Chrysoritis oreas (Trimen, 1891)

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

Chrysoritis oreas (Trimen, 1891) ,

type species of Chrysoritis .

Zeritis oreas Trimen, 1891: 176 .

Holotype: Iziko Museum. Type locality: “ Near summit of Niginya ” in Natal. (Coll. J.M. Hutchinson).

Characters: Upper side ground colour yellowish orange, marked with black spots and broad black margins, especially the forewing. Underside with a submarginal series of sagittate markings on both wings; hind wing with dense pattern of browns and orange. Outer margin of forewings noticeably convex in both sexes; hind wing without tail or tornal development in either sex. Forewing with eleven or twelve veins (depicted in Stempffer 1967: 295). Male genitalia shown in Figs 2b & 2c ; apophysis on subunci vestigial or absent; aedeagus lacks cornuti. Juvenile stages are illustrated in Fig. 1 . Chrysoritis oreas is one of two Chrysoritis species to associate with the ‘droptail’ Myrmicaria (Myrmicinae) ants, the other being C. pyroeis (Trimen) .

Conservation status: LC – Rare (2020).

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.