Stephenia Henning 1992, stat. nov.
Creators: name: Williams, Mark C.
name: Henning, Graham A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Nymphalidae
Stephenia

description: Genus Stephenia Henning, 1992 stat. nov.
Type species Papilio caecilia Fabricius, 1781
This is a purely Afrotropical genus of 29 medium- to large-sized species. The lineage arose ~ 17 Mya.
Body: Head large, broad and hairy. Antennae shorter than half length of forewing, averaging 47% (43-50%) of forewing for both sexes. Palpi 1 st joint twice as long as broad, 2 nd joint three times longer than first joint and terminal joint minute, oval. All joints hairy. Thorax short, compressed laterally, hairy and scaly. Abdomen long, extending beyond outer edge of hindwings, laterally compressed, broader distally. Legs: Anterior legs slender and less than half length of pterothoracic legs; tarsi of male single joint without spines, female tarsi five jointed with spines on each except last, no terminal spine. Pterothoracic legs, robust, external claw of male furrowed on inner surface, terminal claws asymmetrical. Wing venation: Radial veins of forewing not stalked; R1 branching off from cell rather than stalked. Cell of hindwing about half of total wing length. Markings: Hindwing has the spots in the row below the apex joined to the central row creating a discontinuous arrangement of spots (7:2 configuration). Hyaline areas and hyaline patches restricted to subapical area of forewing. There are no marginal markings or spots on forewing upperside. Male genitalia: Uncus short, acute or slightly bifid tip; aedeagus long to very long, narrow but not needle like, basally bulbous but not bifid; sclerotized and modified 8th tergite or sternite not present; valves comparatively short and angular, distally broad; juxta small, subangular to elongated, gutter like, weakly sclerotized; vinculum fairly broad; saccus pronounced, broad to very elongate. Female genitalia: Anal lobes short and broad, posterior apophyses as long or longer than the lobes; sterigma broad and lobed; ostium anteriorly or posteriorly placed; ductus long to very long; bursa spherical to ovoid; single pair of small signa, may be widely separated. Sphragis may be present or absent depending on the species group.
Early stages: Egg conical, flat topped; laid in clusters but in some species singly. Larvae gregarious. Pupa with wing veins delicately outlined in black. Host plant genera: Adenia (12 records), Tricliceras (6 records), Passiflora (5 records), Vitis and Oncoba (3 records each). One record each for Basananthe, Paropsia, Malva, Loewia, Streptopetalum, Wormskioldia and Xylotheca. Host plant families: Passifloraceae (14 records), Turneraceae (7 records), Vitaceae, Salicaceae and Malvaceae (3 records each). One record for Achariaceae. Habitats (biomes): Stephenia is a genus largely of woodland and savanna biomes. Savanna (12 spp.), Woodland (11 spp.), forest (2 spp.) Geographical range: The genus is centred in east-central Africa, extending to Angola in the west. Found predominantly in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, eastern and southern DRC, Zambia and Angola.
Diagnosis
Facies: Rufous to ochreous with black spots. Hyaline patches are present but are restricted to the subapical area of the forewing. The genus Stephenia can be distinguished from Rubraea by the generally more acute forewings.
Genitalia: The male aedeagus is long to very long, narrow but not needle-like; basally bulbous but not bifid; sclerotized and modified 8 th tergite or sternite not present; valves comparatively short and angular. The female genitalia have the sterigma broad and lobed, with the ductus long to very long.
Species list
Stephenia aglaonice (Westwood, 1881) comb. nov. Stephenia asboloplintha (Karsch, 1894) comb. nov.
Stephenia asboloplintha asboloplintha (Westwood, 1881)
Stephenia asboloplintha rubescens (Trimen, 1909) comb. nov.
Stephenia atatis (Pierre, 2004) comb. nov.
Stephenia atergatis (Westwood, 1881) comb. nov.
Stephenia axina (Westwood, 1881) comb. nov.
Stephenia braesia (Godman, 1885) comb. nov.
Stephenia buettneri (Rogenhofer, 1890) comb. nov.
Stephenia caecilia (Fabricius, 1781) comb. nov.
Stephenia caldarena (Hewitson, 1877) comb. nov.
Stephenia caldarena caldarena (Hewitson, 1877) Stephenia caldarena neluska (Oberthür, 1878) comb. nov.
Stephenia doubledayi (Guérin-Méneville, 1849) comb. nov.
Stephenia doubledayi doubledayi (Guérin-Méneville, 1849)
Stephenia doubledayi azvaki (d’Abrera, 1980) comb. nov.
Stephenia ella (Eltringham, 1911) comb. nov.
Stephenia equatorialis (Neave, 1904) comb. nov.
Stephenia equatorialis equatorialis (Neave, 1904)
Stephenia equatorialis caoncius (Suffert, 1904) comb. nov.
Stephenia intermediodes (Ackery, 1995) comb. nov.
Stephenia leucopyga (Aurivillius, 1904) comb. nov.
Stephenia lyci (Pierre, 2006) comb. nov.
Stephenia lygus (Druce, 1875) comb. nov.
Stephenia mirabilis (Butler, 1886) comb. nov.
Stephenia miranda (Riley, 1920) comb. nov.
Stephenia natalica (Boisduval, 1847) comb. nov.
Stephenia oncaea (Hopffer, 1855) comb. nov.
Stephenia oncaea oncaea (Hopffer, 1855)
Stephenia oncaea shimba (Bernaud & Collins, 2021) comb. nov.
Stephenia oncaea idjwi (Bernaud & Collins, 2021) comb. nov.
Stephenia pseudegina (Westwood, [1852]) comb. nov.
Stephenia pudora (Aurivillius, 1910) comb. nov.
Stephenia pudorella (Aurivillius, [1899]) comb. nov.
Stephenia pudorella pudorella (Aurivillius, 1899)
Stephenia pudorella detecta (Neave, 1910) comb. nov.
Stephenia regalis (Oberthür, 1893) comb. nov.
Stephenia rhodesiana (Wichgraf, 1909) comb. nov.
Stephenia rogersi (Hewitson, 1873) comb. nov.
Stephenia stenobea (Wallengren, 1860) comb. nov.
Stephenia sykesi (Sharpe, 1902) comb. nov.
Stephenia zoumi (Pierre, 1995) comb. nov.
description: Published as part of Williams, Mark C. & Henning, Graham A., 2023, Taxonomic revision of the tribe Acraeini Boisduval, 1833 (Papilionoidea: Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae), pp. 35-49 in Metamorphosis 34 (1) on pages 40-41, DOI: 10.4314/met.v34i1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/14119310