Zophopetes ganda Evans, 1937

Cock, Matthew J. W., Congdon, Colin E. & Collins, Steve C., 2014, Observations on the biology of Afrotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera). Part 6. Hesperiinae incertae sedis: palm feeders, Zootaxa 3831 (1), pp. 1-61 : 23

Zophopetes ganda Evans, 1937

Evans (1937) described this species from Côte d’Ivoire, commenting that it is ‘generally similar to [Z.] dysmephila ’. It is known from Ghana to Kinshasa, DR Congo, but is rare ( Larsen 2005, T.B. Larsen pers. comm. 2014). SCC found caterpillars of what he suspected was Z. ganda on Phoenix at 1500m on the Obudu Plateau, East Nigeria, 7–11 Apr 2007. The three pupae reared were all parasitized by a larval-pupal tachinid fly. The pupae are preserved in ABRI and two have cast final instar caterpillar skins. The head capsule is light brown, with the posterior margin and epicranial suture narrowly dark; a black line from apex, close to epicranial suture to just below apex of adfrontals; adjacent to the adfrontals about half way down, a black spot, slightly wider than the line above; an inverted V at the apex of the frons; a dark line through anterior stemmata; narrow black pronotum. These markings are within the range observed within Z. dysmephila and Z. quaternata . However, the caterpillars were subjectively smaller than those of Z. dysmephila and Z. quaternata , and no other members of this species group have been reported from eastern Nigeria, so we treat this as a provisional association, needing confirmation.