Iolaus gatamaiyu, Sáfián & Collins, 2022

Sáfián, Szabolcs & Collins, Steve C., 2022, A new species of Iolaus Hübner, [1819] (Papilionoidea: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) in the subgenus Argiolaus Druce, 1891 from Kenya, Metamorphosis 33 (1), pp. 42-47 : 43-46

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.4314/met.v33i1.5
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A723BEEA-001A-4453-84B4-4D81773F9FC1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15728917
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A487C5-3D08-1B1A-487D-9277D515FD27
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Iolaus gatamaiyu
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Iolaus gatamaiyu sp. nov. (Figs: 1A, D; 2A, D; 3A; 4A, 4D; 5A, 6A, 7)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C1FEFE56-0CD0-45F2-AB0C-F4C7F22A34AF

Type material: Holotype ♂ KENYA, Gatamayu 8000 ft. May 1995. Leg.: S. Collins. Gen. prep.: SAFI00148 . Coordinates: 0°57'55.11"S, 36°41'36.53"E, Elevation: 2200–2300 m asl. Deposited in ABRI. GoogleMaps

Paratypes: ♀ KENYA, Gatamayu 8000 ft I/1991. Leg.: S. Collins (bred). Gen. prep.: SAFI 00149 ; 27♂♂, 28♀♀ KENYA, Gatamayu 8000 ft (most specimens were bred) various dates between 1991 and 1995 ; ♀ KENYA Nyabeni 8000 ft. ii.1991. Leg.: S.C. Collins. All deposited in ABRI.

Descriptions

Male facies ( Figs 1A, C View Figure 1 ): Forewing length 17.5 mm, wingspan 33.5 mm. General appearance as for other males in the subgenera Argiolaus and Philiolaus with black ground colour overlaid by extensive iridescent blue on upperside, and dirty white underside with orange or red sub-marginal lines and two hair-tails at the tip of veins 1 and 3 on the hindwing. Blue colour of bright royal blue tone with no green or silvery tinge. Slightly less than basal half of forewing covered with blue, just covering base of the fork of veins 3 and 4, except along costa, where black extends almost to base. Outer edge of blue rounded, flatter on costal edge, slightly oblong towards outer margin, widest in space 1B. Hindwing covered almost entirely with blue, except dark grey-black in space 1A, along broad dark grey-black costa and black margin between apex and tornus, which tapers down into a broad black marginal line. Dark red tornal lobe prominent, additional claret-red round-spot present at margin in space 1b, continues in black sub-marginal line that ends at vein 3. Blue scaling quite diffuse in space 6, separated visibly from rest of blue area by strongly blackened vein 6. Androconia circular, dark shiny grey with dark grey, well-defined round heart, covering most of cell and upper part of wing to black-grey costa. Its lower edge speckled with blue scales. Underside dirty white. Forewing with fine, slightly convexly curving claret-red, dashed sub-marginal line between veins 2 and 6, with second and third dashes from inner edge being the two longest. Forewing androconial hair-tuft beige-orange. On hindwing, single, conspicuous, red, concavely curving line present. Outer sub-marginal line absent. Tornal black line fine, broken, spot at end of space 1A mainly black edged with deep red ring, one light blue and another deep red ring basally. Spot in space 2 reduced, dark red, speckled with light blue scales basally, connected to red line. Tails black, with white edge. Fringes (cilia) black, short along outer margin of forewing upperside, longer nearer tornus and along inner edge. Dark grey-black on hindwing, longer lighter grey along inner margin. Fringes grey on forewing underside, white on hindwing. Head, thorax and abdomen black with greyish hairs on upperside, covered by white hairs on thorax underneath, abdomen with brown overlay. Palpi black on top, white below, more than twice as long as diameter of eyes. Eyes smooth, black. Antennae black, speckled with tiny white dots or lines, only slightly thickened towards apex, their length shorter than half of forewing.

Male genitalia ( Figs 2A, D View Figure 2 ; 3A View Figure 3 ): Argiolaus - type. Uncus slightly hairy laterally, bi-lobed with long and downcurving tentacle like tip on each lobe. Sub-unci rudimentary, appearing as two rounded protruson at ventral base of uncus. Saccus strongly reduced, band-like, most visible in posterior view. Valvae triangular, with large spine-like process on ventral edge, tapering to strongly inwardly curving tip. Fine serration present between ventral spine and tip. Fultura inferior circular, with lobe, which appears as triangle in lateral view. Aedeagus short, basal one-third bulbous, ventrally more sclerotized, dorsally membranous, broader middle section tapers down into terminal spine ventrally. On the membrane of vesica dorsally, short, upcurving spine (cornutus), on the tip of vesica a longer bent cornutus present.

Female facies ( Figs 4A, D View Figure 4 ): Forewing length 16.8 mm, wingspan 32 mm. General appearance as for females of other species in the sub-genera Argiolaus and Philiolaus with black ground colour overlaid by blue, and orange spotting, sometimes fused into band along outer margin on hindwing in spaces 1a, 2 and 3. Underside dirty white with black and/or orange-red sub-marginal lines and two tails at the tip of veins 1 and 2 and a small kick at the tip of vein 3 on hindwing. Blue colour of dusky dark blue tone with darker silvery blue in outer half. Less than half of forewing covered with blue basally, costa broadly black to base. Outer edge of blue area evenly rounded. Basal half of hindwing covered with blue, between vein 1 and 5, with only a few scattered blue scales appearing in space 6. Rest of costal area dark grey. Black sub-marginal line formed by prominent but narrow lunules in spaces 1, 2, 3 and 4. Tornal lobe claret red, edged with black line, not conjoined with the bright orange spotting in spaces 1-4 that fuses into an orange band. Tails black, edged with white. Underside colour and pattern and body identical to those of male.

Female genitalia ( Figs 5A View Figure 5 ; 6A View Figure 6 ): Papillae anales oval in lateral view with rather sharp posterior edge, sharply angled on dorsal edge. Apophyses posterior straight, their length is as papillae anales dorsoventrally. Lamella post and antevaginalis strongly sclerotized, long and complex with narrow “neck” below papillae, broadening at right angles both dorsally and ventrally. Ventral tip of plate with unusual hair-tuft. Plate is shield-like in ventral view with small protrusion in middle of posterior edge. Antrum of ductus very broad, sclerotized only at the mouth ventrally. Ductus broader than dorsoventral length of papillae, creased longitudinally, narrowing down only at the mouth of bursa copulatrix. Bursa globular, membranous, its diameter twice as long as dorsoventral length of papillae.

DIAGNOSIS

In general appearance, both the male and female of I. gatamaiyu sp. n. are very similar to those of I. manasei , but the blue on the forewing is less extensive in I. gatamaiyu sp. n., just crossing the fork of veins 3 and 4 ( Figs 1A, D, B, E View Figure 1 ; 4A, D, B, E View Figure 4 ). The blue area extends beyond one-third of the length of vein 3 in both sexes of I. manasei . It is worth mentioning that the lack of a small black incision along the cell-closing vein on the forewing of both sexes could also prove diagnostic to I. gatamaiyu , as these appear in both I. manasei and I. crawshayi maureli ( Figs 1B,C View Figure 1 ; 4B,C View Figure 4 ), but examination of further material of the latter two species would be needed to establish consistency of this feature. Presently, the surest way of separating I. gatamaiyu sp. n. from I. manasei is to view the male genitalia, as the subunci are rudimentary in I. gatamaiyu sp. n. ( Fig. 2A View Figure 2 ), while a small straight process with blunt tip is present in I. manasei (similar to those in I. silas ) ( Fig. 2B View Figure 2 ). The valvae are also very different, triangular (in lateral view) in I. gatamaiyu sp. n. with a triangular spine-like process posteriorly ( Fig. 2A View Figure 2 ), and the tip strongly bent inwards ( Figs 2A View Figure 2 ; 3A View Figure 3 ). The valvae in I. manasei (as for those in I. silarus ) are narrower and oval, with strongly oblong fish-tail like tip ( Fig. 2B View Figure 2 ). The male genitalia of I. gatamaiyu sp. n. are more similar to those of I. crawshayi crawshayi , I. crawshayi littoralis (genitalia illustrated in Stempffer & Bennett 1958) and particularly to those of the Ethiopian I. crawshayi maureli ( Figs 2C, F View Figure 2 ; 3C View Figure 3 ), but these taxa lack the sub-marginal red line on the forewing underside ( Figs 1F View Figure 1 ; 4F View Figure 4 ). The female genitalia resemble those of I. silas (not illustrated), but this species has its ductus bursae completely sclerotised to the mouth of the bursa copulatrix (identically to Libert’s (1993) illustration, but this is contradictory to Henning & Henning (1984), who state that the ductus of I. silas is not well sclerotized). Both I. manasei and I. crawshayi maureli have their ductus more strongly sclerotised ( Figs 5B, C View Figure 5 ) compared to those of I. gatamaiyu sp. nov. ( Fig. 5A View Figure 5 ).

Biology: Several specimens of I. gatamaiyu sp. nov. were bred on a species of Englerina ( Loranthaceae ). Erianthemum dregei (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Tiegh. ( Loranthaceae ) was also mentioned as a host plant of the species in Congdon & Bampton (2000) under the name Argiolaus sp. (Gatamayo).

Etymology: The new species carries the name of Gatamaiyu Forest (spelt also as Gatamayu, Katamayu, Gatamayo), the southernmost forest area of the Aberdare Mountains in the Central Highlands of Kenya.