these environs was twenty years before.

When my brother saw a Whatsapp picture I sent him of one inside its glassine envelope, he enjoyed a similar first Dingana, probably clara, in a hollow on impression, that they were worth a second look taxonomically. the slope (Picture: Vaughan Jessnitz To boot, we found them outside their usual restricted range. Given that the Dingana of Lekgalameetse are very scarce and may also be of further taxonomical interest, it appears those Dingana clara about which there’s certainty has so far been found in a small area around Serala within a vegetation type known as Gm 23 Northern Escarpment Quartzite (Mucina and Rutherford 410). This vegetation zone is substantially moister than where we found our Dinganas within Gm 27 Strydpoort Summit Sourveld (413). Our “Strydpoort” Dinganas in other words fly in a dryer area outside the main mist belt. In the words of Van Wyk and Smith (121), their slope falls in a range contained “within the rain and mist shadow of the main escarpmental crest” and is therefore “relatively arid compared to the associated quartzitic outcrops.”. On top of this we were finding our Dinganas towards the West and South of landmarks such as Iron Crown and Serala.

I’ve therefore been examining postdiscal bands, ground coloration, and wing shapes in the available specimens. They could well be slightly darker variants of Dingana clara, which would extend its range beautifully. But this genus is always taxonomically complex, while photographs in literature could be inadvertently misleading. A flash may for instance highlight the sheen on the upperside, creating the wrong impression about the actual darkness of the ground colour. In any

23 event, further speculation will have to wait for October 2020, since an additional visit to the slope on 27 October—one week after we’d found them—proved that their flight period was over for this year.

Vaughan had kindly arranged another lift for me, this time with his wildlife guide student Jono Yates and his companion, also a wildlife guide student, Georgie. (Any poetry readers around?— What a coincidence: Yates and Georgie!) They agreed to be on the lookout for Dingana while I collected and documented stevensoni and regalis, though I continued to keep an eye out for Dingana—sensing in my heart of hearts, though, that they were done for the season.

But, lo and behold! Jono and Georgie’s shouting rang down from further up the slope: “Is it BIG and BLACK with CREAM TIPS!!?” Yes, of course: the brand new butterflyers were bound to find the only specimen of the day! Unlike my fellow royal nimble blues, I scuttled up the slope, shouting: “Please try not to lose it! I’ll be there now!”

But by the time I reached the good pair, they confessed: “Wow, A. stevensoni protruding brush hairs and it’s amazing how quickly it disappears.” genitalia towards the leaf surface, while nectaring. It should be determined whether this behaviour has to do with With lepidopterist rue I thought: such it is, dear friends; such it is scent, pheromones, and territorial marking absolutely, indeed, and alas. (Picture: Etienne Terblanche) How fleeting these magically beautiful dark forms are that bounce up from nowhere! In adult shape, they can return instantly to that very same nowhere as though they’d been no more than perfectly sculpted, deeply brown, flower-like wraiths.

Thus Vaughan and I were fortunate to discover a new locality for no less than three Limpopo custodian species. The facts are that Stevenson’s russet, Aloeides stevensoni, is a Critically Endangered insect (African Butterfly News 2019-2). It has not been seen at its original locality among pine plantations on a patch of grassland just outside Haenertsburg. Its only known other site, near the big ruddy new gate of the Bewaarkloof Reserve, has delivered one or two specimens now and again, A. stevensoni nectaring and antennating. found by Jeremy Dobson and others. There could not be better Antennae do not touch the surface, as observed before in the case of A. dryas. news than the discovery of a healthy new colony. In their turn, The curvature and length of palpi as well the Wolkberg widow, Dingana clara (or a close relative(?)) as as the relative distance between the head well as the royal blue, Orachrysops regalis, are Endangered and thorax are striking, especially from a side view (unlike here)—though also butterflies (African Butterfly News 2019-2). Finding them in a visible here (Picture: Etienne Terblanche) new locality has been a real delight.

After that dazzling and lucky weekend, when mist and chilliness reached Haenertsburg again, I wondered how the butterflies were faring up there in the mountain. Where did they perch as droplets drizzled in? Probably under pods or forbs or near protective rocks, I surmised, maybe even low down near tree trunks. For protection and their own kind of comfort. Before they would stir up again in rays of sunshine to continue the energetic Aloeides stevensoni on a veld flower, a work of procreating among Proteas, dancing their immaculate small yellow legume, during a prolonged nectaring session dance in their singular way.

(Picture: Etienne Terblanche; still grabbed from video footage) 24

• Many thanks to Vaughan Jessnitz for driving us all the way up to this area as well as his sightings, pictures, comments, questions, and the title of the piece.

• Many thanks to Jeremy Dobson, Graham Henning, and Reinier Terblanche for advice, comments, questions, and confirmations around discovering this colony of stevensoni and working with russets in general.

• Many thanks to LEDET for permission to conduct this A. stevensoni on a rock surface. Consider project: Anton van Wetten and Karen Steenkamp the reduced orange on the forewing (Picture: Vaughan Jessnitz) (Picture: especially. Etienne Terblanche; still grabbed from video footage) • Just a note that I aim towards being useful, not pedantic. Fellow lepidopterists will find I spell butterfly names in the lower case unless a proper noun is involved. As a language editor I know that this is the current norm in all scientific disciplines, worldwide—not sticking to it is an error. See how recent official publications such as (say) Robert Michael Pyle’s Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year follow this norm. So, it is: red russet and giant russet (all lower case) but Rossouw’s russet, Wakkerstroom russet, and so forth (honouring proper nouns while sticking to lower case where possible). Language is a flexible, growing phenomenon and its “rules” may change in confusing ways. I guess it was a matter of time before the general tendency in Western languages to shed the upper case caught up with science. There used to be a time when one wrote sentences containing such upper case instances as “He..was..surrounded..with the barking of Currs and gnarring of Puppies” (a 1693 sentence cited in the OED)!

Works cited

African Butterfly News. metamorphosis.org.za, 2019. Mucina, Ladislav and Michael Rutherford, eds. The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Pretoria: SANBI, 2006. Oxford English Dictionary (online), 2019. Pringle, E.L.L. et al. Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik, 1994. Van Wyk, Abraham and Gideon Smith. Regions of Floristic Endemism in Southern Africa: A Review with Emphasis on Succulents. Hatfield: Umdaus Press, 2001. Woodhall, Steve. Steve Woodhall’s Butterflies of South Africa (Software App), 2019.

Roy Hew Russel Stevenson (Graham Henning)

In recognition of Etienne Terblanche and Vaughan Jessnitz’s article (above), Graham Henning forwarded the following information regarding Roy Stevenson, the man after whom the butterfly was named: Roy Hew Russel Stevenson (born 1878, d. 1968. ) was a Zimbabwean (Rhodesian) entomologist.

Authored taxa: ▪ Anthene hobleyi barnesi ▪ Deloneura sheppardi ▪ Iolaus (Epamera) australis

Works Include:

▪ Stevenson, R.H.R., 1934. New South African butterflies. Occasional Papers of the Rhodesia Museum 1(3): 10-17.

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▪ Stevenson, R.H.R., 1937. Lycaenidae of the northern and north-eastern parts of the South African subregion. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia 1 (6): 14-38, 3 pls. ▪ Stevenson, R.H.R. 1940: Notes on some new and rare Lepidoptera from South Africa, with special reference to Southern Rhodesia. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa 3: 88-108.

Highveld Butterfly Club trip to Laurentia Farm (Jeremy Dobson)

Lourens Erasmus and his fiancé, Caroline, invited the Highveld Butterfly Club to explore the hills behind their business premises, a large rose farm in Muldersdrift. I was joined by Elmé Brand, Bennie and André Coetzer and some of Lourens’s farm workers, who accompanied us with cooler boxes full of “Flying Fish” and an endless supply of wors-rolls: very civilized!

The veld is, unfortunately, infested with wattles and other exotic vegetation, but it contains an impressive gorge, with several small waterfalls and some nice rocky hills and ridges, covered with proteas.

Although butterflies weren’t swarming, we recorded 42 species, which is a great count for this area: Abundance- Index 4.3 (Good). This included three species of Russet (Aloeides taikosama, A. aranda and A. henningi), Trimen’s Sapphire (Iolaus trimeni) and Zulu Giant Cupid (Lepidochysops ignota). The latter butterfly is a fairly scarce species in Gauteng; in the last 20 years I’ve only found it at two other localities within the province. Andre Coetzer, Elme Brand, Moses, Ronald, Bennie Coetzer (rear), Lourens Erasmus, Richard, Caroline Thanks to Caroline and Lourens for their hospitality and we wish them everything of the best for their wedding in October!

Bateleur (Jeremy Dobson)

Mark Williams and I have made a couple of trips to Bateleur this spring, to search for Waterberg Acraea Copper (Erikssonia edgei). Unfortunately, we didn’t find the butterfly on either occasion: while this is worrying, we are hoping it may emerge once Bateleur has received some reasonable summer-rainfall. Martin Lunderstedt joined us for our first trip, on 29 August. Although this is earlier than the usual flight period of many spring butterflies, we recorded 47 species, which is really good. For our second visit, on 22 September, we were accompanied by Warwick Tarboton and his wife, Michèle. Numbers were down a little in comparison to our August visit, but we still recorded 40 species (Abundance Index 4.2 Good), which is significantly better than at the Warwick Tarboton, hill-topping same time last year. at Bateleur

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Mark found a couple of Pennington’s Plain Buff (Cnodontes penningtoni), which is a new record for Bateleur.

Aphnaeus hutchinsonii Iolaus trimeni Parosmodes morantii morantii Bateleur, Limpopo Bateleur, Limpopo Bateleur, Limpopo Warwick Tarboton Warwick Tarboton Warwick Tarboton

Leptotes – World Travellers

Mark Williams forwarded me a new paper on Leptotes, by a team of researchers including LepSoc Africa members Zdenek Faltynek-Fric, Robert Tropek and Tomasz Pyrcz.

The title of the paper is “World travellers: phylogeny and biogeography of the butterfly genus Leptotes (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)”.

The work discusses the evolutionary history of the Leptotes genus: a new species, Leptotes durrelli is described and a genus, Cyclyrius is synonymised with Leptotes: Cyclyrius mandersi becomes Leptotes mandersi.

Leptotes

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Storage of Lepidoptera collections (Jeremy Dobson)

As noted in July’s newsletter, there is an urgent need for LepSoc Africa to find a storage facility for Lepidoptera specimens. I haven’t yet managed to take this any further, but to reiterate, there are two options that we could look at:

1. The minimum requirement would be approximately 500 m2 of industrial storage space (enough to contain about 1 million specimens and twice this with racking), with an office component for deliveries and sorting and a study and toilet. We would need to appoint a permanent manager / curator, whose job description would include looking after the specimens, sorting and cataloguing the collection and coordinating visits by researchers. 2. The ultimate goal would be the construction of a national Butterfly Centre. The ABRI collection could possibly be purchased and with this and other collections, we would hold the largest and most comprehensive collection of African Lepidoptera anywhere in the world. In addition to the storage component (say 1 500 m2), the Centre could have a public display area, a bookshop, a photographic gallery and possibly a butterfly flight-house and a restaurant. I appeal to all members of LepSoc Africa to think carefully about this pressing issue and to get back to me with any ideas or suggestions.

Ian Engelbrecht of SANBI is preparing a code of practice for curation of museum specimens, which will be complete early next year. This will be an important reference for the proposed new butterfly centre.

New Field Guide

A new field guide, titled “Butterflies and Moths of Southern Africa” has been produced by LepSoc Africa member Simon van Noort

Sasol - Field Guide

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Mpumalanga visit (Jeremy Dobson)

I visited Mpumalanga for a three-day expedition in mid-September. One of the reasons for my trip was to meet nature conservation officials at Mpumalanga Parks and Tourism (MPT), for submission of LepSoc Africa’s research proposal / permit application for the 2019 -2020 season. In addition, I wanted to search for the Cloud Russet (Aloeides nubilus) on Longtom Pass, within Sterkspruit Nature Reserve. Malcolm Bain of MPT (and a member of LepSoc Africa), is the COREL custodian for this butterfly.

Malcolm had very kindly booked the Rooikat Hut on my behalf. This is a MPT property within Sterkspruit, but at the bottom of the pass, near Lydenburg. The building is rustic, but has water and a hot gas- fuelled shower. It has two bedrooms (with numerous beds) and a great braai area. If you are visiting this area, why not try Rooikat? Malcolm’s email is [email protected]. There are two historical records for Aloeides nubilus from Sterkspruit, but I couldn’t find the butterfly last season and, despite Malcolm’s and my best efforts, we didn’t find it this time either. There were a few Drakensberg Brown (Pseudonympha poetula) and Henning’s Black-eye (Leptomyrina henningi henningi), but not much else.

The following day I visited a site at Elandshoogte, off Schoemanskloof Pass, where Chris Dobson had found some Aloeides nubilus-ish butterflies three years ago. They were flying in reasonable numbers and I’ve attached a few photos below. Graham Henning says that the underside of this butterfly is closer to Small Mountain Russet (Aloeides oreas) than A. nubilus, which is true: A. nubilus has a silvery band on the hindwing underside, parallel to the outer margin, which is largely missing in the Elandshoogte population. As can be seen from the photos below however, this is a very variable feature.

The reasons why I believe this is A. nubilus (rather than A. oreas), is that the upper-side colour of is consistently lighter (a more yellowish orange), than oreas. In addition, its flight period (like nubilus, but unlike oreas), is strictly from mid-September to early October.

Aloeides nubilus from Elandshoogte, Schoeman’s Kloof, Mpumalanga Anyway, I’ve acquired bar-codes of this taxon from BOLD and samples of A. nubilus from Robbers Pass have been submitted to Berkeley for gene-sequencing via BED and the Aloeides Project: we’ll see what transpires.

There were several Transvaal Russet (Aloeides dryas) at Elandshoogte and a couple of Lydenburg Opal (Chrysoritis aethon). I searched for Forest Hillside Brown (Stygionympha scotina coetzeri) at the edge of the forest (Chris had found a couple in 2016), but without success. I did see a Bush-kite Swallowtail (Papilio euphranor) and Long-tailed Admiral (Antanartia schaeneia schaeneia) however. 29

On my final day, I visited Shiyalongubu Forest and the adjacent grassland, above Barberton. My Forest Opal (Chrysoritis phosphor) debut will have to wait, but there were loads of Sabie Giant Cupid (Lepidochysops irvingi) in the grassland, a few Mountain Russet (Aloeides titei) and a solitary Restless Cupid (Orachrysops lacrimosa or similar).

Lepidochysops irvingi Lampides boeticus Papilio dardanus cenea Shiyalongubu, Mpumalanga Shiyalongubu, Mpumalanga Shiyalongubu, Mpumalanga

Chrysoritis aethon Belenois zochalia zochalia Amauris echeria echeria Elandshoogte, Mpumalanga Shiyalongubu, Mpumalanga Shiyalongubu, Mpumalanga

It was an enjoyable few days and I’ve got high hopes that LepSoc Africa will form a mutually beneficial partnership with Mpumalanga Nature Conservation in future.

Bioblitz : Butterfly survey of Entumeni and Dlinza Forest Nature Reserves (Mark Liptrot)

Mark Liptrot was invited to be part of the Bioblitz team from UKZN which covered Entumeni Nature Reserve and Dlinza Forest Reserve in September. A link to Mark’s report and data sheets are attached below:

Bioblitz report Bioblitz data

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Books for sale Brian Colahan is helping a friend of his, Peter Barnwell of Bethulie, southern Free State, sell a few books. I’ve selected a few volumes (below) which may be of interest. Please contact Brian for further information [email protected]

INSECTS

Pennington’s Butterflies: R 700.00 Inscribed by Dickson

Butterflies of southern Africa (4 Vol): R 3 500.00 G van Son

Butterflies of the Table Mountain Range No 790: R 200.00 A J M Classen and Dickson

Insects of Southern Africa: R 600.00 Eric Holme

Fruit Chafers of Southern Africa: R 1 800.00 Holm / Marais

BOTANICAL

The Stapelieae (Vol 1, 2, 3): R 1 900.00 White Sloane

The Second book of South African Flowers: R 300.00 H M L Bolus

Haworthia Revisited: R 2 100.00 Bruce Bayer

The Flora of South Africa 1917 (Vol 1, 2, 4): R 2 500.00 Marloth

The Cactaceae (2 books: Vol 1+2; Vol 3+4): R 800.00 Britton and Rose

Aloes of tropical Africa and Madagascar: R 900.00 G W Reynolds

Aloes of South Africa: R 650.00 G W Reynolds

Gladiolus in tropical Africa: R 160.00 P Goldblatt

Haworthia Update: R 800.00 Bayer

The Orchids of the Cape Peninsula: R 400.00 H Bolus

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Fourth Afrotropical Lepidoptera Workshop

Planning is underway for the next expedition, which will be held in Gabon in November 2020.

A First Notification and Registration Form has been circulated:

First Notification

Registration Form

All available places for the Workshop have already been taken, but if you are interested in the expedition and haven’t yet submitted an entry form, please do so: it is likely that one or two people currently on the list won’t be able to make it. Entries will be treated on a first come – first served basis.

Costs will have been finalized and research permits acquired before deposits are called for in July next year.

LepSoc Africa Transcribing Project

As noted in May’s newsletter, the members of LepSoc Africa hold a considerable amount of original letters, notes and other memorabilia, related to African Lepidoptera and African lepidopterists.

At the suggestion of Silvia Kirkman, I’d like to initiate a formal scanning and archiving project, to preserve these unique documents. We hope to scan and, using specialized software, transcribe handwritten notes into editable text. The work will be fully cross-referenced and, once complete, should become a very interesting and valuable resource. There may be a publishing opportunity in future.

I appeal for a volunteer to assist with this undertaking: assume at this stage that there will be no salary, although full recognition will be awarded and all costs will be borne by LSA. Although not essential, it would probably assist if applicants are reasonably familiar with the scientific names of South African butterflies.

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Family membership

As of 1 Jan next year, we will be implementing a new category of membership: Family members pay R450 (or R350 for retired persons), which includes membership for a married couple (or life partners), plus dependent children under the age of 18-years.

From 01 January 2020, membership of LepSoc Africa will be free to anyone under the age of 15.

Communication with LepSoc Africa members

In an attempt to resolve the “spam” problem (a large percentage of emails sent using the bulk- mailer end up in our member’s spam folders), LSA intend to circulate most non-membership related correspondence through the branch chairman. This should also make the correspondence more personal and add a regional touch. Would everyone please check that they have their relevant branch chairman’s email address in their contacts list? This is a common reason why emails get blocked. From our side, we will try and keep distribution lists small, avoid the gratuitous use of capital letters (another red-flag apparently) and avoid including attachments, if at all possible.

Permits

LepSoc Africa members can now apply, online, to be included on provincial research-permits. Details as follow:

• Log on to the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa website www.lepsocafrica.org • Go to ‘Members Only’ and then click on ’Permits’ • Please read the relevant information and then click on ‘Apply for a permit’ • Complete the form and tick the Acknowledgement boxes. Without ticking these boxes you will not be able to submit the form • Submit the form • The system acknowledges that the application has been received and will be attended to (you will receive a message “Your application has been received and will be attended to”) • An email is sent to the Permits Administrator (PA) advising him/her of the new application • By the end of May each year the member must submit his/her observations to the PA

NOTE: Western Cape permits must be applied for individually, as described elsewhere on the website.

Subscription reduction for new members

LepSoc Africa Council have resolved that subscriptions, for new members, will be discounted by 50% after 30 June each year. As you know, annual subs are due on 01 January. To encourage new members to enrol during the latter months of the year, membership is available at half-price between 1 July and 31 December; thereafter normal rates apply.

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Members Cards for LepSoc Africa members

LepSoc Africa council have prepared Membership Cards for all paid-up members of the Society. The cards will be produced on 01 July each year and will be distributed to our members as quickly as possible. Although LSA subscriptions are due on 01 January, we have made the cards valid until 30 June the following year. The reasons for this are as follows:

• As it will take a month or two to circulate the cards, we considered it wasn’t a great benefit to receive a card in say, October, which then expires on 31 December.

• We are trying to implement permit cycles with the various provinces, which run from 01 July to 30 June the following year; this is to coincide with the butterfly season. The Member Cards will become a form of identification, linked to the permits.

German Branch for LepSoc Africa In terms of numbers, Germany is the fifth largest branch of LepSoc Africa, behind Highveld, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and the United Kingdom. LepSoc Africa have appointed Michael Ochse as our German branch chairman: Michael’s role is to promote LSA and Metamorphosis in Germany and to be our regional representative, assisting with the distribution of Metamorphosis and other documents posted to this country. We wish Michael every success with this new venture! [email protected]

Brenton Blue – Wanted Poster

There were no sightings of the Brenton Blue (Orachrysops niobe) last season; this was despite regular visits to the Brenton Blue reserve by Dave and Hanna Edge. Dave has produced a “Wanted” poster, which he hopes to distribute as widely as possible, to encourage people to look out for this critically endangered species. The Brenton Blue Trust has put up a R20 000 reward for the person who is able to re-discover this butterfly – the Monday after this year’s LepSoc Africa Conference will be dedicated to searches within suitable habitat between Wilderness and Nature's Valley and in the Brenton area.

Brenton Blue - Wanted Poster

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Butterflies of the Kruger Park

André van Tonder (the late Herbert Otto's nephew) is arranging a new print run of Herbert’s book Butterflies of the Kruger Park.

Funds need to be available before printing, so if you are interested, please pay R518.61 per copy to the account below. This is the estimated price, based on 40 copies.

André Van Tonder ABSA Cheque: 4083636941 Branch code (universal): 632005

Please send a proof of payment to the following email address, which can also be used for inquiries and correspondence:

[email protected]

As a reference, include your name and the number of copies required, for example:

2 J Dobson

All copies will be delivered from the printer to a single address in Pretoria; any additional delivery costs will be for your account. If required, André will organize postage of books to a final destination, or you can arrange to collect your copies from Pretoria.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Butterfly Evening

November’s Butterfly Evening will be held at Knysna Hollow, Knysna, on Friday 15 November at 19h00. Please click on the link (below), which provides further details.

Butterfly Evening

Next year, the Butterfly Evenings will recommence on 9 January 2020.

Verlorenvalei Visit

LepSoc Africa will be conducting a walk-and-talk with Friends of Verlorenvalei on Saturday 7 December.

LepSoc Africa Annual Conference and AGM

LepSoc Africa will be holding its 2019 annual Conference on the 16th and 17th of November this year in Knysna, the home of the famous Brenton Blue, which is currently even more threatened with extinction following the fire of June 2017 which severely impacted on the Brenton Blue butterfly reserve. In addition to the Conference, Mon 18 Nov has been set aside as a public day, where we intend to search for the Brenton Blue (Orachrysops niobe); the Brenton Blue Trust have put up a R20 000 reward, payable to the first person who rediscovers this critically endangered butterfly. The theme of the conference will be "Butterfly Conservation in South Africa". A link to the AGM Conference Pack is included below – this includes last year’s minutes, plus reports from Councillors and Branch Chairmen: please read through this document before the AGM; we intend to spend little time presenting the reports at the AGM, to allow plenty of time for queries and discussion. Conference Pack LSA will be hosting a two-day field trip to the Kammanassie before the Conference, camping at Mannetjiesberg on the night of Thu 14 November.

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BOOKS

Butterflies of Cameroon – Limenitidinae (early stages)

Jean-Louis Amiet has produced a new book – in French – on the early stages of butterflies of the Limenitidinae subfamily (Cymothoe, Euphaedra, Pseudacraea etc). The book is expensive (€95 plus postage), but according to Steve Collins, it is superb.

des papillons du Cameroun

LepSoc Africa Book Stock

LepSoc Africa holds a considerable stock of Metamorphosis journals and also books, such as The Emperor Moths of Namibia by Rolf Oberprieler and The Butterflies of Zambia by A. Heath, M. Newport and D. Hancock. The above books are on sale for R150 and R175 respectively. Please order using the LSA Website (http://lepsocafrica.org/) as follows:

From the Home page, select the Publications tab at the top of the page. Select Shop near the top-right of this page. Select what you wish to purchase from the numerous books and back-issues of Metamorphosis contained on this page. Select the Cart and Checkout tab at the top of the page. Once you are happy press Go to Checkout, select the delivery method that you require and Place Order!

Biodiversity of Angola

Biodiversity of Angola by Brian Huntley, Vladimir Russo, Fernanda Lages and Nuno Ferrand, can be purchased from Amazon for $59.99.

The book features a chapter on Lepidoptera by Luís Mendes, A. Bivar-de-Sousa and Mark Williams. The section includes an up to date checklist of the 792 species of Papilionoidea currently recorded from this country.

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Acraeinae of Uganda

Acraeinae of Uganda, by Dominique Bernaud, Jean-Pierre Lequeux and Mathias Ziraye may be obtained from NHBS for £93.99.

Acraeinae of Uganda

Moths of Africa (Hermann Hacker)

In February 2019 the first volume of the book-series Moths of Africa was released. The book is a review of the African Boletobiinae and includes descriptions of 4 genera, 266 species and 7 subspecies new to science.

Compiled, primarily, by Hermann Hacker, the book includes input from Ralf Fiebig and Dirk Stadie, whom many of you will remember from last year’s Madagascar Workshop.

It isn’t cheap (€162), but according to Hermann Staude, this book is one of the most important works on African Lepidoptera to be produced in recent years.

Moths of Africa

Dragonfly Book

LepSoc Africa members, Michèle and Warwick Tarboton, have produced an updated edition of their book Dragonflies and Damselflies of South Africa.

Why not keep an eye out for these amazing insects while you are in the field? This book is the perfect reference. Among other outlets, the book may be ordered online from Macro for R248. Dragonflies and Damselflies of South Africa

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COLLECTORS CORNER

If you are looking for cabinets, someone I can recommend is Brendan McErlaine (082 446 5136).

Olivier Houe (082 455 3356 or [email protected]) can be contacted for trays, traps, pins or other entomological supplies.

David Horne has requested a spot in “Collectors Corner”. David’s business, “Mad Hornet Entomological Supplies”, carry a range of entomological equipment; David is interested to hear about what items are required by collectors and breeders, in order that he may procure supplies at reasonable prices and ensure ready availability.

Mad HorneT Entomological Supplies (A product of Horne Technologies CC) www.madhornet.co.za [email protected] 076 563 2084

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FEATURES

English names for Afrotropical Butterflies (Jeremy Dobson)

The English naming project aims to finalize names for all African butterfly taxa (currently 6 413 taxa in 320 genera).

The objectives of the project are as follows:

1) To create a single, comprehensive and consistent list of English names for all African butterfly taxa. Afrotropical Butterflies includes most currently recognized English names, although these extend only to species level. More than 50% of African butterflies (in excess of 3 000 taxa) do not currently have English names.

2) To create names that, where possible, assist recognition of butterflies among non-experts (in other words, the vast majority of butterfly enthusiasts)!

Proposed names will be published in this newsletter for information and, if no comments are forthcoming, the names will be adopted henceforth.

3) It should be possible to insert the completed list seamlessly into a world-list of English butterfly names: the names need to take cognizance of butterfly names used elsewhere in the world.

The guidelines are as follows:

• If at all possible, names should assist with identification. Keys could include colour, pattern, size, shape, distribution, flight characteristics or behaviour.

• In line with the above, authors names or the name of the discoverer (which are recognised in the scientific name in any case), should be avoided, if at all possible. Annotation such as “Common” or the names of towns or cities should be used with discretion. Remember, that the names apply to the entire Afrotropical region; “Northern” is unlikely to be an apt name for a South African taxa, unless as a distinction between northern and southern subspecies.

• Names may not exceed 40 characters in length, including spaces or punctuation. Although not essential, by default, names should follow the structure of the scientific taxonomy: a name for the genus or group, a name for the species and, where applicable, a moniker to distinguish subspecies. Soutpansberg Emperor Swallowtail (Papilio ophidicephalus entabeni) for example.

We will try and “finalize” six genera every two months (one genus from each column in the table, below); this is a 9 year project, but if possible – and if I get assistance from enough people – I’m sure we can wrap this up much sooner. The highlighted genera have been processed already:

A few people have offered to assist with this endeavour: special thanks to Peter Sharland (Cymothoe) and Martin Lunderstdt (Euriphene and Pseudacraea). I believe that, with a concerted effort, we may be able to complete all Afrotropical butterfly families by the end of next year, with the exception of Lycaenidae.

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GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT Charaxes Charaxes 459 Sarangesa Elfin 28 Euphaedra Forester 345 Celaenorrhinus Dark Sprite 27 Acraea Coster 202 Eagris Flat 27 Iolaus Sapphire 174 Platylesches Hopper 27 Bebearia Small Forester 163 Sevenia Tree Nymph 26 Lepidochrysops Giant Cupid 158 Ypthima Three-ring 26 Papilio Swallowtail 157 Afriodinia Judy 25 Cymothoe Glider 153 Ceratrichia Forest Sylph 25 Telchinia Telchinia 153 Precis Commodore 25 Bicyclus Bush Brown 127 Hypolimnas Diadem 24 Mylothris Dotted Border 124 Mimeresia Harlequin 24 Anthene Hairtail 107 Appias Albatross White 23 Neptis Sailor 104 Falcuna Marble 23 Euriphene Nymph 101 Gorgyra Leaf Sitter 23 Liptena Liptena 99 Brakefieldia Patroller 22 Colotis Tip 94 Dixeia Small White 22 Apallaga Yellow Sprite 87 Iridana Sapphire Gem 22 Pentila Spotted Buff 81 Capys Protea 21 Aloeides Russet 75 Neocoenyra Round Ringlet 21 Ornipholidotos Glasswing 75 Borbo Swift 20 Heteropsis Low-eye 70 Cerautola Angled Flash 20 Chrysoritis Opal 69 Cupidesthes Light Hairtail 20 Graphium Swordtail 66 Eresina Tree Buff 20 Amauris Friar 65 Geritola Light Flash 20 Belenois Caper White 65 Pseudonympha Brown 20 Pilodeudorix Blue Playboy 65 Tetrarhanis On-off 20 Neurellipes Zebra Hairtail 64 Aphysoneura Bamboo Ringlet 19 Cephetola Dark Flash 55 Coeliades Policeman 19 Stempfferia Plain Flash 52 Pseudathyma False Sergeant 19 Aslauga Purple 51 Stugeta Marbled Sapphire 19 Pseudacraea False Acraea 51 Eicochrysops Ash Blue 18 Cigaritis Silverline 47 Eresiomera Pearly 18 Aphnaeus Highflier 44 Euryphura Commander 18 Euptera Euptera 41 Harpendyreus Mountain Blue 18 Telipna Telipna 39 Thermoniphas Chalk Blue 18 Lachnocnema Woolly Legs 38 Chloroselas Gem 17 Strabena High-eye 37 Hewitsonia Tiger Flash 17 Metisella Sylph 36 Paradeudorix Fairy Playboy 17 Deudorix Playboy 35 Artitropa Night Fighter 16 Hypolycaena Hairstreak 35 Leptotes Zebra Blue 16 Micropentila Dots 34 Tuxentius Pie 16 Thestor Skolly 34 Eretis Elf 15 Alaena Zulu 33 Osmodes White-spots 15 Kedestes Ranger 32 Eurema Grass Yellow 14 Uranothauma Heart 32 Leona Large Recluse 14 Euchrysops Smoky Blue 31 Leptosia Wood White 14 Junonia Pansy 31 Tarucus Pierrot 14 Pseudaletis Fantasy 31 Andronymus Large Dart 13 Abantis Paradise Skipper 30 Meza Three-spot Missile 13 Spialia Sandman 29 Nepheronia Vagrant 13 Triclema Small Hairtail 29 Perrotia Bamboo Dart 13 Axiocerses Scarlet 28 Stygionympha Hillside Brown 13 Baliochila Mottled Buff 28 Gretna Twilight Skipper 12 Mimacraea Acraea Mimic 28 Hypophytala Banded Flash 12

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GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT Leptomyrina Black-eye 12 Pyrrhiades Policeman 6 Myrina Fig-tree Blue 12 Tagiades Clouded Flat 6 Orachrysops Cupid 12 Torynesis Veined Widow 6 Vanessa Admiral 12 Tsitana Sylph 6 Caenides Recluse 11 Zophopetes Palm Night-fighter 6 Chilades Jewel Blue 11 Aterica Glade Nymph 5 Trimenia Silver-spotted Copper 11 Byblia Joker 5 Acleros Dart 10 Danaus Tiger 5 Cacyreus Bronze 10 Euchloe Green-striped White 5 Eurytela Piper 10 Euploea Crow 5 Palla Palla 10 Evena Large Pathfinder 5 Pteroteinon Red-eye 10 Gnophodes Evening Brown 5 Astictopterus Dark Sylph 9 Hovala Malagasy Yellow Sylph 5 Azanus Spotted Blue 9 Libythea Snout 5 Chondrolepis Snow-horned Skipper 9 Melphinyet Forest Swift 5 Colias Clouded Yellow 9 Physcaeneura Webbed Ringlet 5 Cooksonia Tiger Mimic 9 Pinacopteryx Zebra White 5 Deloneura Large Buff 9 Pseudopontia Ghost 5 Issoria Fritillary 9 Semalea Silky Skipper 5 Lipaphnaeus Silver Speckle 9 Spalgis Harvester 5 Oboronia Ginger Blue 9 Tirumala Monarch 5 Oxylides False Head 9 Actizera Rayed Blue 4 Scopulifera Orange Sprite 9 Ampittia Ranger 4 Citrinophila Lemon Buff 8 Apaturopsis Empress 4 Durbania Rocksitter 8 Argyrocheila Fairy Buff 4 Euliphyra Witch 8 Cassionympha Dull Brown 4 Fulda Malagasy Hopper 8 Cnodontes Plain Buff 4 Neita Large Ringlet 8 Coenyropsis Lined Ringlet 4 Pardaleodes Pathfinder 8 Cupidopsis Meadow Blue 4 Protogoniomorpha Mother-of-Pearl 8 Dapidodigma Virgin 4 Tarsocera Spring Widow 8 Durbaniella Rocksitter 4 Teriomima Yellow Buff 8 Epitola Pointed Flash 4 Antanartia Admiral 7 Erikssonia Acraea Copper 4 Ariadne Castor 7 Etesiolaus Green Sapphire 4 Calleagris Milky Flat 7 Euthecta Small Buff 4 Dingana Widow 7 Gegenes Dodger 4 Hemiolaus Hairstreak 7 Hewitola Pointed Flash 4 Larinopoda Pierid Buff 7 Hypomyrina Orange Playboy 4 Salamis Mother-of-Pearl 7 Megalopalpus Harvester 4 Serradinga Speckled Widow 7 Monza Grass Skipper 4 Syrmoptera False Head 7 Neptidopsis False Sailer 4 Teracolus Tip 7 Obania Obania 4 Torbenia Glasswing 7 Ortholexis Scarce Sprite 4 Dira Autumn Widow 6 Paralethe Bush Beauty 4 Epitolina Dull Flash 6 Parasiomera Harlequin 4 Fresna Acraea Hopper 6 Parnara Watchman 4 Hypoleucis Costus Skipper 6 Parosmodes Orange 4 Lycaena Copper 6 Pseuderesia Harlequin 4 Melphina Forest Swift 6 Saribia Judy 4 Paracleros Dusky Dart 6 Teniorhinus Small Fox 4 Paronymus Large Dart 6 Toxochitona Fluttering Buff 4 Phalanta Leopard 6 Vanessula Lady’s Maid 4 Phasis Arrowhead 6 Xanthodisca Yellow Disc 4 Pontia Dappled White 6 Zeritis Checkered Gem 4

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GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT GENUS GENUS NAME COUNT Afrogegenes Dodger 3 Ptelina Bordered Buff 2 Arnetta Malagasy Sylph 3 Pyrrhochalcia Policeman 2 Caprona Ragged Skipper 3 Rhabdomantis Large Fox 2 Ceratricula Forest Sylph 3 Triskelionia Tricerate Elfin 2 Coenyra Shadefly 3 Zizeeria Grass Blue 2 Crudaria Grey 3 Aeropetes Mountain Pride 1 Cyrestis Map 3 Afrodryas Autumn-leaf Vagrant 1 Eresinopsides Mottled Tree Buff 3 Ankola Red Disc 1 Flandria Forest Sylph 3 Argynnis Fritillary 1 Gamia Grand Skipper 3 Argyraspodes Silver-spotted Copper 1 Hallelesis Cream Ringlet 3 Batelusia Zebra Flash 1 Harma Angled Glider 3 Calopieris Desert Beauty 1 Kakumia Ant Buff 3 Carcharodus Sandman 1 Kallimoides African Leaf 3 Catochrysops Shiny Blue 1 Larsenia Swift 3 Cesa Gem 1 Leucochitonea White-cloaked Skipper 3 Congdonia Plain Buff 1 Malaza Malagasy Sylph 3 Cyclyrius Island Blue 1 Melanitis Evening Brown 3 Durbaniopsis Rocksitter 1 Melitaea False Fritillary 3 Erionota Banana Skipper 1 Mesoxantha Delight 3 Euryphaedra Forester 1 Monile Jewelled Hairtail 3 Gideona Pointed Tip 1 Phytala Forest Flash 3 Gomalia Green-marbled Sandman 1 Pieris Large White 3 Gyrogra Leaf Sitter 1 Prosopalpus Dwarf Skipper 3 Hamanumida Guinea-fowl 1 Pseudonacaduba Dusky Blue 3 Herila Speckled Orange 1 Teratoneura Isabella 3 Hipparchia Grayling 1 Tylopaedia King Copper 3 Katreus Giant Sprite 1 Zenonia Spotted Hopper 3 Kumothales Congo Nymph 1 Zintha Pied Blue 3 Lampides Pea Blue 1 Acada Axehead 2 Lepella Central Sylph 1 Aethiopana Acraea Flash 2 Mallika Jackson’s Leaf 1 Alenia Speckled Sandman 2 Mashunoides Marsh Ringlet 1 Bettonula Brown Sprite 2 Moltena Banana Night-fighter 1 Brephidium Pygmy Blue 2 Mopala Grass Skipper 1 Brusa Marbled Swift 2 Neoepitola Congo Flash 1 Catacroptera Pirate 2 Netrobalane Buff-tipped Skipper 1 Catopsilia Migrant 2 Noctulana Brown Forest Swift 1 Cynandra Brilliant Nymph 2 Oraidium Dwarf Blue 1 Elymnias Palmfly 2 Pardopsis Polka Dot 1 Eronia Vine-leaf Vagrant 2 Pharmacophagus Swallowtail 1 Euryphurana Noble Commander 2 Ploetzia Hopper 1 Harmilla Elegant Forester 2 Powellana Congo Flash 1 Hollandus Pathfinder 2 Pseudargynnis Leopard Nymph 1 Kobelana Large Flat 2 Pseudoneaveia Congo Flash 1 Lachnoptera Leopard 2 Smerina Leopard 1 Lasiommata Wall Brown 2 Tumerepedes Nigerian Buff 1 Mashuna Marsh Ringlet 2 Vansomerenia Gem 1 Melampias Boland Brown 2 Ypthimomorpha Three-ring 1 Neaveia Pierine Blue 2 Zizina Clover Blue 1 Osphantes Lobed Skipper 2 Zizula Gaika Blue 1 Paternympha Small Ringlet 2 6413 Pelopidas Branded Swift 2 Procampta Elf 2 Pseudoneptis False Sailor 2

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An issue that has cropped up is having a single “English” genus name. This was originally my intention, but I believe it may be more practical (in some instances) to have several names within a genus, with a similar theme.

For example, Amauris (65 taxa) currently contains names such as Friar, Monk and Priest: I like these names – and they are in common use – so perhaps we could call the Amauris “Clergymen” and retain the existing common names?

Similarly, Charaxes is probably too big a group to find descriptive names for all 459 taxa. What about calling them “Royals” and splitting the group in accordance with subgenera / species groups?

Proposed names (with subgenera) as follows:

King (Charaxes) – 247 taxa Queen (Euxanthe) – 28 taxa Prince (Eriboea) – 150 taxa Princess (Polyura and uncategorised subgenera) – 35 taxa

Most of the above names have already been taken for butterflies elsewhere in the world, but we can get around this by adding an adjective, for example “Savanna King”, “Forest Queen”, “Black Prince” etc. Please let me know what you think – I believe this will make naming the Charaxes a far less daunting proposition.

On another matter, Bennie Coetzer is concerned about the potential disrespectfulness of some of the proposed English names for Junonia: Naval Pansy and Soldier Pansy for example. One solution might be to call Junonia “Violets” and to retain “Pansy” for the flower-like species such as J. hierta and J. oenone. We can treat this in a similar fashion to Charaxes and Amauris above.

Bennie also requested that we rename the following Russets (Aloeides) as follows (Bennie’s motivations in brackets):

• Port Nolloth Russet (Aloeides nollothi) becomes Coastal Dune Russet (Town too specific)

• Bedford Russet (Aloeides pringlei) becomes Snowland Russet (Town too specific)

• Lesotho Russet (Aloeides rileyi) becomes Mountain Peak Russet (Not only found in Lesotho)

Finally, Bennie wishes to set up an English Names panel to review and approve the names issued in this newsletter; I’ve suggested that each calendar year, the names are circulated and, should there be no comments they will be adopted in African Butterfly News and Afrotropical Butterflies.

This month we have created proposed names for Cigaritis (47 taxa), Harpendyreus (18 taxa), Serradinga (7 taxa), Apaturopsis (4 taxa), Alenia (2 taxa) and Durbaniopsis (single taxon).

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ENGLISH NAME FULL SCIENTIFIC NAME AUTHOR Sudan Yellow Silverline Cigaritis acamas bellatrix (Butler, 1886) Sahara Yellow Silverline Cigaritis acamas divisa (Rothschild, 1915) Somalia Yellow Silverline Cigaritis acamas gilletti (Riley, 1925) Arabian Yellow Silverline Cigaritis acamas hypargyros (Butler, 1886) Zanzibar Rusty Silverline Cigaritis apelles apelles (Oberthür, 1878) Eastern Rusty Silverline Cigaritis apelles kiellandi Bouyer, 2011 Congo Silverline Cigaritis apuleia (Hulstaert, 1924) Fine Silverline Cigaritis avriko (Karsch, 1893) Chad Silverline Cigaritis baghirmii (Stempffer, 1946) Katanga Silverline Cigaritis bergeri (Bouyer, 2003) Little Silverline Cigaritis brunnea (Jackson, 1966) Usambara Silverline Cigaritis collinsi (Kielland, 1980) Violet Silverline Cigaritis crustaria (Holland, 1890) Solwezi Silverline Cigaritis cynica (Riley, 1921) Mitumba Silverline Cigaritis ducarmei (Bouyer, 2008) Brown and Yellow Silverline Cigaritis dufranei (Bouyer, 1991) Hilltop Silverline Cigaritis ella (Hewitson, [1865]) Miombo Silverline Cigaritis gardineri (Hewitson, [1865]) Katanga Silverline Cigaritis hassoni (Bouyer, 2003) Nairobi Silverline Cigaritis homeyeri (Dewitz, 1887) Black Silverline Cigaritis iza (Hewitson, [1865]) West African Silverline Cigaritis larseni Bouyer, 2012 Red-spot Silverline Cigaritis menelas (Druce, 1907) Mundwiji Plain Silverline Cigaritis modestus heathi (d’Abrera, 1980) Plain Silverline Cigaritis modestus modestus (Trimen, 1891) Mountain Silverline Cigaritis montana (Joicey & Talbot, 1924) Common Silverline Cigaritis mozambica (Bertoloni, 1850) Tunisia Silverline Cigaritis myrmecophila myrmecophila Dumont, 1922 Namaqua Silverline Cigaritis namaquus (Trimen, 1874) Southern Silverline Cigaritis natalensis (Westwood, [1851]) Sahara Silverline Cigaritis nilus (Hewitson, [1865]) Kalumengongo Silverline Cigaritis noellae Bouyer, 2011 Nyassa Silverline Cigaritis nyassae (Butler, 1884) Spotted Silverline Cigaritis overlaeti (Bouyer, 1998) Shiney Silverline Cigaritis phanes (Trimen, 1873) Nigeria Silverline Cigaritis piersoni Bouyer, 2017 Wavy Silverline Cigaritis pinheyi (Heath, 1983) Yemen Silverline Cigaritis scotti (Gabriel, 1954) Shaba Silverline Cigaritis shaba (Bouyer, 1991) Somali Silverline Cigaritis somalina (Butler, 1886) Cameroon Silverline Cigaritis stewarti Bouyer, 2017 Mpanda Silverline Cigaritis tanganyikae (Kielland, 1990) Woodland Silverline Cigaritis tavetensis (Lathy, 1906) Congo White-patch Silverline Cigaritis trimeni congolanus (Dufrane, 1954) White-patch Silverline Cigaritis trimeni trimeni (Neave, 1910) Equatorial Mountain Blue Harpendyreus aequatorialis aequatorialis (Sharpe, 1892) Crater Equatorial Mountain Blue Harpendyreus aequatorialis vulcanica (Joicey & Talbot, 1924) Dark Mountain Blue Harpendyreus argenteostriatus Stempffer, 1961 Lukwangule Mountain Blue Harpendyreus berger Stempffer, 1976 Boma Mountain Blue Harpendyreus boma (Bethune-Baker, 1926) Munghesse Mountain Blue Harpendyreus hazelae Stempffer, 1973 Nyika Mountain Blue Harpendyreus juno (Butler, 1897) Kisaba Mountain Blue Harpendyreus kisaba (Joicey & Talbot, 1921) Marungu Mountain Blue Harpendyreus major (Joicey & Talbot, 1924) Congo Mountain Blue Harpendyreus marlieri Stempffer, 1961 Mpapwa Central Mountain Blue Harpendyreus marungensis mangalisae Kielland, 1986 Central Mountain Blue Harpendyreus marungensis marungensis (Joicey & Talbot, 1924) 45

Ruwenzori Central Mountain Blue Harpendyreus marungensis wollastoni (Bethune-Baker, 1926) Meru Mountain Blue Harpendyreus meruana (Aurivillius, 1910) Marsh Mountain Blue Harpendyreus noquasa (Trimen, 1887) Salvia Mountain Blue Harpendyreus notoba (Trimen, 1868) Large Mountain Blue Harpendyreus reginaldi Heron, 1909 Tsomo Mountain Blue Harpendyreus tsomo (Trimen, 1868) Karoo Dark Speckled Widow Serradinga bowkeri bella (van Son, 1955) Dark Speckled Widow Serradinga bowkeri bowkeri (Trimen, 1870) Dullstroom Bronze Speckled Widow Serradinga clarki amissivallis Henning & Henning, 1996 Bronze Speckled Widow Serradinga clarki clarki (van Son, 1955) Drakensberg Bronze Speckled Widow Serradinga clarki dracomontana Henning & Henning, 1996 Long Tom Bronze Speckled Widow Serradinga clarki ocra Henning & Henning, 1996 Painted Empress Apaturopsis cleochares cleochares Hewitson, 1873 Eastern Painted Empress Apaturopsis cleochares schultzei Schmidt, 1921 Malagasy Empress Apaturopsis kilusa Grose-Smith, 1891 Analavelona Empress Apaturopsis paulianii Viette, 1962 Namaqua Speckled Sandman Alenia namaqua Vári, 1974 Karoo Speckled Sandman Alenia sandaster (Trimen, 1868) Boland Rocksitter Durbaniopsis saga (Trimen, 1883)

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Butterfly Index (Jeremy Dobson and Fanie Rautenbach)

The Butterfly Index is tracking trends of butterfly abundance in South Africa, post January 2018.

The results to-date are summarized in the graph below:

2018 - 2019 Summer Rainfall Areas

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

IDEAL 2018 2019

For the Butterfly Index, I require the number of species seen at a single locality in a single day. If your survey is Biome Factor superficial (less than 1-hour in duration), or based on Lowveld Savanna or Forest (L.S.) 100% observations from a suburban garden or farm, please let Highveld Savanna (H.S.) 70% me know and I’ll multiply the number obtained by 1.5. Highveld Grassland (H.G.) 50% Steve Woodhall’s Butterfly App is a great way of saving Arid Savanna (A.S.) 35% butterfly checklists. It will soon be possible to export Karoo (K) 25% these lists directly to Lepibase; data submission will be a Fynbos (F) 25% key requirement of the new permitting system, outlined Afromontane Forest (A.F.) 50% under LATEST NEWS. Biome – Correction Factors

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NUMBER OF SPECIES RECORDED FROM A SINGLE LOCALITY IN A SINGLE DAY ABUNDANCE BIOME INDEX Lowveld Highveld Highveld Arid Savanna Karoo (K) Fynbos (F) Afromontane Savanna or Savanna Grassland (A.S) Forest (A.F.) Forest (L.S.) (H.S) (H.G.)

5 Excellent >80 >56 >40 >28 >20 >20 >40

4 Good 52 to 80 37 to 56 26 to 40 19 to 28 13 to 20 13 to 20 26 to 40

3 Average 29 to 51 20 to 36 15 to 25 10 to 18 8 to 12 8 to 12 15 to 25

2 Poor 11 to 28 8 to 19 6 to 14 4 to 9 3 to 7 3 to 7 6 to 14

1 Very Poor ≤10 ≤7 ≤5 ≤3 ≤2 ≤2 ≤5

0 No Data

For information, the Abundance Index (Ax) is calculated using the following formula, where n represents the species-count from a site and F is the percentage factor from the Biome table: Ax = 1+ (n / (10 * F)) 1/1.5

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Methodology

1/. Each Province receives a monthly rating between, which will be more than 1 (Very Poor) and is unlikely to exceed 5 (Excellent). Lesotho and Swaziland are included as Provinces.

2/. The rating is based on the highest recorded individual monthly species-count within the province under consideration. The numbers are based on representatives of the Papilionoidea superfamily (traditional butterflies).

3/. In instances where data is acquired from several biomes within a single Province, the highest rating will be used.

Annual prizes will be awarded to the most active provincial representatives!

Objectives

1/. To monitor long term trends in butterfly abundance throughout South Africa 2/. To compare seasonal and annual abundance indexes 3/. To compare current butterfly-counts with historical benchmarks

Data – September and October:

2019 PROVINCE SEPTEMBER OCTOBER Index Score Locality Biome Observer Index Score Locality Biome Observer Gauteng 4.3 42 Laurentia Farm H.S. Jeremy Dobson 3.7 22 Glenharve H.G. Jeremy Dobson KwaZulu-Natal 4 51 Ingwavuma L.S. Mark Liptrot 3.3 35 Krantzkloof L.S. Mark Liptrot Limpopo 4.2 41 Bateleur H.S. Jeremy Dobson 0 Mpumalanga 4.6 48 Verena H.S. Jeremy Dobson 0 Western Cape 0 0 Eastern Cape 0 0 Northern Cape 0 0 Southern Cape 0 0 North West 0 0 Free State 0 0 Lesotho 0 0 Swaziland 0 0

Summarized Butterfly Index Data – 2019:

2019 - SUMMARY PROVINCE Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Gauteng 3.8 3.8 3.6 3.2 3.4 3.3 3.4 4.1 4.3 3.7 KwaZulu-Natal 3.8 3.5 3.9 4.6 5.1 4.4 4 4 4 3.3 Limpopo 0 2.5 4.3 0 0 3.6 0 4.5 4.2 0 Mpumalanga 4.9 0 0 4.4 3.9 0 0 0 4.6 0 Western Cape 0 3.8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Eastern Cape 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Northern Cape 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Southern Cape 0 0 4.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 North West 2.4 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.2 0 0 Free State 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lesotho 0 3.8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Swaziland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH

LepiMAP (Fanie Rautenbach)

LepiMAP is helping to build up-to-date distribution maps for the butterflies and moths of Africa. These maps are critically important for conservation management and priority setting. Without good distribution maps, species conservation is largely guesswork. You can make your photography count for conservation by uploading your photos into the Virtual Museum (http://vmus.adu.org.za/).

Last year, LepiMAP had its best year ever when 29,075 records were submitted. The totals have been above 20,000 for each of the five years from 2014 to 2018. The total number of butterfly and moth records uploaded via the Virtual Museum website is currently an amazing 173,307. The total size of the LepiMAP database is now 507,768. This includes all the historic specimen records of butterflies that were used in the Butterfly Atlas, SABCA, published in 2013.

Please refer to the following link, to see examples of the valuable contributions being made to the Virtual Museum. http://thebdi.org/blog/2018/11/02/whats-the-value-of-a-photo/

Butterfly Evolutionary Diversity (BED) (Jonathan Colville)

The Butterfly Evolutionary Diversity project (BED) is a three-year research enterprise led by SANBI. The BED project seeks to map patterns of evolutionary diversity for butterflies across South African landscapes. It aims, through collecting DNA samples of all South African butterfly species, to identify areas not only of high butterfly species richness and conservation concern, but also areas of high evolutionary importance. LepSoc Africa will be the main collecting agency for this project, which will also provide the phylogenetic analyses to enable us to resolve a number of taxonomic issues.

Everyone can assist with this project: for further information, go to http://www.lepsoc.org.za/projects/butterfly-evolutionary-diversity/

Caterpillar Rearing Group (CRG) (Hermann Staude)

Anybody wishing to join, please refer to the LepSoc Africa website for details (http://www.lepsoc.org.za/) or visit the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/caterpillarrg/).

COREL

We are busy restructuring COREL (Custodians of Rare and Endangered Lepidoptera).

There is a lot of work to do in this vital undertaking; if you would like to assist in any capacity, please contact me at [email protected]

A link to the latest COREL guidelines is attached below:

COREL - Structure and guidelines

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Aloeides Project (Jeremy Dobson)

A summary of Aloeides Project data collected to date is as follows (these samples have all been submitted to BED, apart from 26 samples which were barcoded by BOLD):

Collector Records Taxon Records Jeremy Dobson 150 Aloeides damarensis damarensis 37 Alan Gardiner 76 Aloeides trimeni trimeni 36 Peter Ward 48 Aloeides henningi 33 André Coetzer 29 Aloeides pierus 25 Mark Williams 23 Aloeides dryas 20 Christopher Dobson 19 Aloeides aranda 19 Peter Webb 13 Aloeides swanepoeli 16 Harald Selb 10 Aloeides oreas 15 Andrew Morton 9 Aloeides taikosama 15 Dave Edge 9 Aloeides macmasteri 14 Andrew Mayer 7 Aloeides penningtoni 14 Reinier Terblanche 5 Aloeides titei 14 Steve Woodhall 5 Aloeides dicksoni 9 Hayden Warren-Gash 4 Aloeides dentatis dentatis 8 Ray Jones 4 Aloeides depicta 8 Graham Henning 4 Aloeides maluti 7 Etienne Terblanche 2 Aloeides susanae 7 Johan Greyling 2 Aloeides juana 7 419 Aloeides molomo molomo 6 Aloeides rossouwi 6 Aloeides barklyi 6 Aloeides margaretae 5 Aloeides almeida 5 Aloeides bamptoni 5 Aloeides arida 5 Aloeides thyra thyra 5 Aloeides carolynnae carolynnae 5 Aloeides simplex 5 Aloeides dentatis maseruna 5 Aloeides gowani 5 Aloeides caledoni 4 Aloeides nubilus 4 Aloeides pallida littoralis 4 Aloeides plowesi 4 Aloeides thyra orientis 4 Aloeides molomo krooni 3 Aloeides quickelbergei 3 Aloeides damarensis mashona 3 Aloeides stevensoni 3 Aloeides vansoni 2 Aloeides griseus 2 Aloeides apicalis 2 Aloeides rileyi 2 Aloeides trimeni southeyae 2 Aloeides nollothi 2 Aloeides barbarae 1 Aloeides caffrariae 1 Aloeides egerides 1 Aloeides molomo handmani 1 Aloeides pallida grandis 1 Aloeides pallida jonathani 1 Aloeides pallida pallida 1 Aloeides mbuluensis 1 419

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Before publishing the initial paper next Missing Taxa Author year, my goal is to acquire a minimum of Aloeides angolensis Tite & Dickson, 1973 500 records, containing samples of 60 Aloeides argenteus Henning & Henning, 1994 taxa; 80% of the currently recognized Aloeides braueri Tite & Dickson, 1968 taxonomic list (75 taxa). Currently, we Aloeides carolynnae aurata Pringle, 1994 have 419 records, comprising 53 taxa, so Aloeides clarki Tite & Dickson, 1968 we are 84% and 88% of the way Aloeides conradsi angoniensis Tite & Dickson, 1973 respectively! Aloeides conradsi conradsi (Aurivillius, 1906) Aloeides conradsi jacksoni Tite & Dickson, 1973 I’m sure we can acquire another 81 Aloeides conradsi talboti Tite & Dickson, 1973 records this season. Obtaining records Aloeides kaplani Tite & Dickson, 1977 Aloeides lutescens Tite & Dickson, 1968 for another 7 taxa might be trickier, but to Aloeides merces Henning & Henning, 1986 assist you, I’ve attached a list of the Aloeides molomo coalescens Tite & Dickson, 1973 “missing” butterflies. Aloeides molomo kiellandi Carcasson, 1961 Aloeides molomo mumbuensis Riley, 1921 Ultimately, I’d like to obtain samples from Aloeides monticola Pringle, 1994 all these taxa, but this probably won’t be Aloeides mullini Henning & Henning, 1996 possible before the end of the season. Aloeides namibiensis Henning & Henning, 1994 Aloeides pallida juno Pringle, 1994 Aloeides pallida liversidgei Pringle, 1994 Aloeides pringlei Tite & Dickson, 1976 Aloeides tearei Henning & Henning, 1982

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Aloeides Gallery (2019 – 2020 Season)

Aloeides taikosama Aloeides damarensis mashona Aloeides henningi Laurentia Farm, Gauteng Bateleur, Limpopo Glenharvie, Gauteng Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson

Aloeides molomo molomo Aloeides aranda Aloeides nubilus Kalbosfontein, Gauteng Ruimsig, Gauteng Elandshoogte, Mpumalanga Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson

Aloeides dryas Aloeides griseus Elandshoogte, Mpumalanga Nyika, Malawi Aloeides caffrariae Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson Grahamstown, Eastern Cape Lynette Knott Rudman

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PUBLICATIONS

Metamorphosis

Dave Edge is the Editor of Metamorphosis; Silvia Kirkman is the Sub Editor responsible for production.

Due to the large number of articles, Volume 29 (2018) has been produced in two editions, to make the publications more manageable and less expensive to post:

• Metamorphosis journal Volume 29 Part 1 : R150 excluding postage

• Metamorphosis journal Volume 29 Part 2 : R160 excluding postage

Please contact Dave at [email protected] or Silvia at [email protected] should you wish to purchase copies.

New articles in Metamorphosis: • A new locality for Thestor dicksoni malagas Dickson & Wykeham, 1994 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Miletinae) in the Western Cape Province, South Africa Mark Williams

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Gauteng

Most of the special Gauteng spring butterflies were recorded in September; the Highveld Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops praeterita) was found at Hillshaven and Glenharvie on 12 September and the Potchefstroom Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops procera) was fairly abundant – at similar sites – on 8 October.

Cigaritis natalensis Iolaus alienus alienus Axiocerses amanga amanga Hennop’s River, Gauteng Hennop’s River, Gauteng Hennop’s River, Gauteng

Lepidochrysops praeterita Aloeides henningi Lepidochrysops procera Hillshaven, Gauteng Glenharvie, Gauteng Glenharvie, Gauteng

Lourens Erasmus took this great picture of a mating pair of Suffused Acraea (Acraea stenobea) at Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens (WSBG) recently.

This is a rare butterfly in South Africa, being more abundant in dry savanna further north, especially within Botswana.

A similar species, Lygus Acraea (Acraea lygus) has the same general distribution and habitat preferences; it has also been recorded – sporadically – from WSBG.

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KwaZulu-Natal

Mark Liptrot visited Entumeni Nature Reserve in September, where Black-branded Swift (Pelopidas mathias mathias) and Two-pip Policeman (Coeliades pisistratus) were recorded (new ADU records). Mark’s visit to Dlinza boardwalk at Eshowe yielded Dry-leaf Commodore (Precis tugela tugela), last recorded in from Dlinza in 1987. He also found Eastern Pearl-spotted Charaxes (Charaxes jahlusa argynnides) at Krantzkloof Nature Reserve, which is a new record for the Reserve and for the locus. Also at Krantzkloof, he recorded Patrician Giant Cupid Pelopidas mathias mathias Entumeni, KZN (Lepidochrysops patricia) and Eastern Hillside Brown (Stygionympha Mark Liptrot scotina scotina); a visit to Kokstad produced Natal Russet (Aloeides penningtoni) and Karkloof Russet (Aloeides susanae).

Stygionympha scotina scotina Lepidochrysops patricia Papilio dardanus cenea Karkloof, KZN Karkloof, KZN Kenneth Stainbank, KZN Mark Liptrot Mark Liptrot Steve Woodhall

Mpumalanga

Mark Williams and I visited Verena and surrounding areas on 15 September. We recorded 48 species (Abundance Index 4.6 - Good). I’ve never seen so many Zulu Giant Cupid (Lepidochrysops ignota); mid-September is a very early emergence for this species. Other noteworthy butterflies included Wallengren’s Ranger (Kedestes wallengrenii wallengrenii), Brown-line Sapphire (Iolaus alienus alienus) and Pale Yellow Telchinia (Telchinia burni).

Iolaus alienus alienus Lepidochrysops ignota Kedestes wallengrenii wallengrenii Die Bron, Mpumalanga Verena, Mpumalanga Die Bron, Mpumalanga

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North West

I visited Utopia in early September; most of the special spring butterflies were out, such as Hutchinson’s Highflier (Aphnaeus hutchinsonii) and Brown-line Sapphire (Iolaus alienus alienus). I recorded 39 species: Abundance Index 4.1 (Good).

Sarangesa motozi Deudorix antalus Cigaritis natalensis Utopia, North West Utopia, North West Utopia, North West

Limpopo

Johan Greyling and Andrew Mayer were at Andrew’s place in the Waterberg – Soetdoring – at the end of August / beginning of September.

They produced a comprehensive checklist of 62 species (5.3 – Excellent) and took some great photos:

Axiocerses amanga amanga Cigaritis natalensis Tarucus sybaris sybaris Soetdoring, Limpopo Soetdoring, Limpopo Soetdoring, Limpopo Johan Greyling Johan Greyling Johan Greyling

Cigaritis phanes Stugeta bowkeri tearei Anthene livida livida Soetdoring, Limpopo Soetdoring, Limpopo Soetdoring, Limpopo Andrew Mayer Andrew Mayer Andrew Mayer

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OTHER BUTTERFLIES

Johan Heyns has a large collection of photographs, which we will include as a regular feature in this newsletter.

More from the Eribidae family

Eilema sanguicosta Ilemodes astriga Leucaloa eugraphica Johan Heyns Johan Heyns Johan Heyns

Ovenna simulans Popoudina lemniscata Rhodogastria amasis Johan Heyns Johan Heyns Johan Heyns

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AFRICA DESK

Uganda

Rogers Muhwezi has forwarded a few great photos recently:

Myrina sharpei sharpei Junonia sophia infracta Acraea tellus eumelis Mabira Forest, Uganda Mpanga Forest, Uganda Mpanga Forest, Uganda Rogers Muhwezi Rogers Muhwezi Rogers Muhwezi

Angola

Riquita Sampaio has posted some butterfly-photos from Angola on Facebook. This is a relatively under-researched country, so these pictures are valuable.

Afriodinia dewitzi Appias species Euriphene species Kwanza Sul, Angola Kwanza Sul, Angola Kwanza Sul, Angola Riquita Sampaio Riquita Sampaio Riquita Sampaio

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LEPSOC AFRICA COUNCIL

Elected Executive Councillors and LSA Directors:

• Jeremy Dobson (Chairman) • Justin Bode (Secretary) • Peter Ward (Treasurer)

Co-opted Councillors

• Dave Edge (Editor of Metamorphosis) • Reinier Terblanche (Conservation, Research and Permits) • Steve Woodhall (Marketing)

Branch Chairmen

• Andre Coetzer (Highveld – Gauteng, North West and Free State) • Kevin Cockburn (KwaZulu-Natal) • Andrew Morton (Western Cape) • Ernest Pringle (Eastern Cape) • Dave Edge (Southern Cape) • Vaughan Jessnitz (Limpopo) • Michael Ochse (Germany)

The price of Metamorphosis Volume 29 – Part 1 is R150, excluding postage. Part 2 costs R160. Various postage options with different pricing are available.

Metamorphosis Annual subscriptions, Annual subscription printed copy plus printed copy of fee (current year i.e. (preceding year i.e. Metamorphosis 2019) 2018) South Inter- South Inter- South Inter- Category African national African national African national

Sponsor R 1 200 R 1 400 Included Included R 1 200 R 1 400 Ordinary R 270 R 400 R 125 R 125 R 395 R 525 Pensioner (over 60 yrs) R 200 R 280 R 125 R 125 R 325 R 405 Student (under 23 yrs) R 150 R 250 R 125 R 125 R 275 R 375

Subscriptions are due on 01 January each year. For new members, rates are discounted by 50% after 30 June.

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FOCUS ON…

Martin Lunderstedt – Part 2

At the end of 1990 I took my very pregnant wife (with our first son Dean), up to Zimbabwe to visit my folks, plus explore the Nyanga Mountains in between. I do recall her almost dead with heat exhaustion at Vic Falls in 38 degrees’ heat and we were camping in a small tent. It was a long trip with a lot of driving in 3 weeks and I never took her on another trip while she was pregnant. It was on this trip we went to Chirinda Forest and I captured a female Mimacraea neokoton.

The arrival of my first child curtailed collecting quite a bit until around 1995 when I was invited to go with Steve Woodhall, Noj and Andy Mayer to Mariepskop. This turned out to be THE Mariepskop Trip that had moth traps collecting collectors and people doing gymnastic displays down embankments! It actually was a fantastic trip with plenty of primary experiences and I recall a very young Andre Coetzer there being fascinated with Charaxes. On this trip I met the guy who went on a number of later safaris with me, the esteemed Johan ‘Trust me, I’m a Doctor’ Greyling. We hit it off immediately and I told him that I was going up to Zim in a few weeks’ time. He decided to join me there later and the rest is history. We went on three big Zimbabwe trips together, April 1995, May 1996 and March 1997. I wanted to do a write up about them all and call it ‘The Best of Three’. I probably still will and I have written down every specimen I have ever caught into journals, so I can honestly say I know where we were on any particular day.

However, the first trip was undertaken with Simon Joubert and Walter Kaspers in tow. I was there for six weeks and to say it was long, was an understatement. This trip was co-written by Simon and I and it was a great success in both collecting and socialising. What great collecting allies they were. John Daffue had told me that there was this naval character lurking around and we kept seeing traps and a white Toyota Stallion disappearing into the dusty horizons. Needless to say, one day we spied this vehicle parked at the car park of Cross Koppie and up we clambered. At the summit I espied this slender character reclining against a rock and went across and said ‘Commodore Stevens I presume? His reply ‘Actually Captain.’ Deflated ego after my pass off as Stanley and Livingstone backfired. What a great man he is and a few joyous evenings spent at Christmas Pass caravan site sitting at his kitchen cum bar trailer that he had converted. I went through to Mozambique just after Easter 1995, and was truly stressed out at first as our passports were kept at the border post. There is a site around ten kms north to Savane Forest and it is absolutely fantastic. Hypolymnis deceptor, Sevenia rosa, Euxanthe wakefieldi to name a few. Sadly, I was only there for two days but caught enough for two weeks. I will be back!

In 1996 we both went back and I recall seeing Richard Stevens on the other side of the road in Masvingo going back. When I enquired where he was going he replied that it had been a disaster of a trip and he was returning home. No amount of persuasion could convince him to stay and I don’t blame him as the weather up until that point had been atrocious. In two weeks there had been around ten minutes of sunshine in all the drizzle we call guti in Zimbabwe. He also had been robbed in Mozambique and lost two tyres, plus other bad omens too. For me, however, the weather broke the next day and I went up to the Honde Valley spot north of Mutare. There had been a cyclone through the valley and those magnificent giant trees had all toppled over. I clambered all around those huge trunks and caught quite a good series of Acraea insignis, Bebearia orientis, etc. I disturbed a family of Ground Hornbills roosting in one of the remaining giant trees plus a pair of greenish and orange tree squirrels. Forest butterflies were at a premium that year and we managed to complete many series in our collections then. 61

Again in 1997 we went back in February and March. The weather was very guti and would enclose us in cloud almost all day, so we decided to go off to the Harare area and the west side of Zimbabwe. When we arrived in Harare I contacted Ian Bampton and he told me Ivan was there and would like to see us. The next day saw us in Banket, the three of us, and he showed us the food plant of Alaena nyassa on lichen-coated rocks. One particular thing I recall was the immense amount of spiders and butterfly predators there were on the Great Dyke. My black hat was literally golden with the amount of spider webs I walked through that day. The next day saw us at Dichwe Forest near Chinhoyi and again quite a different type of forest to what we were used to. Christon Bank was visited and these strange butterflies were taken there as well.

We returned to the Eastern Highlands and decided to go to Tsetserra, high up above Banti Forest in the Himalayas Mountains. We stopped at the base of the mountain and I saw a local walking past and asked him how far it was to the old dairy. He replied about fifteen minutes thinking we were driving up. The road had totally disintegrated at this point so we left the vehicle there and proceeded to walk! For the next three hours I remember cursing this individual and his kin for lying to us about how short he said it would take us until Johan replied that he had thought we were driving up. At the top there was a split in the road and I was in a quandary. I decided to go left and the path started getting smaller and less travelled. About 150 meters in I realised I was in the old minefield that had never been cleared properly. Gingerly I retraced my footsteps until back to the split and spied Johan having a cigarette some distance back. I called out to him and told him not to go left and to follow me to the right where the marsh was. I got to the marsh and even with mist swirling around I still managed to get a number of Pseudonympha cyclops which occurred there. Johan hadn’t turned up but a number of machete-wielding locals were walking around and I started to get worried about him. I decided to go back to the car and wait for him and when I turned the first bend to look down to where the car was and I saw him in the distance far below by the car.

When I had eventually got back to him he told me that he had just been attacked by a lion. It wasn’t far-fetched as we had both been warned that lions had been seen in the region recently. That evening we looked in ‘Mammals of Southern Africa’ and saw the ’lion’. It was a White-tailed Mongoose and said it was very aggressive and defended its area well. Apparently Johan hadn’t listened to me at all and wandered down the left path until there was no path left and this was where the mongoose was. Rusitu Forest and Haroni Forest was also calling and we went there and the day we left I cleaned my teeth with the river water! We decided to go back home to South Africa. I hadn’t been feeling too well and my last few days I had been feeling a bit off colour. The day I left my stomach played up and I was very nauseous too. I climbed into the car and kissed my Mom good-bye. I had to stop quite often on the way home as my stomach played up and it took me a long time to get to Polokwane, where Johan lived. Upon arrival Johan gave me some pills and told me that I had the closest thing to typhoid there was and that it was in the Lusito River. My Mom almost died from that kiss good-bye too and if it hadn’t been for her sister-in-law she would have. I went through a few jobs after that, until I settled down in Welkom and stayed there for a time. During this time, Johan and I did a safari to Zambia in April 2000 and I wrote about it in Metamorphosis. It was titled ‘Zambia in a little Nissan.’ The place we went to, Elliot Pinhey told me about and he said it was the best place in Central Africa that he had ever been collecting. Mwinilunga! By this time my family had increased to five with the addition of two other children, Brent and Tennille. Ricky got a transfer with her work in late 2005 to Klerksdorp and after 24 years in the Free State we moved.

We moved to a farm to the west of Klerksdorp on the Faan Mynkies road and I met a wonderful character called Johan Buys. Oom Buys, as my daughter called him, was such a great collecting partner and we went on many trips around the region. He had an incredibly dry sense of humour but, sadly, Johan died in 2012 and I lost one of my greatest friends.

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Around 2008 I went up to the Democratic Republic of Congo, on a working contract, for just under 9 months. I also took my collecting equipment! In all of my spare time I collected when I could. I also had a trap line going, with 15 traps, and every evening I emptied out the traps for the Charaxes species caught there. There was no game whatsoever and one day I found duiker scat in the bush but told no one. I also saw baboons but they didn’t make a noise. Bush meat was a favourite dish there; no wonder everything was so elusive. I spent endless hours sitting up on the summit of a koppie alone, looking across this HUGE expanse of trees as far as the eye could see. Paradise in Africa. The locals called me Papa Papillon and thought I was a bit touched as I collected in the incredible heat when everyone else rested. I have never seen so many Euryphura concordia as there were there! I once saw four sitting on mud together and also this immense swarm of Belenois creona hatching and waiting to fly off. They were everywhere and you couldn’t walk without hundreds rising with every step you took. It was a great experience and one which I’m glad I had.

I have never seen such large snakes as there, Forest Cobras, Mambas, Gaboon Vipers and tons of Puff Adders. I used to be asked to catch the snakes and remove them and one particular case I recall. I received a phone call to remove a snake from a sub-station as nobody could work there. When I got there, there were eight supervisors all standing outside holding sticks. I asked where it was and they told me it was inside. I gingerly went in expecting to see at least a python coiled up. I saw nothing and asked where it was and one guy said it was by my head. I froze, looked up and there was a baby Eastern Vine Snake coiled on a switch handle. I took a stick from one of the ‘brave’ individuals and coaxed it onto the stick. It slithered onto the stick and rested its head on my hand. Somebody asked if it was poisonous and when I replied in the affirmative they all vanished. I then went to central Zimbabwe to work at Ngezi Mine at the end of 2008 and again I collected there. I came back to South Africa as the bottom had dropped out of the metals industry and had to move to the Rustenburg region to get work again.

Once in this region, I worked as a contractor and became based here in the Hartbeespoort Dam area. I had just met a beautiful woman called Paula and had gotten divorced from my wife as I was always moving with contracting. I was working for Aveng at Eland Mine and Graham Henning and I had done quite a few trips to Mpumulanga and Limpopo Provinces together. After around 4 years the platinum price slipped and we were given notice of retrenchments. Graham and I were driving to Lekgalameetse Nature Reserve and he suggested we go into partnership in an Electrical Business together. And so Sunbeam Solar Saver was born! It has been a few good years and it is thanks to Graham and his belief that it occurred.

Friends that I have made, but that are now gone, include our great friend Dave McD, Ivan Bampton, John Daffue, Rudolf Swart, Jo Joannou, Johan Buys and now, recently, Martin Kruger. It is at this point that I have got to lay to rest a story that has been embellished upon and then some. I once borrowed some butterfly traps and some of his famous bait from Noj in early 1988 to go on a trip to Zimbabwe. On my return I found that I’d left the bucket back in Mutare and Noj was incapacitated due to a broken limb. Stephen Henning met me and I handed over the traps to him. With no further ado I left. Years later I heard mumblings and Noj and Steve Woodhall stayed over at my house in ’93 and nothing was said. In ’98 there was the annual Christmas do at Alf Curle’s house and Johan Greyling and I were a bit late due to getting stuck at some place in Kyalami. Noj was there and I heard a disparity behind me about me. I turned and had a bit of an altercation and I was asked to leave the house. Many years later, there was the AGM in Potchefstroom and we were all sharing a guest house. Dave McD, Steve Woodhall, Noj and I! Early one morning both Noj and I were up and I made him coffee and apologised as to the incident that had happened in the past. I asked why he had said those things and he replied that I had not returned the traps back in ’88. I replied that I had and had given them to Stephen Henning at the time. As it transpired, Graham Henning had turned up, saw the traps and thought that Stephen had obtained new traps

63 and took them! All was forgiven and just before he died he gave me his traps that he had and they were very well made. RIP Noj old mate.

Now I am almost 60 and the future beckons, and it is bright and good, with my wife Paula Elizabeth!

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PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MONTH

Please forward any photographs that you would like to display in this Newsletter, with your identification and the month that the photograph was taken, to [email protected]. There will be a Photograph of the Month (two in each episode); the season runs from August to July and the annual winner is announced in September’s (this) edition. The decision, by the editor, is final and will be based on photographic merit, but may be swayed by donations to the Society. Entries for September

Cigaritis phanes Stugeta bowkeri tearei Axiocerses amanga amanga Andrew Mayer Andrew Mayer Johan Greyling (Soetdoring, Limpopo) (Soetdoring, Limpopo) (Soetdoring, Limpopo)

Capys disjunctus Cigaritis natalensis Caprona pillaana Jeremy Dobson Jeremy Dobson Marita Beneke (Utopia, North West) (Utopia, North West) (Waterberg, Limpopo)

SEPTEMBER

September’s winner is George Wilson, of Maun, Botswana, who took this striking image of a winter-form Scarlet Acraea (Acraea (Rubraea) atolmis).

This butterfly is not found in South Africa, but is seen in Angola, Zambia (mainly west); Democratic Republic of Congo (south and west), Zimbabwe (west), Botswana and Namibia.

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Entries for October

Charaxes cithaeron cithaeron Pseudacraea eurytus imitator Lepidochrysops chalceus Steve Woodhall Steve Woodhall Jeremy Dobson (Umdoni Park, KZN) (Umdoni Park, KZN) (Nyika Plateau, Malawi)

Charaxes jahlusa jahlusa Phasis braueri Papilio echerioides echerioides Lynette Scott Rudman Lynette Scott Rudman Wilna Steenkamp Kleinpoort, Eastern Cape (Grahamstown, Eastern Cape) (Hogsback, Eastern Cape)

OCTOBER

October’s winner is Muhwezi Rogers, for this eye-catching picture of the Ugandan Red and White Coster (Telchinia althoffi neavei).

Rogers – a regular contributor to this newsletter – lives in Uganda and is a frequent visitor to Mpanga forest, west of Kampala, where this picture was taken

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TRAWLING THE ARCHIVES…

REPORT ON RESEARCH FINDINGS CONCERNING THE LIFE HISTORY AND ECOLOGY OF THE BRENTON BLUE, ORACHRYSOPS NIOBE (TRIMEN) (LEPIDOPTERA: LYCAENIDAE)

By M. C. Williams

Introduction Orachrysops niobe was discovered in 1858, and described in 1862, by Roland Trimen, from three specimens taken by him at Knysna. The butterfly was not seen again for 119 years, when Jonathan Ball found a colony of the insect at Natures Valley, 60 km east of Knysna, in 1977. The colony at Natures Valley subsequently became extinct, but a new locality was discovered by Ernest Pringle at Brenton, near Knysna, in 1991.

This colony, the only population of the butterfly known at present, is threatened by housing development, and attempts to save it are being made. At the request of those involved in trying to preserve this locality, particularly David Edge, and in my capacity as a recognised expert on ant associated (myrmecophilous) lycaenid butterflies, I was asked to investigate this population of O. niobe with a view to elucidating some aspects of its biology. My brief was to establish exactly where the butterfly is breeding, the identity of the larval host plant, and the identity of the associated host ant. In addition to this the development and morphology of the early stages (egg, larva and pupa) required investigation. The research reported herein was carried out at the Brenton locality from the 4th to the 9th November, 1995. Martin Krüger, curator of Lepidoptera at the Transvaal Museum, and David Edge had been working at the Brenton locality for about 10 days prior to my arrival and had established more or less where the insect was flying. They had also tentatively identified the likely larval host plant and host ant.

Observations made Male Brenton Blue butterflies were easily found because they were patrolling a metre wide path that had been cleared halfway up the hillside in order to place pegs demarcating property boundaries. The most likely areas, adjacent to where the males were flying, were worked in an attempt to locate ovipositing females (females showing egg laying behaviours). Females were found in areas within 20 to 75 m from the patrolling males. Females, as David Edge and Martin Krüger had surmised, were found to lay their eggs on a species of Indigofera, tentatively identified as Indigofera porrecta Eckl. & Zeyh. (Fabaceae).

The plant is a small, prostrate, leguminous herb with trifoliate leaves, each leaflet being 5 to 8 mm long. The plant bears individual, pinkish red flowers, about 10 mm in diameter. The larval host plant grows mainly in semi shade, at the base of bracken fern plants (Pteridium aquilinum).

The main breeding grounds of the butterfly appeared to include only about half a hectare of relatively steep bracken covered hillside, with sparsely scattered, trees. The host plant was found abundantly beneath the fairly dense cover of half to one metre high bracken, together with other small herbs and grasses.

Female butterflies searching for suitable oviposition sites flew just over the top of the stands of bracken, fluttering downwards among the fronds until individual plants of Indigofera were located. The plants were identified by females by means of both antennal palpation and "drumming" movements of the front pair of legs. Ants were rarely seen on the foodplants and their presence did not appear to constitute a necessary oviposition cue.

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Having satisfactorily identified the plant as the correct one, females walked over the plant, curving the abdomen underneath a leaf, and depositing a single egg at a time. Frequently females would crawl over a particular plant and lay further eggs at distances varying from a few to 20 cm from the first egg. The largest number of eggs laid on a single plant was six but usually two or three eggs were laid at a time. Occasionally females alighted on, and investigated, a small-leaved species of Oxalis (Fabaceae), and on one occasion a species of Hypericum (Clusiaceae) was inspected. No eggs were seen to be laid on these plants. Of the 30 eggs that were seen to be deposited on Indigofera plants, 28 were laid on the underside of a leaflet, the remaining two were laid on the upper surface of a leaflet.

Unlike the closely related butterfly genus Lepidochrysops, in which eggs are almost invariably placed among the flower buds of the known host plants, O. niobe females were not observed to oviposit on the flowers of the larval host plant, even though they often alighted on them and fed on the nectar.

Following oviposition on an individual plant, females often rested for several to 15 minutes on a nearby piece of vegetation, or they fed from flowers. The longer rest intervals followed oviposition of three or more eggs on a particular plant. Resting perches were from a few centimetres to half a metre above the ground, in full sunshine. Initially the wings were held closed but were partially opened and oriented towards the sun just before take-off. Even though the butterflies do not possess tails on their hindwing margins, the characteristic vertical movement of the hindwings in opposite directions, so typical of lycaenid butterflies, was often observed in resting females. One female that was followed continuously for 45 minutes laid 10 eggs during the period of observation.

Both males and females were observed feeding from a variety of flowers. These included flowers with yellow and mauve coloured petals, as well as the pinkish-red flowers of the larval host plant.

Sexual appetitive behaviours in the males were not specifically studied. Casual observations showed that males did not choose specific territories to defend against other males, nor did they show typical perching behaviour. Instead males appeared to patrol rather rapidly along the cleared path in the habitat, or they flew over the tops of the bracken plants in a random manner. A female captured by Martin Krüger, which seemed to be unmated judging by her behaviour (she showed no inclination to feed from flowers or search for oviposition sites), was observed for an hour and a half. This female remained perched motionless on low vegetation for the whole of this time. A patrolling male that flew over her caused her to rapidly flick open her wings. The male appeared to have not detected this movement on the part of the female, but on the third occasion that he passed overhead he responded to the wing-flick of the female by turning around abruptly, and landed on the vegetation a few centimetres from the perched female. Courtship took less than a minute and was characterised by rapid fluttering motions of the wings in both sexes, with the wings held in a nearly horizontal position. The male manoeuvred himself below the female, taking up a position that allowed him to copulate with her. The paired butterflies immediately became motionless and faced in opposite directions, with the hindwings of the male placed between those of the female. The pair remained in copula for just over an hour and a quarter, before separating.

Although individual butterflies were not tagged during this study a rough estimate could be made of the numbers present in the colony on any particular day. Probably no more than a dozen specimens, six of either sex, were present, judging by the activities of the more conspicuous males.

When freshly laid the eggs are pale blue. They are doughnut-shaped, about 0.6 mm in diameter and 0.3 mm high. The surface is sculptured in a ribbed pattern. It is intended to study further the

68 development and morphology of the egg, various larval instars and the pupa, as these become available.

Work done by myself and others on species of Orachrysops other than O. niobe has shown that the larvae feed on the leaves of the host plant (i.e. are phytophagous) for the first three larval instars. From personal observations on O. mijburghi, in the Free State, the third instar larvae can remain alive for up to 28 days in this instar, but appear to feed only intermittently, and do not grow in length by more than a millimetre during this period (from 3 to 4 mm), before finally dying. It is presumed that, like species of the closely related genus Lepidochrysops, Orachrysops, larvae at this stage are found in the habitat by foraging ants and carried down by the ants into their subterranean nests.

A fairly thorough search for likely host-ant species was made in the area in which females were seen laying eggs. The only suitable ant, in terms of the size of ant required to carry third instar larvae (estimated to be 3 to 4 mm in length), was a species of sugar ant (Camponotus species). The particular species of sugar ant was very common in the area and was diurnal. Workers were very variable in size (from 4 to 10 mm in length), and there did not appear to be a soldier caste. A few species of Camponotus ants are known to be the host-ant for a number of Lepidochrysops species. I am familiar with the ant species so far associated with Lepidochrysops and am certain that the species of Camponotus at Brenton is not one of them. Hamish Robertson, at the South African Museum in Cape Town, will be asked if he can assist in identifying them. The ants at the study site made their nests in sandy soil, with one or more entrance holes, a few millimetres in diameter. Several colonies of ant were dug up, in an attempt to locate ant-brood, and so be able to establish a colony of the ants in a formicarium. This was achieved when a particular ant nest, containing a large number of ant pupae in silk cocoons, was found. About 100 worker ants and 60 cocoons were placed in a formicarium brought from Pretoria for the purpose. The ants soon settled into their new abode.

Further work, to be carried out in Knysna by David Edge, will consist in offering third stage butterfly caterpillars to the ants in the formicarium. The purpose will be to determine if this species of Camponotus is indeed the host-ant. If the ant proves to be the host-ant of the butterfly, it will become possible to study further the development and morphology of the later larval instars, and the pupa of the butterfly.

The soil over much of this habitat was greyish and finely sandy to a depth of 25 to 30 cm. Below this it was admixed with clay to form a light, black-coloured loam which was rich in humus. There appeared to be very few stones, either on or below the surface of the soil.

I would like to conclude by making a few observations concerning the habitat of this colony of the Brenton Blue, but it should be borne in mind that I am not a professional ecologist. The habitat in which this colony of O. niobe occurs is strikingly different from the habitats in which the other nine species of the genus Orachrysops are found. These nine species are found in montane grassland in the vicinity of the eastern escarpment in the northern parts of South Africa, and in coastal grassland in southern KwaZulu-Natal and the Transkei. Only the locality of O. ariadne, near Karkloof in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, bears any similarity to the habitat of O. niobe at Brenton. The O. ariadne locality is also on a south-facing slope and has stands of bracken, at the base of which a soft-leaved species of Indigofera, similar to the one at Brenton, grows. Like O. niobe, O. ariadne also appears to be a marginal species, with very few known localities, each harbouring only small populations of the butterfly. The Brenton locality for O. niobe occupies an area of about half a hectare of bracken-covered southern slope, about one km from the sea. Most of the vegetation appears to be indigenous, but there is a minor invasion of exotics, especially species of pioneers belonging to the daisy family (Asteraceae). I would strongly recommend that a

69 competent botanist be asked to identify the exotic plants present on the site as well as be asked to make recommendations for the management of the vegetational component of the locality.

Recommendations This study, albeit of short duration, has provided some solid data that allow a rational choice for the demarcated stands in Brenton Extension One that should be left undeveloped. The recommendations made below are based on certainty about the areas where females lay their eggs, and the presence of the known larval host plant. The presence of the (presumed) host-ant species was also considered.

The stands under consideration lie mainly between W K Grobler Drive to the north and Fynbosoord to the south. Oviposition by female butterflies was observed on stands 435, 436, 437, 438 and 447, thus making these five plots the most critical in terms of their conservation. Larval host plant and the (presumed) host-ant were also found on stands 442, 443, 444, 445 and 446, and these plots would also, almost certainly, provide suitable habitat for the butterfly. Stands 439 and 440 were not investigated by me, but if conserved would provide a continuous link between the stands noted above and the tract of land to the west, already earmarked as a butterfly reserve. There is little doubt that this two-plot "corridor" would ensure that the viability of the reserve would be significantly increased.

The uniqueness and exclusivity of a butterfly reserve in a developed area of such incomparable scenic beauty can, in the long run, only be of great economic and aesthetic value to the developers, property owners and residents of Brenton Extension One.

Once the life history of O. niobe has been more fully studied, it is intended that a paper describing the morphology and development of the early stages, be published in an appropriate scientific journal.

METAMORPHOSIS, VOL. 7, No. 1 March 1996

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FOOTNOTE

This newsletter is compiled by Jeremy Dobson and is edited by Mark Williams, who endeavours to correct grammatical or taxonomic errors, while retaining the style and tone of the original article as submitted by the author.

This magazine relies on material from you, the members of LepSoc Africa. Please forward any news or photographs that might be of interest to [email protected].

If anyone has any ideas regarding future format or content, please feel free to make suggestions.

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