A. syntomina (Butler) ssp. syntomina |
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| Description Male. Fw length 23-24 mm; fw dark brownish black, postdiscally with a broad, transverse, white band from the costal to the outer margin; fw veins pale discally and near the base; the base of the radial veins with a short red streak anterior to the two black dots; hw pale brownish white, apex and outer margin dark brown, towards the anal margin yellowish. Head and thorax pale greyish brown, the occiput and patagiae lined with red; tegulae with a broad, longitudinal black line; outer sides of femora and tibiae pale grey, inner sides of legs dark brown. Abdomen dorsally bright yellow, ventrally pale brown, without obvious androconial organs. Female. As male. |
| Genitalia | |||
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| view on leftside of vinculum and valva, lateral view | inner side of right valva | tegumen/uncus, dorsal view | aedeagus with vesica everted |
| Male genitalia (Plates). Uncus very short,
triangular, and distally pointed. Valvae large, oval-shaped, and distally rounded; outer
surface with long extrusible, tube-like coremata; inner sclerotized process short and
smooth, curved and apically pointed. Vesica long and tube-like, distally with two long,
slender, curved, parallel cornuti fused at their base. Female genitalia. Bursa copulatrix small, corpus bursae short, roundish, and without signa. |
| Distribution West and Central Africa; from Guinea to Zaire; in westernmost Tanzania as a different subspecies. |
| Comments This species had originally been placed in the genus Caryatis Hübner 1819, which it resembles closely in wing pattern, and this view was followed by later authors (Hampson, 1901; Goodger & Watson, 1995). The characters of the male genitalia, however, clearly support its position in the present genus which is further supported by its phenotypic appearance. The remarkable deviation from the usual colour patterns found in Amerila is probably due to mimicry. Species of Caryatis, in particular C. phileta (Drury), occur sympatrically, sometimes even syntopically with A. syntomina in western Africa (Boppré, pers. obs.). |
| Material Caryatis syntomina Butler, 1878: 456. Lectotype male (here designated): Old Calabar, 78-57 / Caryatis Syntomina Butler Type / Type [BMNH]. Type locality: NIGERIA: Old Calabar. Comb.n. Additional material examined. GUINEA: Boffa, 1922-1923 (1 male, 1 female, BMNH). SIERRA LEONE: Sierra Leone (1 male, 3 females, BMNH). Côte d'Ivoire: Bingerville, 9.-12.vi.1915 (2 males, BMNH). GHANA: Ashanti: Kwadoso, 26.+29.iv.1995 (3 males, 1 female, MB), Abetifi, 24.-31.viii.1993 (1 female, LK); Central: Kakum NP, 30.v.1995 (1 male, MB). BENIN: Zou, Bohicon, Lama-Forest, ix.1991 (5 males, MB), 9.-17.xii.1992 (1 male, MB); Atlantique, Cotonou, 1992 e.o. (5 males, 7 females, MB). NIGERIA: Oyo: Ibadan, i.-vi.1954 (1 male, ZMUC); Lagos (1 male, BMNH), 10.viii.1906 (1 female, BMNH); Bendei: Assaba, R.Niger (2 females, BMNH); Cross River: Old Calabar, 1901 (1 female, BMNH). ZAIRE: Equateur: Eala, 25.iii.1918 (1 female, MRAC); Libunge, 1938 (1 male, MRAC). |