4 6 



H. STEMPFFER 



Genus FALCUNA Stempffer & Bennett 



Falcuna Stempffer & Bennett, 1963, Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Ent.) 13 : 174. Type-species : 



Liptena libyssa Hewitson, 1866, by original designation. 

 Liptena Hewitson (pro parte) ; Aurivillius, 1898 : 275 ; 1918 : 331. 



Eyes smooth ; palpi rather long, extending beyond the frons, clothed with adpressed scales, 

 the second segment laterally compressed, the third slender, blunt-pointed ; antennae short, 

 white-ringed, with distinct subcylindrical club ; legs ringed with yellow, the fore tarsi of the 

 o* not articulated. 



Wing venation (Text-fig. 243). Only differs from that of Liptena undularis (type-species of 

 the genus Liptena) in that veins 3 and 4 of the hind wing are separate at their points of origin 

 whereas in undularis they arise from a short common stalk. However, this is not a valid 

 generic character, for it also occurs in fatima and submacula which are true Liptenas. 



Male genitalia (Text-fig. 37). Uncus subtriangular, shield-shaped, pointed caudad, almost 

 completely separated from the tegumen to which it is only attached by two slender ligaments 

 running from the centre of its ventral margin to the lateral margins of the tegumen. Subunci 

 heavily chitinized, fused together along their inner margins distally, the distal margin strongly 

 serrate. Tegumen large. Vinculum broad, the saccus little developed. Valves oblong, 

 apically finger-like. Penis long, subcylindrical, heavily curved. Uncus densely, apex of valves 

 lightly, pilose. 



Fusion of the subunci is not known to occur in any other genus of African 

 Lycaenidae. Its occurrence in every species of Falcuna, on the other hand, justifies 

 the erection of the genus. All the species of the genus are rather uniform, besides, 

 in external appearance. 



List of Species of Falcuna 



* Falcuna campimus campimus (Holland), 1890. Fig. Aurivillius in Seitz, 



1918 ; genitalia, Stempffer & Bennett, 1963 : 191, figs. 



* Falcuna campimus dilatata (Schultze), 1923, Ergebn. 2te D. Zent. Aft. Exp. 



1910-11, 1 : 1177. Fig. Stempffer & Bennett, 1963 : 192, figs. 



Fig. 37. Falcuna libyssa libyssa (Hewitson), <$ genitalia. 



