Three new species, Apallaga klaudiae sp. n., Gorgyra ziama sp. n., Andronymus teresae sp. n. and a new subspecies, Eagris tetrastigma lomana ssp. n., of skipper butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from the tropical forest zone of Africa are described in comparison with their presumed closest relatives.
During extensive field work in West Africa (Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone), the authors collected two skipper species in the genus Andronymus (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae), which would not fit the descriptions of any existing taxa. Both are described as new, A. magma sp. nov. is known only from Cameroon, while A. fenestra sp. nov. was found in a few localities in the Liberian sub-region of West Africa.
The Afrotropical genus Abantis Hopffer, 1855 includes about 23 species so far, all quite rare. In Evans' Catalogue of the African Hesperiidae only 14 species were listed but, apart from a few newly discovered ones, some of the subspecies indicated over there have subsequently been raised to species level, although they look very similar in facies with previously recognised taxa. This article shows the presence of an unrecognised species similar to A. lucretia Druce, 1909 in West Africa, namely A. fabiana sp. n., and another one similar to both A. contigua Evans, 1937 and A. elegantula Mabille, 1890 in Central Africa, namely A. torbeni sp. n. The rarity in collections of almost all forest-dwelling Abantis spp. is reported as connected to their habit of flying high in the forest canopy, but the authors have no conclusive evidence of it. Most Abantis are hill-toppers, mud lovers and are attracted by dead animals (fish and turtles), although some of them are also flower-visiting.
Five new species of Epitola s.l. (Lycaenidae: Poritiinae) are described in the genera Stempfferia Jackson, 1962 and Cephetola Libert, 1999. Stempfferia salonga sp. n. was found in the ‘Cuvette Centrale’ of the Democratic Republic of Congo and a single specimen was identified also from southern Cameroon. The similar S. buea sp. n. is known only from the unique holotype collected at the foothills of Mount Cameroon, while S. michelliberti sp. n. is distributed in lowland rainforest between southeast Ivory Coast and Guinea. The new species of Cephetola were found only in Liberia. Cephetola praecox sp. n. is known from a single upland forest locality in the Putu Range, whereas C. wologizi sp. n. was collected also in upland forest in the Wologizi Mountains.
A morphologically distinct subspecies of Telchinia pseudepaea from the Guinea Highlands, Liberian subregion is described. Although male genitalia show no differences among the examined populations, both external morphology and geographic distribution support the recognition of the Liberian subregion population as a new subspecies.
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