Post by cabintom on Nov 15, 2016 17:53:38 GMT
Pseudaletis is an African genus of Lycaenidae, comprised of 25 seldom encountered forest species. The are tied to "ant trees" where the larvae feed, and probably pupate, within the Crematogaster ant nests. Adults, it would seem, prefer to stay perched up in the canopy along the edges of forest clearings, and have been observed to be active as the sun is setting. A number have been taken at moth-lights during the night, suggesting that they are perhaps, in part, nocturnal.
Both their flight and facies contribute to excellent mimicry of certain day-flying moths. I've been fortunate enough to collect a single female of Pseudaletis clymenus (Michel Libert's 2007 revision of the genus records only 2 other females from D.R. Congo), and, until africaone pointed out what it was, I had it stored among my moth specimens. It really had me fooled!
Anyways, here's some photos of a few of these species (all info pulled from Libert's revision) :
The female P. richardi at the bottom-left is one of 4 known specimens of the species (1 male, 3 female), with each specimen having been found singly in separate localities (actually 1 each from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Cameroon).
Most of this box is P. batesi and its subspecies P. b. zaireensis, but near the middle you see a few example of P. dolieri.
Here's a close up which includes the type specimens:
Only about 20 specimens of P. dolieri are known to have been collected from C.A.R. and Cameroon (only 4 males).
Here's a 2nd box containing P. camarensis, P. cornesi, P. catori, and P. abriana (plus 2 Aletis moths, top-right):
Here in eastern D.R. Congo these orange Pseudaletis are even rarer than their already rare white counterparts. I'm fairly sure I've seen one, once. At the time I was walking down a trail not too far from the hospital in Nebobongo, Haut-Uele. Along comes this ancient little lady, hobbling along with the help of a stick, hunched-over and carrying a large jerrycan of water on her back. We stopped for the culturally appropriate greetings and pleasantries, and it was clear she was flabbergasted in regards to what I was hoping to do with my net. Anyways, midway through my attempt at explaining I see this medium-size tailed lep slowly fluttering around the base of a tree some few metres off trail. I immediately knew it was something different/special, so I quickly and rudely excused myself to dash after the insect. Not two steps off the side of the trail, I but my foot into a knee-deep hole, and promptly found myself on my face. I recovered rather quickly, jumping up, but only to find that the old woman and the butterfly both had disappeared.
A close up of P. abriana (including the female Holotype):
This species was named by Libert in honour of the team at ABRI. At the time of publishing the revision only 13 females were known (in this box we see 17). The male has yet to be discovered.
This male Holotype is the only known specimen of P. cornesi, and was collected in Nigeria:
Next, this male P. catori, from Togo, is one of only 2 known (the other, from Nigeria, is housed in the Natural History Museum, in London). The female is unknown:
Above we have a couple of P. camarensis (including the female Allotype... I don't have a picture of the male Holotype which must have been in another box). Below we have a close-up of a few males & females from R.C.A. (Central African Republic).
With close to 200 specimens having been collected, P. camarensis is rather common compared to many in the genus.
I missed photographing P. bouyeri (known from a unique female)... but, perhaps africaone would have a photo of it to share?
Also, P. malangi, from Guinea, which is known from 2 males & a female, all collected in the month of September.
P. melissae is another species known only from the female Holotype, though d'Abrera apparently believes it to be synonym of bouyeri, despite the former being white and the latter orange... a feature which seems fairly significant to the divisions within the genus.
P. jolyana, from Ghana, is known from 5 males all caught in light-traps. The Holotype is at M.R.A.C. in Tervuren, Belgium. (I believe the quite beat-up specimen top-left of the first image is one of these 5 males)
P. mazanguli (described by Neave in 1910, known from 2 females- SE D.R. Congo & Zambia) and P. arrhon (from 1 male, described by Druce 1913 - Cameroon) are not represented in the ABRI collection (outside of those images, but can be found at the N.H.M. (London).
So, if you've been keeping track, of the 25 Pseudaletis species, as of the year 2007 9 were known from 5 or fewer specimens. If you're into collected rare butterflies, in my opinion, this group ought to be at the top of your list!
Both their flight and facies contribute to excellent mimicry of certain day-flying moths. I've been fortunate enough to collect a single female of Pseudaletis clymenus (Michel Libert's 2007 revision of the genus records only 2 other females from D.R. Congo), and, until africaone pointed out what it was, I had it stored among my moth specimens. It really had me fooled!
Anyways, here's some photos of a few of these species (all info pulled from Libert's revision) :
The female P. richardi at the bottom-left is one of 4 known specimens of the species (1 male, 3 female), with each specimen having been found singly in separate localities (actually 1 each from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Cameroon).
Most of this box is P. batesi and its subspecies P. b. zaireensis, but near the middle you see a few example of P. dolieri.
Here's a close up which includes the type specimens:
Only about 20 specimens of P. dolieri are known to have been collected from C.A.R. and Cameroon (only 4 males).
Here's a 2nd box containing P. camarensis, P. cornesi, P. catori, and P. abriana (plus 2 Aletis moths, top-right):
Here in eastern D.R. Congo these orange Pseudaletis are even rarer than their already rare white counterparts. I'm fairly sure I've seen one, once. At the time I was walking down a trail not too far from the hospital in Nebobongo, Haut-Uele. Along comes this ancient little lady, hobbling along with the help of a stick, hunched-over and carrying a large jerrycan of water on her back. We stopped for the culturally appropriate greetings and pleasantries, and it was clear she was flabbergasted in regards to what I was hoping to do with my net. Anyways, midway through my attempt at explaining I see this medium-size tailed lep slowly fluttering around the base of a tree some few metres off trail. I immediately knew it was something different/special, so I quickly and rudely excused myself to dash after the insect. Not two steps off the side of the trail, I but my foot into a knee-deep hole, and promptly found myself on my face. I recovered rather quickly, jumping up, but only to find that the old woman and the butterfly both had disappeared.
A close up of P. abriana (including the female Holotype):
This species was named by Libert in honour of the team at ABRI. At the time of publishing the revision only 13 females were known (in this box we see 17). The male has yet to be discovered.
This male Holotype is the only known specimen of P. cornesi, and was collected in Nigeria:
Next, this male P. catori, from Togo, is one of only 2 known (the other, from Nigeria, is housed in the Natural History Museum, in London). The female is unknown:
Above we have a couple of P. camarensis (including the female Allotype... I don't have a picture of the male Holotype which must have been in another box). Below we have a close-up of a few males & females from R.C.A. (Central African Republic).
With close to 200 specimens having been collected, P. camarensis is rather common compared to many in the genus.
I missed photographing P. bouyeri (known from a unique female)... but, perhaps africaone would have a photo of it to share?
Also, P. malangi, from Guinea, which is known from 2 males & a female, all collected in the month of September.
P. melissae is another species known only from the female Holotype, though d'Abrera apparently believes it to be synonym of bouyeri, despite the former being white and the latter orange... a feature which seems fairly significant to the divisions within the genus.
P. jolyana, from Ghana, is known from 5 males all caught in light-traps. The Holotype is at M.R.A.C. in Tervuren, Belgium. (I believe the quite beat-up specimen top-left of the first image is one of these 5 males)
P. mazanguli (described by Neave in 1910, known from 2 females- SE D.R. Congo & Zambia) and P. arrhon (from 1 male, described by Druce 1913 - Cameroon) are not represented in the ABRI collection (outside of those images, but can be found at the N.H.M. (London).
So, if you've been keeping track, of the 25 Pseudaletis species, as of the year 2007 9 were known from 5 or fewer specimens. If you're into collected rare butterflies, in my opinion, this group ought to be at the top of your list!
