Observations on the biology of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera). Part 9. Hesperiinae incertae sedis: Zingiberales feeders, genera of unknown biology and an overview of the Hesperiinae incertae sedis
Author
Cock, Matthew J. W.
Author
Congdon, T. Colin E.
Author
Collins, Steve C.
text
Zootaxa
2016
4066
3
201
247
journal article
51187
10.11646/zootaxa.4066.3.1
efd9df5e-1439-4724-ae76-a219f7c3ce70
1175-5326
264653
680D0FB4-F3BC-4562-B214-631067287218
Xanthodisca rega
Mabille, 1890
Evans (1937)
treated
X. rega
Mabille 1889
as the West African subspecies of
X. vibius
, but
Carcasson (1981)
and
Ackery
et al
. (1995)
treat it as a distinct subspecies, and the two overlap in
Cameroon
(
Larsen 2005
). Described from
Sierra Leone
, this species is found from
Senegal
, west to
Cameroon
and
Gabon
(
Ackery
et al
. 1995
,
Larsen 2005
), although Vande Weghe (2010) considers the record from
Gabon
unlikely to be correct. In
Côte d’Ivoire
,
Vuattoux (1999)
reared three specimens of this species from
Aframomum cereum
(as
A. sceptrum
) collected in
July 1979
and
December 1988
.
Larsen (2005)
and Vande weghe (2010) repeat this food plant record. MJWC also reared this species once in
Côte d’Ivoire
from a final instar caterpillar collected on an
Aframomum
sp. (reminiscent of
A. orientale
) on
3 June 1989
.
The leaf shelter was on one of the lower leaves; only the basal third of the leaf remained, and it was folded upwards along the midrib. About four days before the prepupa, the caterpillar was
30mm
long; head brown, slightly paler adjacent epicranial suture; rugose; widest nearer base, 2.4 x
2.7mm
wide x high; body translucent dull, dark green, the dorsal line darker, brown gonads visible on A5; anal plate with an unusual black dot on the posterior margin; spiracles pale; all legs concolorous. The
18mm
pupa (
Figure 24
) had a transverse row of three very short frontal projections (Figure 24.2); thorax brown, abdomen whitish brown; T1 spiracle surrounded by a dark brown C-shaped rim similar to that of
X. vibius
, the central hole measured
0.66mm
across ventrally-dorsally, and the rim measured
0.46mm
across dorsally,
0.22m
posteriorly and
0.42mm
ventrally, i.e. rather narrower than that of
X. vibius
; a white streak just anterodorsal to T1 spiracle. The adult emerged after 18 days.