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. 1 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 3 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 4 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. 5 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.