CELAENORRHININI, Swinhoe, 1912

COCK, MATTHEW J. W. & CONGDON, T. COLIN E., 2011, Observations on the biology of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera) principally from Kenya. Part 3. Pyrginae: Celaenorrhinini, Zootaxa 3033 (1), pp. 1-67 : 4

PYRGINAE: CELAENORRHININI

Warren et al. (2009) found that monophyly of Celaenorrhinini was strongly supported by their data, and its position as sister to Tagiadini + Pyrrhopygini receives good support. Their Celaenorrhinini includes “ Celaenorrhinus , plus some of Evans’ Tagiades group ( Eretis , Sarangesa ), Alenia from Evans’ Pyrgus (Gomalia) group, and the supposedly monotypic Pseudocoladenia (formerly in Coladenia ). In the current circumscription, Celaenorrhinini are African, other than American and Asian members of the pantropical Celaenorrhinus , two Asian species of Sarangesa ( Evans 1949) and the Asian Pseudocoladenia ”. Warren et al. (2009) also point out that “most authors have assumed a close relationship among the genera we place in Tagiadini and Celaenorrhinini , and more research is needed to elucidate their relationship to each other.” Our observations, particularly the food plant specialisation on Acanthaceae , offer significant support to the African members of this tribe being closely related to each other, rather than to the Tagiadini , which itself comprises two equally distinct groups ( Cock & Congdon 2011).

Warren et al. (2009) did not identify any morphological synapomorphy for Celaenorrhinini . We had thought that the use of Acanthaceae as food plants might provide one, but found several exceptions to this. Nevertheless, at the moment, this food plant family unites three of the African genera, Celaenorrhinus , Eretis and Sarangesa , containing the majority of the African Celaenorrhinini .

The genus Pseudocoladenia Shirôzu & Saigusa is restricted to Asia. Observations and an excellent photographic record from Singapore show that the ovum and caterpillars of P. dan dhyana (Fruhstorfer) resemble those of Celaenorrhinus spp. , the pupa differs in that although green with black spiracles (similar to Celaenorrhinus Group 2 below), it is also hairy unlike any Celaenorrhinus spp. so far known, and the food plant is Cyathula prostrata (Amaranthaceae) ( Tan 2008). Plant species of this family are used by some Staphylus spp. (Pyrginae: Carcharodini ) in the Neotropical Region ( Cock 1996; Beccaloni et al. 2008), but otherwise they are seldom used as food plants by Hesperiidae .

In this paper we present partial life histories of eight species of Celaenorrhinus , two species of Eretis , four species of Sarangesa and one of Triskelionia , newly described, partly based on the observations reported here ( Larsen & Congdon 2011). All the species reared by MJWC are noted to have very short, pale or translucent stellate setae a lesser degree between species. For at least one member of the four genera which we have reared ( Celaenorrhinus , Eretis , Sarangesa and Triskelionia ) we have shown that there are five caterpillar instars, and most probably this is the norm for these genera, if not for the tribe. Nevertheless, we normally refer to instars in relation to the final instar, e.g. penultimate instar, n–2 instar etc. in case this is not correct.