Chrysoritis endymion, Pennington 1962: 274

Heath, Alan, 2023, Chrysoritis Butler (Papilionoidea: Lycaenidae: Aphnaeinae) - Part III: An integrative taxonomic revision, Metamorphosis 34 (1), pp. 11-28 : 23

endymion Pennington 1962: 274 . Holotype: Ditsong NM. Type locality: Du Toit’s Kop, Franschhoek. MPT: high elevation montane slopes. Host ant: Crem. peringueyi . For taxonomy, see C. rileyi , below. Conservation status: LC – Rare.

Chrysoritis rileyi (Dickson 1966) . Poecilmitis rileyi Dickson 1966: 241 . Holotype: NHM, London. Type locality: Brandvlei Dam area (Worcester); now also known from a locality 45 km eastwards near Robertson (A. Morton pers. com.). Host ant: Crem. peringueyi . MPT: low elevation, in flat and gently sloping terrain. It flies in sympatry with C. brooksi brooksi . Juvenile stages illustrated here in Fig. 13 . The CAD tree additionally groups a putative brooksi-rileyi hybrid with this taxon, whereas in the COI tree it groups with brooksi , thus confirming its hybrid status.

same geographic region. Compared to C. endymion , C. rileyi has more extensive structural colouring that also has a more greenish tinge to the blue iridescence under lateral lighting; finally, C. rileyi wing veins are more extensively blackened than in C. endymion . Further investigation is needed to confirm species status in these two taxa, given that only a single COI point mutation separates them. Conservation status: EN (2020).

Chrysoritis mithras (Pringle 1995) , stat. rev. Poecilmitis

Figures

Figure 13 – C. rileyi (Brand Vlei) 4th instar (top) and final instar (bottom). Not to scale. An egg of C. rileyi is shown in Fig. 7B in HEA23.