Chrysoritis phosphor (Trimen 1864)

Heath, Alan, 2023, Chrysoritis Butler (Papilionoidea: Lycaenidae: Aphnaeinae) - Part III: An integrative taxonomic revision, Metamorphosis 34 (1), pp. 11-28 : 13

Chrysoritis phosphor (Trimen 1864) .

Zeritis phosphor Trimen 1864: 178 .

Holotype: Iziko Museum. Type locality: “Bashee River, Kaffraria” (Eastern Cape Province) .

This is the only Chrysoritis species with arboreal habits, occasionally descending to nectar. Juvenile stages unknown. Host ant: unrecorded. This is a phenotypically well defined species. CAD and EF data are not available for this taxon.

Characters: Upper side red with dark markings. Male with acute forewing apices and large dark apical patch. Underside hind wing with obscure dark markings on a plain orange-brown background. Forewing with twelve veins. Male aedeagus lacks prominent cornuti; apophysis on subunci elongated. This species superficially resembles a species of Lipaphnaeus Aurivillius in many respects but the male genitalia are typical of Chrysoritis (see Fig. 2A here and Fig. 1h in HEA23) and quite different from that of Lipaphnaeus ( Heath 1997 a: 46–53) . The COI and H3 trees place it unequivocally within Chrysoritis .

Figures

Figure 1 – C. oreas (Bushman’s Nek). 1st instar (top) and ~4th instar (bottom). Not to scale.

Figure 2 – Male genitalia. (A) C. phosphor lateral view with aedeagus removed (illustration by A. Heath); see also Fig. 1h in HEA23. (B) C. oreas lateral view with aedeagus removed. (C) C. oreas genitalic components; see also Fig. 1c in HEA23. Parts (B) and (C) reproduced from Stempffer (1967) by courtesy of The Natural History Museum, London. Not to scale.