Liptena undina (Grose-Smith & Kirby, 1894)

Libert, Michel, 2024, Note on Liptena undina (Grose-Smith & Kirby, 1894), with the description of two new taxa (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Poritiinae), Metamorphosis 35, pp. 31-36 : 33-34

Liptena undina (Grose-Smith & Kirby, 1894) (Figs 13,14)

Pentila undina Grose-Smith & Kirby, 1894 . – Rhopalocera exotica , being illustrations of new, rare and unfigured species of butterflies, 2: 117 (male, Congo, illustrated pl. 25, Figs 6, 7).

The description of (Pentila) undina only mentions ‘Hab. Kuilu’ and “In the coll. Dr. Staudinger”. With Aurivillius (1918: 334), the type-locality becomes “Rivière de Kouilou”, but Stempffer et al. (1974: 164) specify “ Holotype ♂, Zaire: Kuilu”. This indication is taken up by the authors, up to Williams (2022), who also places Kuilu in the DRC. Libert (2022b: 82) finally showed that Kuilu is located in the south of the Congo (ex French), without further precision (which is why Kuilu is represented by a grey dot on the map in Figure 12).

Stempffer et al. (ibid.) assumed that the types were destroyed during World War II; they indicate that there is a pair from the type-locality in the NMH and illustrate the male (Figs 89 and 92), without however designating a neotype. This is fortunate, as the MfN holds a series of four specimens (three males and one female) of L. undina from the Staudinger collection which were collected by Mocquerys from the type locality, and which certainly constitute the type-series. One of the male syntypes bears a purple ‘ Origin’ label and is designated here as the lectotype. For one of the three other syntypes, the locality label specifies “Kuilu – Franz. Congo – 1893”; this male, in better condition than the lectotype, is illustrated here ( Figs 13, 14) .

Lectotype: male, Kuilu , Congo (Mocquerys) no date; MfN.

Distribution ( Fig. 12)

L. undina is not a common species; the localities cited by Stempffer et al. (1974: 164; about ten specimens in the NHM collection) are included.

The western limit of its distribution is in western Cameroon, where a specimen was captured on Mount Kupe (ABRI); this locality is however isolated, and all other specimens (approximately 70) have been collected from about a dozen localities located south of Sanaga, between the surroundings of Yaoundé and the border with Gabon.

In neighboring countries, L. undina has been observed in Gabon [Lopé NP ( Vande weghe, 2010: 347, ‘a few specimens’) and Ivindo NP (Dilo, seven specimens; ANHRT)], in Congo [in the north (Ketta, Etoumbi and Mambili; leg. Jackson; NHM, NMK) plus Nouabale-Ndoki at the border with CAR (ten specimens; ANHRT) and in the south (type-locality, where Mocquerys captured eight specimens ( NHM, MfN); grey circle on the map], as well as in the west of the DRC [Kinshasa, the southern limit of its distribution (two specimens caught by F. Cuypers; ANHRT)]. Nouabale-Ndoki and Ouesso in Congo and Kinshasa in the DRC likely mark the eastern limit of the distribution of L. undina , at around 16° longitude east.

Description

L. undina is a small species (male wingspan about 26 mm). On the forewings upperside, the black apical spot is of medium width, i.e. generally not as wide than in specimens from the DRC (L. d. dunnia ), but wider than in those from the Bangui area (L. d. reducta); it is regularly rounded. It extends on the one hand along the external edge to the middle of interval 2 (where width is approximately 1 mm), and on the other hand along the costal edge, where it is narrow but visible. In intervals 8, 9 and sometimes 10, two or three small black spots seem to break away to form a more or less visible arc above the end of the cell. The rest of the wing is yellow, as are the hindwings, where there is only a thin, irregular and variably visible black line and a marginal border in the anal angle. On the hindwings, the dark transverse bands on the underside are visible through the wings.

Females are similar to males, making sexing a specimen tricky, but examination of the forelegs and/or the tip of the abdomen has shown that six of the seven specimens in my collection are females (more variable in size than males, with a wingspan of 24 to 27 mm).

were collected by Dr. Fontaine, some in Paulis and others in Katako-Kombe (most in MRAC, a few in IRNSB and MNHN). More recently, L. dunnia has been observed in Nebogongo (about 30 km S of Paulis; T. Desloges, pers. comm.) and Bangupa (130 km E of Kisangani; ABRI); in the north-east, it has been collected in Beni and in several other localities in Ituri close to each other (Biakatu, Mamove, Manzumbu, Mapimbi, Pateka), as well as in the north of the Mitumba mountains (Kasugho, Makusa) (about a hundred specimens; ABRI, CRD, CML).

L. dunnia is present in Uganda, where Jackson collected it in the west ( Budongo , Mpanga Toro ) and south-west ( Katera ) as early as the 1930s ( NHM, NMK); its range even extends to the area around Entebbe, where Joe Brophy captured two specimens in the Zika forest (P. Ward and ABRI collections). In north-west Tanzania, seven specimens were collected in the Minziro forest ( Congdon & Collins, 1998: 69; ABRI) .

Description

The difference with L. undina is marked enough to have attracted my attention, but it only appears in a series, and it is very difficult to find a diagnostic character in the habitus; the difference is much clearer with subspecies reducta. Males and females are often smaller and slightly darker than those of the other two taxa. On the forewings upperside, the black apical spot is generally wider than in L. undina (about 10% at the apex, up to 2 mm in interval 2), and its inner edge is slightly angular at vein 3; along the costal edge the black border is broader, but the black arc above the cell is not as apparent. The anal area of the hindwings is scattered with more or less dense black scales. Females are not different from males.