Bicyclus brakefieldi Brattström

Brattström, Oskar, Aduse-Poku, Kwaku, Collins, Steve C. & Brakefield, Paul M., 2015, Revision of the Bicyclus ignobilis species-group (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) with descriptions of two new species, Zootaxa 4018 (1), pp. 57-79 : 68-71

Bicyclus brakefieldi Brattström

( Figs. 15–18 , 29 , 36 )

Bicyclus brakefieldi Brattström 2012 (Medje, DRC)

Material studied. Type material. Holotype: ♂, DRC, Orientale Province, Medje (2°25’N, 27°15’E), iv-vi.1910, Exp. Lang-Chapin leg., OB–TER–0108 ( MRAC). Paratypes: ♂, DRC, Equateur Province, Bamanya, 300 m. a.s.l. (0°01’S, 18°20’E), 28.ix.1961, Rev. G. Hulstaert leg., OB–TER–0009 ( MRAC). ♀, DRC, Orientale Province, Elisabetha, 400 m. a.s.l. (1°14’N, 23°36’E), no date, Mme. Tinant leg., OB–TER–0110 ( MRAC). ♀, DRC, Equateur Province, Eala (0°05’N, 18°20’E), i.1936, Lieut. J. Ghesquière leg., OB–TER–0110 ( MRAC), Misidentified paratype (belongs to B. ignobilis ).

None-type material. DRC: Baliko/Basayo (0°28’N, 25°24’E): 2 ♂, 1 ♀. Cantine (0°31’N, 29°12’E): 1 ♂. Kasuo (0°14’S, 29°03’E): 2 ♂. Kilau (0°11’S, 29°06’E): 1 ♂. Kwokoro (2°40’N, 19°44’E): 1 ♂. Lukolela (1°03’S, 17°12’E): 3 ♂, 1 ♀. Maliva (0°10’N, 29°01’E): 2 ♂. Mt Kirima (0°11’N, 29°06’E): 1 ♀. Pateka (0°48’N, 29°18’E): 3 ♂, 1 ♀.

Diagnosis. The lack of any brush in space 1b on the dorsal forewing, and the absence of any markedly enlarged parts of vein 1b on the hindwing, sets the male of this species apart from all of the other four small members of the species-group ( Fig. 18 ). The hindwing is covered in shiny dark hairs in the anal area, making the males similar to B. rileyi , but the latter species is of a much larger size, and has more elongated and scalloped forewings clearly setting them apart from B. brakefieldi . The female of B. brakefieldi has a yellow-white apical patch with less well-defined borders than similar species ( Fig. 16 ). Accurately separating the female from similar species remains one of the more challenging tasks when dealing with the ignobilis -group. However, now that our suggested pairing has been verified by our molecular phylogeny, we feel confident in our re-evaluation of the female morphology (see separate section about female morphology below).

Distribution. DRC from Lukolela to North Kivu, mainly found north of River Congo ( Fig. 29 ). There is a set of three specimens belonging to the type series at MRAC, all from different collection sites across DRC. A further set of nineteen specimens has now been identified from recently collected material at ABRI, slightly widening the distribution to include the Kivu area. All known specimens are still from the northern parts of DRC, and the distribution is unlikely to extend beyond the western side of River Congo and Ubangi. B. brakefieldi is broadly sympatric with B. ignobilis throughout its range, and there is a small rather surprising overlap with B. rileyi as evidenced from a single specimen of the latter from Lukolela in western DRC.

Comments. This species was originally described by Brattström (2012) based on a male holotype and three paratypes, one male and two females. With much more material available and a molecular phylogeny to verify our re-evaluation of the female morphology within the ignobilis -group, we are certain that one paratype of B. brakefieldi collected in Eala, DRC (OB-TER–0110), is actually a B. ignobilis .

Figures

FIGURES 15 – 18. Bicyclus brakefieldi Brattström 2012. 15. Male, DRC (OB – ABRI – 0024). 16. Female, DRC (OB – ABRI – 1016). 17. Male genitalia, DRC (OB – ABRI – 0093). 18. Androconial structures (ABRI – 14 – 657): There is no well – defined brush in the basal area of space 1 b on the dorsal forewing (present in B. ottossoni sp. nov. and B. vandeweghei sp. nov.). The anal area of the hindwing is covered with dense shiny black hairs and the base colour is also darker in this region. Only the basal parts of the hindwing cell-brush is visible in the image as it is partly covered by the forewing.

FIGURES 27 – 29. Distribution maps for the Bicyclus ignobilis species-group. Records of different species from the same site have been slightly offset when presented in the same map so that all species symbols can be clearly seen. Multiple records close to each other have been collapsed to a single point. The complete distributional data is available in Supplementary Table 1. 27 – 28. B. ignobilis (Open Squares) and B. maesseni (Open Crosses). 27. West Africa up to the Cameroonian border. 28. Cameroonian border and eastwards. 29. Remaining species occurring between Nigeria and Eastern DRC: B. brakefieldi (Filled Circles). B. ottossoni (Filled Crosses). B. rileyi (Open Circles). B. vandeweghei (Filled Diamonds).

FIGURES 30 – 36. Identification of females from the ignobilis- group. The images are not shown to scale, arrows indicate the main characters of importance for identification. 30. B. rileyi is much larger than any other species and the light markings in the apical patch continue below the eyespot in space 2, and often reach the lower margin of the wing. 31. B. maesseni has the edge of the apical patch more broken up in the area closest to the apical eyespot. Also, vein 4 is heavily marked with darker scales, breaking up the patch along its entire length. 32. B. ignobilis (western part of range) almost always lack the ventral hindwing spot in space 3, the apical patch is also much more solid than in B. maesseni with vein 4 just making a dark indentation in the basal part of the light patch. 33. B. ignobilis (eastern part of range) has vein 4 more heavily darkened so that the apical patch is sometimes fully broken up in sections. This makes them appear similar to B. maesseni, but the latter species is not sympatric in the eastern part of the range of B. ignobilis. The ventral discal band gradually gets a more pronounced edge at the end of the cell on both wings in a clinal fashion towards the east of the species range. 34. In B. ottossoni the basal part of the apical patch lacks indentations of dark scales along vein 4. The outer borders of the patch are much better defined than in the other species. The distal margin of the forewing is also much less convex, giving the wing a more squared shape. 35. B. vandeweghei have much more prominent light shading around the hindwing eyespots. The apical patch is otherwise similar to B. ignobilis. 36. B. brakefieldi have a more yellowish colour in the apical patch, and the part of the patch being placed basally of the eyespot is a bit fainter than in other species.