Chrysoritis lyndseyae (Henning 1979)

Heath, Alan, 2023, Chrysoritis Butler (Papilionoidea: Lycaenidae: Aphnaeinae) - Part III: An integrative taxonomic revision, Metamorphosis 34 (1), pp. 11-28 : 20

Chrysoritis lyndseyae (Henning 1979) .

Poecilmitis lyndseyae, Henning S.F 1977 .

Holotype: Ditsong NM. Type locality: 10km N. of Wallekraal . Also recorded from Hondeklip Bay and Sarrisam Farm, 37 km S.E. of Hondeklip Bay (ID confirmed by mtDNA sequencing).

Further records from Kotzesrus and 12 km N.E. of Groenriviersmond. Invariably occurs in close sympatry with C. t. bamptoni . Some material may be difficult to ID in the field due to an overlap of appearance with some specimens of C. perseus or C. thysbe bamptoni (see Fig. 3 in QEA22). MPT: low to medium elevation flat ground. Host ant: Crem. peringueyi . Final instar larva illustrated here ( Fig. 7 ; see also Heath (2011, pl. 4).

Taxonomy: This species occurs in a clade containing trimeni, wykehami and perseus , all of which are polyphyletic. It frequently flies sympatrically with C. thysbe bamptoni with which it can be easily mistaken (see Heath 2011, pl. 1–3). The two taxa share the same space, host plants and host ants but are genetically and phylogenetically distant from each other. Chrysoritis lyndseyae is rendered paraphyletic in the COI tree by a group of C. trimeni samples (likely a result of past capture of lyndseyae mtDNA by C. trimeni , explained in QEA22). This clade of C. lyndseyae + C. trimeni has 99% bootstrap support in the COI tree.

Conservation status: LC – Rare.

Figures

Figure 3 – C. aureus final instar (Heidelberg).

Figure 7 – C. lyndseyae late instar with Crematogaster peringueyi host ants (Wallekraal).