Parasiomera alfa Sáfián, 2015

Sáfián, Szabolcs, 2020, Description of the previously unknown sexes in four West African Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera) with new data on their distribution, Zootaxa 4834 (2), pp. 219-230 : 220-221

Parasiomera alfa Sáfián, 2015

( FIGS. 1A,B ; 2 ; 3B,D )

Sáfián & Collins (2015): 133–134.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:16A1C3C4-D996-4576-A882-E9EE37BE137D

Illustrated specimen data. ♂ LIBERIA, Lofa County, Wologizi Mountains, Ridge Camp 2 8°7’20.79” N, 9°56’50.75”W, 883 m, General collecting, 22-31.XI.2018, Sáfián, Sz., Simonics, G. Leg. Gen. prep.: SAFI00392 . ANHRT : 28: 43.

ANHRT unique number: ANHRTUK00058072

Description and identification. Forewing length: 16.4 mm. Wingspan: 30.7 mm. General appearence similar to that of female with bright red-orange upperside with black border on both wings and paler yellow underside. Forewing black border, hindwing marginal band slightly broader than in female, hindwing band tapers down to narrow black marginal line, terminates at tornus. Both sexes of P. paradoxa have broader black border on the wings, and P. orientalis (Stempffer, 1962) and P. kivuensis Sáfián & Collins, 2015 have a tiny black dot at the end of the cell on the forewing underside (Sáfián & Collins 2015). The genitalia of the specimen illustrated in Fig. 3 are similar to those of all other species in the genus, showing slight differences from those of P. paradoxa : the uncus in P. alfa is more slender and its pointed tip is longer, similarly their sacci (this should be viewed in proportion, as the examined male of P. alfa is larger than the comparative specimen of P. paradoxa ).

New records. The species was described from the unique female holotype. It was collected on a hilltop, circling rather low with a male which escaped. Very similar bright-orange specimens have since been observed in the Putu Range, the Foya Proposed Protected Area and in the Wologizi Mountains, displaying high up under the canopy of tall ant-trees usually on hilltops. These displaying males did not descend to ground level, and could not be caught, and therefore the true identity of them could not be confirmed. However, a single male was captured under similar circumstance with a long-handle net on a hilltop in the Wologizi Mountains, which supports the possibility of a species more widely distributed in lowland forests in the Liberian sub-region. Only the confirmed new record is listed here and the specimen is illustrated on Fig. 1 .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Parasiomera imagos: P. alfa male (Liberia, Wologizi Mountains) upperside—A, underside—B; P. paradoxa male (Cameroon, Ebogo) upperside—C, underside—D; P. paradoxa (lectotype female (Cameroon, Yendi, Southwest Region) upperside—E, underside—F.

FIGURE 2. Male genitalia (lateral view and separated aedeagi): P.alfa (Liberia, Wologizi Mountains, Gen.prep.: SAFI00392)— A, C; P. paradoxa (Cameroon, Ebogo, Gen. prep.: SAFI00026)—B, D.

FIGURE 3. Known localities of Parasiomera alfa.