Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 4175 No. 5: 18 Oct. 2016
Type: Article
Published: 2016-10-17
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4175.5.3
Page range: 449–462
Abstract views: 88
PDF downloaded: 2

Two new species of Bebearia Hemming, 1960, as further evidence of centre of endemism of butterflies in Western Nigeria (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Limenitinae)

Institute of Silviculture and Forest Protection, University of West Hungary, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky u. 4. H-9400 Sopron, Hungary. African Butterfly Research Institute, P O Box 14308, Nairobi 0800 Kenya.
Zoological Museum of the Jagiellonian Univeristy, Ingardena 6, 30-060 Krakow, Poland.
University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge University, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK.
Lepidoptera fruit-feeding butterflies tropical rainforest Adoliadini Bebearia oshogbo sp. nov. Bebearia wojtusiaki sp. nov. western Nigeria sub-region West Africa

Abstract

Two new endemic butterfly species from the genus Bebearia: B. oshogbo sp. nov. and B. wojtusiaki sp. nov., are described from western Nigeria; B. oshogbo is most closely related to the Guineo-Congolian B. tentyris (Hewitson) and the Upper Guinean B. osyris (Schultze), whereas B. wojtusiaki constitutes a morphological and biogeographic link between the Central African B. plistonax (Hewitson) and the Upper Guinean endemic B. arcadius (Fabricius). The finding of these new species gives further strong evidence that western Nigeria should be recognized as a distinct biogeographic sub-region of West Africa, as the area hosts a substantial number of endemic taxa (listed in the discussion).

 

References

  1. Belcastro, C. (1986) A new Euriphene (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae) from Loma Mountains (Sierra Leone). Problemi Attuali di Scienza e di Cultura, 260, 195–196.

    Berger, L.A. (1981) Les papillons du Zaire. Weissenbruch, Bruxelles, 323 pp. [In French]

    Bossart, J.L., Opuni-Frimpong, E., Kuudaar, S. & Nkrumah, E. (2006) Richness, abundance, and complementarity of fruit-feeding butterfly species in relict sacred forests and forest reserves of Ghana. Biodiversity and Conservation, 15 (1), 333–359.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-005-2574-6

    Brattström, O. (2010) Butterflies in Ologbo Forest. Survey Report for Presco Plc., 15 pp. http://www.bicyclus.se/docs/Ologbo-report-web.pdf

    Collins, S.C. & Larsen, T.B. (2008) Eighteen new species, five new subspecies, and interesting data on other African butterflies—Fourth ABRI Research Paper. Metamorphosis, 19 (2), 41–114.

    Condamin, M. (1973) Monographie du genre Bicyclus (Lepidoptera Satyridae). Ifan-Dakar, Dakar, 324 pp. [In French]

    d’Abrera, B. (2004) Butterflies of the Afrotropical Region. Part 2: Nymphalidae, Libytheidae. Hill House Publishing, Melbourne, 323 pp.

    Farquharson, C.O. (1921) [1922]. Five years’ observations (1914–1918) on the bionomics of southern Nigerian insects, chiefly directed to the investigation of lycaenid life-histories and the relation of Lycaenidae, Diptera, and other insects to ants. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1921, 319–448.

    Heath, A., Newport, M.A. & Hancock, D. (2002) The butterflies of Zambia. African Butterfly Research Institute and The Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa, Nairobi, 137 pp.

    Hecq, J. (2000) Butterflies of the world. Part 9, Nymphalidae IV Bebearia. Goecke & Evers, Keltern, 7 pp.

    Hecq, J. (2001) Une nouvelle espece de Bebearia? (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae). Lambillionea, 101 (1), 77. [In French]

    Klots, A.B. (1956) Lepidoptera. In: Tuxen, S.L. (Ed.), Taxonomists’ Glossary of Genitalia in Insects. Munksgaard, Copenhagen. 97–110.

    Larsen, T.B. (1991) The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 522 pp.

    Larsen, T.B. (2002) Hazards of butterfly collecting—the ‘best’ butterfly days of my life—Gambari, Nigeria, 1969. Entomologist’s Record and Journal of Variation, 114, 82–83.

    Larsen, T.B. (2005) Butterflies of West Africa. Apollo Books, Svendborg, 595 pp.

    Larsen, T.B., Prycz, T., Sáfián, S. & Warren-Gash, H. (2009) Two biogeographically significant species of Euriphene (Boisduval, 1847) from West Africa and Nigeria: E. epe Pyrcz & Larsen and E. taigola Sáfián & Warren-Gash (Lepidoptera: Nymphalinae: Adoliadini) Metamorphosis, Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa, 20, 389–399.

    Larsen, T.B., Riley, J. & Cornes, M.A. (1980) The butterfly fauna of a secondary bush locality in Nigeria. Journal of Research in Lepidoptera, 18, 4–23.

    Libert, M. (2014) Sur le taxonomie du genre Celaenorrhinus Hübner en Afrique (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae). African Butterfly Research Institute, Nairobi, 272 pp. [In French]

    Miller, L.D. (1970) Nomenclature of wing veins and cells. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera, 8, 37–48.

    Pyrcz, T.W., Lorenc, J. & Knoop, P.D. (2012) New species of Euphaedra Hübner of the ceres group from southwestern Nigeria—with new evidence from female genital morphology (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae). Genus, 22 (4), 621–638.

    Razowski, J. (1996) Słownik morfologii owadów. PWN, Warszawa, 430 pp.Sáfián, S. & Warren, R.D. (2010) The butterflies of IITA. In: Peacock, J. (Ed.), Conserving endangered species in Nigeria. Nigerian Field Society 80th Anniversary IITA, Ibadan 11–12 June 2010. IITA, Ibadan, pp. 9–15.

    van Velzen, R., Wahlberg, N., Sosef, M.S.M. & Bakker, F.T. (2013) Effects of changing climate on species diversification in tropical forest butterflies of the genus Cymothoe (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 108 (3), 546–564.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bij.12012

    Vande weghe, G. (2010) Les papillons du Gabon. Wildlife Conservation Society, Libreville, 426 pp. [In French]