Summary

The giant skipper, Pyrrhiades anchises jucunda (Butler) (= Coeliades anchises jucunda), was reared from Acridocarpus orientalis A.Juss (Malpighiaceae) in Oman. All stages are described and illustrated. Three adult forms are illustrated and compared with previous observations and illustrations published by T.B. Larsen; one form has not been previously reported.

Introduction

The giant skipper, Pyrrhiades anchises jucunda (Butler), is the largest skipper butterfly found in Arabia. Until recently, it was known as Coeliades anchises jucunda, but Chiba (2009) transferred it and three others species from Coeliades to Pyrrhiades, based on clear differences in the male genitalia. Its distribution includes the island of Socotra (type locality), Dhofar and northern Oman (Evans 1937; Larsen 1984; Ackery et al. 1995; Gillett 1995), with one record from Jebel Hafit, UAE (Khan 1999). The biology of ssp. jucunda in Oman is known (Larsen & Larsen 1980; Larsen 1984), but not recorded in any detail. A second subspecies, P. anchises anchises (Gerstaeker) (Fig. 1) is found from South Africa, where it is probably not resident (Henning et al. 1997), throughout eastern Africa to Arabia (Yemen). This paper describes the biology of ssp. jucunda from Oman, and makes limited comparisons with the author's unpublished observations of ssp. anchises in Kenya.

Food plants

The only confirmed food plant of ssp. jucunda is a small tree in the Malpighiaceae: Acridocarpus orientalis A.Juss (Larsen & Larsen 1980), known locally as qafaf or qafas (Khan 1999). Larsen (1983) quotes an early report that Ficus sp. (Moraceae) is a food plant of ssp. jucunda on Socotra, but he considers this likely to be an error, and I agree.

In contrast, reported food plants of ssp. anchises include Asclepiadaceae: Marsdenia sp. in Kenya (Sevastopulo 1974), Marsdenia angolensis N.E.Br. in East Africa (van Someren, 1974), and Malpighiaceae: Tristellateia australis A.Rich. in Kenya (Sevastopulo 1974) Triaspis leendertziae Burtt Davy in South Africa (Gifford, 1965), and T. glaucophylla Engl. also in South Africa (Henning et al. 1997), although the last two records may actually refer to the same host plant species. In Kenya, I have found caterpillars on two other Malpighiaceae: once on Acridocarpus zanzibaricus A.Juss. (a sprawler rather than a tree), and frequently on Caucanthus auriculatus Nied. (M.J.W. Cock unpublished).

Locality and habitat

The observations reported here were made on 28 January 1995, in Oman, close to the border with Abu Dhabi, UAE, and subsequently from material collected on this occasion. The locality is Hajah al Gharbi; it lies South-East of Al Buraymi Oasis (also spelt Buraimi), about 5 km south of Daqiq (also spelt A'Daqeeq), following the route described in Zandi (1993). This is an area of dry hills and wadis (Fig. 5), and was located on the basis of advice from M. Jongbloed (pers. comm. 1995) that the food plant, Acridocarpus orientalis, could be found in this area. South of Daqiq, A. orientalis grew as scattered bushes or small trees along the sides and edges of the wadis. Ova and caterpillars were easy to find on the food plant. Final instar caterpillars were...