Mimacraea neavei (?)

[cabintom]

3/VII/2014 Nebobongo, Haut-Uele (2°27'N, 27°37'E) 790m

I've had this ID'd as Mimacraea telloides, but I think it looks like a much better match for Mimacraea neavei, even though that seems well out of range.

[mcheki]

I think that I see what you mean.

The hindwing underside band is quite prominent as in Mimacraea neavei but this species appears to be only known from the Cameroon area and not listed from Kivu, DRC. Whereas Mimacraea telloides the hind wing band is muted and more diffuse, but this is listed from Kivu.

In my opinion looking also at the shape of the forewing apical spot, and the basal area of the hindwing upperside I think that this is M telloides as you originally thought. To help in comparing the two species here is a photo showing both species. The top four (3 males and a female) are M telloides all from Kivu and below this are five males of M neavei all from Cameroon. I look forward to any comments on my thoughts.

[cabintom]

Oct 8, 2017 12:24:11 GMT mcheki said:

I think that I see what you mean.

The hindwing underside band is quite prominent as in Mimacraea neavei but this species appears to be only known from the Cameroon area and not listed from Kivu, DRC. Whereas Mimacraea telloides the hind wing band is muted and more diffuse, but this is listed from Kivu.

In my opinion looking also at the shape of the forewing apical spot, and the basal area of the hindwing upperside I think that this is M telloides as you originally thought. To help in comparing the two species here is a photo showing both species. The top four (3 males and a female) are M telloides all from Kivu and below this are five males of M neavei all from Cameroon. I look forward to any comments on my thoughts.

Yeah, the HW verso seems to be typical for M. neavei. If the base of HW recto were dark, I'd really have a hard time arguing against it being M. neavei. The FW apical spot in my specimen matches decently well with the specimen in "Papillons du Gabon", but the shape seems variable among both species so I doubt that's a great characteristic.

Here's a specimen of M. telloides that is also in my collection:

(9/IX/2017 Near Mbogi, Ituri (1°41'N, 30°07'E) 1250-1300m)


As for the ranges... well that's what almost forces the ID to be M. telloides. Just, that HW verso is so different from the telloides specimens I've seen (admittedly, not many).

[mcheki]

This last specimen of yours matches well with the M telloides illustrated in Liberts Revision of the Genus (May 2000).
If you look at the black inter nervular streaks in the hindwing underside they are longer (reaching the cell) in M telloides and shorter (reaching to the outer edge of the pale hindwing band) in M neavei. So the answer to your original question is still unsolved.

[cabintom]

Oct 9, 2017 18:48:26 GMT mcheki said:

This last specimen of yours matches well with the M telloides illustrated in Liberts Revision of the Genus (May 2000).

I emailed Libert, he's certain the first specimen is also telloides. Steve Collins also says telloides. It's difficult to argue with those two... especially considering the known ranges of the 2 species.