Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Mount Kilimanjaro: Nymphalidae subfamily Helconiinae

ABSTRACT

This paper, which presents an annotated checklist of the nymphalid subfamily Heliconiinae, is the fifth in a series on the butterfly fauna of Mount Kilimanjaro. Three genera of Heliconiinae (Acraea, Phalanta, Issoria), with a total of 12 included species, are known or believed to occur within the main forest zone, from ca 1800 to 2800 m. Of these, only two species (Acraea acuta, Issoria hanningtoni) may be restricted locally to this primary forest. The lower slopes fauna, below 1800 m, is considerably richer, with a total of four genera and 33 confirmed species listed (10 of which species extend into the forest zone). Possible additional species of Acraea, including some doubtful earlier records, are noted and discussed. An identification key to the genera of Heliconiinae that occur in Tanzania, together with a key to the adults of all heliconiine species considered to occur or likely to occur on Kilimanjaro, with 280 colour images, are included as online Supplementary Information.     

Generic review of the African bagrid catfish genera Auchenoglanis and Parauchenoglanis with description of a new genus

The African bagrid genera Auchenoglanis and Parauchenoglanis are reviewed. Due to an incorrect type-species designation, a new usage is given to Parauchenoglanis and a new genus Anaspidoglanis is described. Within the Auchenoglanidinae, Auchenoglanis and Parauchenoglanis seem more closely related to each other than to Anaspidoglanis.     

African species of the mealybug genus Antonina Signoret (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae)

Four species of the legless mealybug genus Antonina have been recorded from Africa and are discussed here. These are A. graminis (Maskell), A. indica var. panica Hall, A. natalensis Brain and A. transvaalensis Brain. All are grass feeding species and live mainly at the base of the plants, between the leaf sheath or at the roots. The names A. indica var. panica and A. transvaalensis have been synonymized previously with A. natalensis but the three species are regarded here as distinct. A. indica var. panica is here raised to specific rank as A. panica. A. graminis is known world-wide, A. panica occurs in North Africa and extends into Israel and possibly Jordan, and A. natalensis and A. transvaalensis are known from the Afrotropical Region. All four species are redescribed and illustrated and a key is provided to aid identification.     

New species of Baetidae (Ephemeroptera) from the Upper River Sigi,Usambara, Tanzania

Additional species of mayflies are described from the relatively well-studied fauna of the Upper River Sigi in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. They comprise Cheleocloeon sigiense sp. n. and Centroptiloides ornatus sp. n. A species of Afroptiloides, of which only the adult is known, is figured but not named. The composition of the assemblage of genera known as the Bugilliesia complex is critically examined.     

Pœcilostomatoid copepods parasitic on fishes off the west coast of Africa

Three species of fish-parasitizing poecilostomatoid copepods are redescribed based on material collected off the coasts of Mauritania and Senegambia. They are: Bomolochus unicirrus Richiardi from Lichia glauca Linnaeus, Taeniacanthus balistae (Claus) from Balistes capriscus Gmelin, and Chondracanthus brotulae Capart from Molva molva (Linnaeus).     

A revision of the Labiidae (Dermaptera) of the Neo-tropical and Nearctic Regions

A new genus, Helenolius (Cixiidae, Pentastirini), is described to accommodate the species H. dividens (Walker) comb. nov. and H. insulicola sp. nov. Both species are described and illustrated; they are endemic on the island St Helena.     

Relationships of the South African lizards assigned to Aporosaura,Meroles and Pedioplanis (Reptilia: Lacertidae)

Phylogenetic analyses, using parsimony and compatibility methods, were carried out on the South African lacertid lizards assigned in recent times to Aporosaura, Meroles and Pedioplanis. These were based on 80 primary and 102 binary morphological characters which were drawn from osteology, external features, muscles, kidneys and reproductive systems. Contrary to some previous interpretations, there are two well-defined clades: Meroles plus Aporosaura, and Pedioplanis; these form successive branches on the main stem of the phylogeny of advanced lacertids. The clades show considerable parallel development of derived features, presumably because they had very similar initial genetic potential. Relationships within the two groups are shown on p. 800 and p. 802. As Aporosaura anchietae is sister taxon to a clade consisting of three of the seven species of Meroles, it has been transferred to that genus. Relationships in Meroles-Aporosaura are very well substantiated, in contrast to the situation in Pedioplanis. This difference appears to be related to the different kinds of evolutionary history that the two groups have had. The Meroles-Aporosaura clade has spread progressively into increasingly stringent and singular aeolian sand environments which have elicited the production of many, often unique, derived character states related to the functional problems of survival in such situations. As these states are rarely duplicated in outgroups, the characters concerned are easily polarized. This, together with their abundance, means that a robust basis for phylogenetic inference is available. In contrast, Pedioplanis exhibits relatively limited ecological radiation of a kind that also occurs in related groups, and the functionally related derived states elicited are fewer and less distinctive. In fact, production of a phylogeny for Pedioplanis is very dependent on genital characters which seem to be substantially independent of the main ecological changes that have occurred in the genus. The premaxilla is embraced dorsally by the anterior processes of the maxillae in most lacertids, but the processes are less extensive in two sister species of Pedioplanis, P. burchelli and P. laticeps. This modified condition also occurs in the genera Eremias, Acanthodactylus, Mesalina and Ophisops, which together constitute a clade that forms the sister group of Pedioplanis. The modification provides extra evidence for the holophyly of the clade, even though presence in some Pedioplanis shows it to be homoplasious.     

Revision of the southern African genus Frankenbergerius Balthasar with description of new taxa (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

The southern African genus Frankenbergerius Balthasar is revised. Two new species, F. opacus sp. n. and F. nitidus sp. n. (South Africa, Western Cape), and one new subspecies, F. armatus tuberculatus ssp. n. (South Africa, Mpumalanga), are described. F. imitativus (Péringuey) is considered a junior synonym of F. forcipatus (Harold). A key to the species and notes on biology are given.