Euphaedra cyparissa aurata Carpenter, 1895

Pyrcz, Tomasz W., Warren-Gash, Haydon, Lorenc-Brudecka, Jadwiga, Dieuwko Knoop,, Oremans, Philippe & Safian, Szabolcs, 2013, Taxonomy and distribution pattern of the African rain forest butterfly genus Euphaedra Huebner sensu stricto with the description of three new subspecies of Euphaedra cyparissa (Cramer) and one of E. sarcoptera (Butler) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Limenitidinae, Adoliadini), ZooKeys 298, pp. 1-37 : 12-13

publication ID	https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.298.4894
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/7C074E5F-44F8-51EC-A4AF-9FDC4B5E312D
treatment provided by	ZooKeys by Pensoft
scientific name	Euphaedra cyparissa aurata Carpenter, 1895
status

Treatment

Euphaedra cyparissa aurata Carpenter, 1895 Figs 2C, 2D View Figure 2 , 4C, 4D View Figure 4 , 9E View Figure 9 , 10E View Figure 10

Euphaedra cyparissa var. aurata Carpenter, 1895: 305.

Euphaedra cyparissa aurata Hecq, 1999: 4, 5

Type-locality.

Lokoja, Nigeria

Material examined.

1 ♂: Nigeria, Butatong, Calabar, 14.XI.1995, S. Collins leg.; 1 ♀: same data but 14-18.XI.1995; 2 ♂: Nigeria, east, T. Davey leg.; 1 ♀: same data; 1 ♂: Nigeria, Lagos, IX.1957, J. Boorman leg.; 1 ♀: same data but X.1962; 3 ♂: Nigeria, Mamu Forest, IV.1966, S. Collins leg.; 1 ♀: same data; 8 ♂: Nigeria, Obudu, 09-12.XI.1995, S. Collins leg.; 1 ♂: same data, prep. genit. 12/09.05.2012, J. Lorenc; 2 ♀: same data; 1 ♀: same data, prep. genit. 13/09.05.2012, J. Lorenc; 1 ♂: Nigeria, Okrasa, Calabar, S. Collins leg.; 1 ♀: Nigeria, Old Ekuri Calabar, 24-28.XI.1995, S. Collins leg.; 2 ♀: Nigeria, Olokomeji, IX.1957, J. Boorman leg.; 2 ♂: Cameroon, Ebogo, IV.1983, S. Collins leg., prep. genit. 16/09.05.2012, J. Lorenc, ABRI; 3 ♀: Nigeria, Isheri F., XII.1989, II-III.1990, A. A. Knoop Lindeboom leg; 2 ♂: Nigeria, Oban XI.1995, T. B. Larsen leg.; 1 ♂: Nigeria, Anambra F. R., VII.1962, St. Leger leg.; 6 ♂: Nigeria, Isheri F., IV.1988, II.1989, IV.1989, XII.1989, II.1990, A. A. Knoop Lindeboom leg.; 1 ♂: Nigeria, Isheri F., II.1991, D. P. Knoop leg. DK; 2 ♂: Nigeria, Isheri Forest, 29.III.1989, A. Knoop leg.; 3 ♂: same data but 09.V.1990; 1 ♂: same data but 23.I.1990; 1 ♂: same data but 14.II.1990; 1 ♂: same data but 09.IV.1990; 2 ♀: same data but I.1990; 1 ♀: same data but 10.III.1990; 1 ♀: same data but 05.IV.1989; 1 ♀: same data but 18.II.1990; 1 ♂: Nigeria, Olokomeji, 16.V.1988, A. Knoop leg.; 1 ♂: same data but 20.IV.1988; 1 ♀: same data; 1♂: Nigeria, Anambra State, Nsukka, 28.IX.1982, J. Wojtusiak leg.; 1 ♂: same data but 01.II.1983; 2 ♂: no data, MZUJ; 1 ♂: Nigeria, Olokomeji, 13.V.1989, leg. A. Knoop; 1 ♀: same locality, 20.IV.1988, leg. A. Knoop, PhO; 1 ♀: Gabon, Mondah, VIII.1993, leg. G. Faravel, GF.

Diagnosis.

Upperside colour black and mint green with a golden yellow subapical patch, usually with little or no green overcast.

Redescription.

Male ( Figs 2C, 2D View Figure 2 ): Head, thorax and abdomen: identical to other subspecies. FW length 29-41 mm, mean: 36 mm, n=42 (one exceptionally small specimen, 25 mm, was examined). FWD: with an elongated apical part, and gently convex outer margin; most of wing surface black; costa from base to apex dusted with dark blue; a yellow green area from wing base to two-thirds of anal margin, slightly entering discal cell and base of cell Cu1-Cu2; a large, roughly rectangular rich yellow subapical patch dusted along the edges with yellow green scales, with sharply defined zigzagging basal limit and somewhat diffused outer limit; fringes grey. HWD oval with a gently scalloped outer margin; predominantly steely bluish with some green yellow scaling in discal cell and in cells M1-M2 and M2-M3, with a blackish marginal area with a strong dark blue flush, gradually narrowing from roughly 4-5 mm at apex to 1 mm at tornus, leaving a dark blue submarginal dot in cell Cu1-Cu2; fringes grey. FWV mostly green yellow except for a large rich yellow subapical patch with some greenish overcast in apical part, a series of black spots, at wing base, mid cell, cell end, the latter two elongated, a half-moon one in mid cell Cu1-Cu2; two black elongated patches and four spots, two enclosing basally and distally a mostly rich yellow patch suffused with green yellow in its apical part, and two large, roughly square tornal patches in Cu1-Cu2 and Cu2-1/2A; HWV mostly rich yellow with an elongated basal pinkish patch extending from costal margin to Rs to one-third costa, edged with black; two black discal spots, and a series of smaller patches forming a gradually shrinking row from mod costa to discal cell end, a row of eight large, mostly rectangular black submarginal patches; marginal area steely blue. Male genitalia ( Fig. 9E View Figure 9 ): Not differing noticeably from the nominotypical except for a small, sharp apical tip on the valvae.

Female ( Figs 4C, 4D View Figure 4 ): FW length: 40-48 mm. Sexual dimorphism slight, recognized from the male by the larger size (FW length: 39-47mm, mean: 44mm, n=16). Female genitalia ( Fig. 10E View Figure 10 ) Bursa copulatrix large, rounded; no signa; ductus bursae (0.16 mm) narrow, approximately the same width over the whole length, two-thirds the length of bursa; colliculum slat like with gently folded edges, strongly sclerotized, half the length of ductus bursae; ductus seminalis joins the colliculum at the entrance of ductus bursae; lamella postvaginalis small, slat-like; papillae anales three times as long (0.11 mm) as wide in lateral view, compressed in ventral view; apophyse posteriores as long as the width of papillae anales; von Siebold organ prominent (but smaller than in some species of the Euphaedra ceres group ( Pyrcz et al. 2011).

Range.

Found in the rain forests throughout southern Nigeria, western Cameroon and Gabon. An individual (a female) collected by Faravel in Mondah, Gabon, is tentatively associated with this subspecies although it is lighter orange on the FW and HWD, and is therefore similar to Euphaedra cyparissa nimbina and also to Euphaedra sarcoptera nipponicorum , with which it was confused by Vande Weghe (2010). More sampling from southern Cameroon and Gabon is needed to evaluate the subspecific status of this population.