Cephetola wologizi Sáfián, 2021

Sáfián, Szabolcs, Collins, Steve, Warren-Gash, Haydon & Belcastro, Claudio, 2021, Description of five new species of Epitola sensu lato (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae Poritiinae) from West and Central Africa, Zootaxa 4981 (3), pp. 554-576 : 571-573

Cephetola wologizi Sáfián sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

( Figs 13A–D ; 14A, C ; 15 )

Holotype: • ♂ LIBERIA, Lofa County, Wologizi Mountains, Belegizi Ridge and summit Mountains general collecting, 8°7’27.24»N, 9°56’10.91»W, 1000-1086 m, 4–9.XI.2018 Sáfián, Sz. , Simonics, G. Leg. ANHRT unique ID number: ANHRTUK00058086. Gen. prep. SAFI00385 . Deposited in ANHRT.

Paratype: • ♂ LIBERIA, Lofa County, Wologizi Mountains, Belegizi Ridge and summit Mountains general collecting, 8°7’27.24»N, 9°56’10.91»W, 1000-1086 m, 4–9.XI.2018 Sáfián, Sz., Simonics, G. Leg. ANHRT unique ID number: ANHRTUK00058083. Deposited in ANHRT.

Description. Forewing length: ca. 15 mm. Wingspan: ca. 28.5 mm. Wing shape typical of Cephetola triangular with acute apex and slightly convex, curving outer margin. Upperside completely black with extensive deep metallic blue sheen on hindwing. Only scattered blue scales present on forewing ( Fig. 13A ). Underside dark brown with extensive graphite-grey in post-median on hindwing, also two zig-zagging grey submarginal lines and other grey spotting at hindwing base. Forewing with grey gently curving submarginal line, connected to an inner zig-zagging line. Further grey dusting present in median and base ( Fig. 13B ). Legs and palpi dark brown, ringed with grey, eyes black, hairless, smooth. Antennae black ringed with grey, their club black with ochre tip.

Male genitalia. Medium, 1.5 mm along dorsoventral axis. Slender and rather simple, similar to other species in the group. Coremata missing. Tegumen narrow, uncus triangular in lateral view, sub-unci angled, very slender, tip of longer arm very slightly upcurving. Valva triangular, broadening from base, broadest in the middle, narrows down to the dorsally pointy tip. The valva’s ventral edge slightly sinuous. Saccus slender, shorter than half the length of the valva ( Fig. 14A ). Aedeagus typical to many species in the genus, spear-shaped with triangular tooth on dorsal edge, broader in the middle. Anterior end rounded, tip narrows down acutely ( Fig. 14C ).

Etymology. Masculine noun in apposition. The name refers to the species’ type locality, the Wologizi Mountains. The mountains and the surrounding lowland forests are proposed to be protected to conserve the rich wildlife of Liberia.

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. The only Cephetola with similar silvery-grey dusting on the hindwing underside with limited blue spotting on the forewing upperside is C. aureliae , which is known only from Eastern DRC. The two rather prominent blue spots on the forewing of C. aureliae immediately sets it aside from the Liberian C. wologizi , which lacks any blue spots on its forewing with only a few blue scattered scales present. The recently described, similar species C. wingae Sáfián, 2015 lacks silvery-grey scaling on its underside. The unique shape of valva with the strongly hooked tip sets it aside from any known Cephetola species.

Bionomics. The holotype and the only paratype were captured during display flight on a hilltop at 1000 m asl. in the Wologizi Mountains ( Fig. 15 ) displaying rather high at lower canopy level in a fire-disturbed upland forest between 9.30 and 10.00 a.m. The species was replaced by the slightly larger C. doleta ( Kirby, 1890) just before 10.00 with slight overlap in their display time. Males of other Epitola s.l. species also frequented the same hilltop; C. pinodes ( Druce, 1890) , C. subcoerulea ( Roche, 1954) , Stempfferia ciconia (Grose-Smith & Kirby, [1892]) , S. moyambina , S. katikae Sáfián, 2015 were all collected on the same day ( Sáfián et al. 2020a), as well as a single specimen of Iridana agneshorvathae Collins, Larsen & Sáfián, 2008 ( Sáfián et al. 2020b).

Remarks. C. wologizi has no close relative in West Africa. Actually, the only similar-looking species, C. aureliae with very different genitalia, is known from a few specimens: The holotype of that species was collected in savannah-forest mosaic in the Semuliki Valley at the foothills of Rwenzori in the DRC ( Libert 1999), other specimens were captured in mid-altitude forest near Djugu ( Ducarme 2018) some 4600 km from the type locality of C. wologizi .

Since most species of smaller Epitola s.l. are often difficult to collect, it would not be appropriate to even guess about the distribution of C. wologizi . However, its occurrence in the upland zone of Wologizi Mountains would predict its presence in other mountainous localities in the Guinea Highlands, particularly in the Nimba Mountains, where another undescribed species of Cephetola , C. wingae Sáfián, 2015 was recently found. C. wingae has since been recorded also in the Wologizi Mountains, not far from the type locality of C. wologizi ( Sáfián 2020) . Other ‘Nimba specials’ such as Hypolimnas aubergeri Hecq, 1987 , Euphaedra aubergeri Hecq, 1977 , Bettonula bettoni nimba ( Collins & Larsen, 2000) have also been found in Wologizi ( Sáfián et al. 2020b), indicating wider distribution of such pre-montane and upland elements of the Guinea Highlands.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Cephetola males. C. wologizi, holotype. A, upperside; B, underside. C. wologizi, paratype. C, upperside; D, underside. C. aurealiae, holotype, DRC. E, upperside, F, underside. The latter was accessed through the online type collection of RMCA (see link at the list of examined material).

FIGURE 14. Cephetola male genitalia. C. wologizi, holotype, gen. prep.: SAFI00385.A, lateral view; C, aedeagus. C. aureliae, holotype. B, lateral view, D, aedeagus (reproduced from Libert’s original drawing (Libert 1999).

FIGURE 15. Type localities of C. wologizi and C. praecox and known localities of C. obscuralis, C. obscuralis ssp. (sensu Libert 2020) and C. aureliae.