Pardaleodes tibullus torensis Bethune-Baker 1906

Cock, Matthew J. W. & Congdon, T. Colin E., 2014, Observations on the biology of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera). Part 7. Hesperiinae incertae sedis: grass and bamboo feeders, Zootaxa 3872 (4), pp. 301-354 : 319-320

Pardaleodes tibullus torensis Bethune-Baker 1906

Evans (1937) and earlier authors treated this species as P. reichenowi ( Plötz 1879) (described from Aburi ( Ghana), Bonjongo ( Cameroon), Eningo ( Côte d’Ivoire)). Later, Evans (1951) stated that the previously unrecognised tibullus (Fabricius) was the senior synonym. Bethune-Baker (1906) described P. torensis from Toro, Uganda, as a valid species, but recognised that it might be the eastern form of P. tibullus . Evans (1937) treated the Kenya and Uganda population as torensis , which he considered a subspecies of P. tibullus . Lindsey & Miller (1965) found no reliable way to distinguish the two subspecies, and so considered P. tibullus monotypic, which has been followed by some subsequent authors (e.g. Carcasson 1981, Ackery et al. 1995). However, Larsen (1991) recognised both subspecies, and in Larsen (2005), justified their separation as ‘the orange markings of the forewing are consistently broader in ssp. tibullus and more strongly fused’.

In Ghana, Sourakov & Emmel (1997) found caterpillars of ssp. tibullus on a ‘wide-leaved forest grass’, Cenchrus (= Pennisetum ) sp. ( Chemisquy et al. (2010) show that Pennisetum and Cenchrus should be combined under the older name, Cenchrus , although this is not followed universally; accordingly we show the synonymy in this paper where the earlier identification was as a Pennisetum sp.). They illustrate and briefly describe a mature caterpillar from Ghana: ‘The larvae have little pigmentation, so that some areas of the body are translucent. The subdorsal areas are coated with a wax-type substance, which creates white longitudinal stripes. The head is black.’

In Kenya, this is another species of western forests, particularly Kakamega Forest, where it is moderately common, and a species regularly seen. MJWC would consider it more common as an adult than P. b ul e, but collected only one pupa compared to several collections of P. bule early stages. The adult behaviour is similar to the last: resting, sunbathing (Figure 16.1) and feeding at flowers (Figure 16.2).

Life history

MJWC found the food plant in Kakamega Forest, Kenya, to be Setaria megaphylla , growing at the edge of a small clearing in the forest. Early stages of Pardaleodes bule were collected from the same plants in the immediate vicinity. The leaf shelters were not distinguished from those of P. b ul e.

No caterpillars were found, but the cast final instar skin and head capsule associated with the field-collected pupa showed that the head is 2.6 x 3.2mm wide x high (n=1), dark brown, slightly paler on the dorsal part of the face, on the epicranium each side of the epicranial suture. The 23mm pupa ( Figure 17 ) was not distinguished from that of P. b ul e.

Figures

FIGURE 17. Pupa of Pardaleodes tibullus, ventral view; collected on Setaria sp., Kakamega Forest, Kenya, 18 Jun 1990; photographed 18 Jun; adult 5 Jul; 23 mm; 91 / 45 C. The long pointed cremaster is partially obscured.