GENERA Ol AFRICAN LYCAENIDAE 117 



List of Species of Syrmoptera 



*Syrmoptera amasa (Hewitson), 1869, ($). Fig. Stempffer, 1961 : 56 (<$). 

 *Syrmoptera bonifacei Stempffer, 1961 : 57. 

 *Syrmoptera homeyeri (Dcwitz), 1879. 



mixtura Hulstaert, 1924. 

 *Syrmoptera tnelanomitra Karsch, 1895. Fig. H. H. Druce, 1910. 



Syrmoptera mixtura Hulstaert, see homeyeri. 

 *Syrmoptera nivea Joicey & Talbot, 1924, Bull. Hill Mus. Witley 1 : 544. 



Syrmoptera nivea ?-f. androgyna Joicey & Talbot, 1924, I.e. : 545. 



Genus HYPOLYCAENA Felder 



Hypolycaena Felder, [862, Wien. cut. Monats. 6 : 293. Type-species : Myrina sipylus Felder, 



i860, selected by Scudder, 1875. 

 Hypolycaena Felder (partim) ; Aurivillius, 1X98 ; 313 ; k>zz 1381 ; 1023 : 385 ; Murray, 



IQ 35 : 7° I Pinhey, i<)4<> : 101 ; Swanepoel, 1953 : 180. 

 Zeltus de Niceville, 1890, liutt. India 3 : i<». 399- 



Eyes densely clothed with short hair ; palpi long, ascending, slightly divergent, the second 

 segment laterally compressed and clothed with long erect scales, third segment almost as long 

 as the second, delicate, with sharp apex ; antennae long and slender, white-ringed, each seg- 

 ment much longer than wide, club elongate, well defined ; <$ fore leg rather long, the femur 

 clothed in long white hair, tibia and tarsus also white-ringed, the latter unsegmented ; mid 

 and hind legs with femora clothed in long white hair, tibiae white-ringed and shorter than the 

 femora, first segment of tarsus very long. 



Wing shape. The shape of the hind wing is not uniform. According to it the species may 

 be arranged in three groups, as follows : 



a. tail at vein lb only slightly longer than that at vein 2 ; outer margin angled at vein 3 : 



//. auricostalis, II . philippics, H. pachalica. 



b. tail at ib much longer than tail at 2 ; outer margin angled at vein 3 : 



//. sipylus, 11. katita, H. nigra, II. buxtoni, II. amanica, H. jacksoni. 



c. tail at ib very long, sometimes longer than the wing ; a short tail at vein 3 : 



//. aniif annus, II lebona, II. dubia, II. naara, If. liara. 



For the Indo-Malayan H. dolus Fabricius, which has a very long tail at ib, de 

 Niceville erected the genus Zeltus, which has been used by some authors for such 

 African species as lebona and antifaitnits which have very long tails. But as 

 Aurivillius quite rightly pointed out (1898 : 313), naara and liara are intermediate in 

 this respect between etolus and the species of the philippiis group. It seems to me 

 therefore that no useful purpose is served by cutting up the genus Hypolycaena, 

 which is homogeneous both in wing venation and male genitalia. 



Butler (1887 : 572) introduced the generic name Tatura initially for lebona only. 

 Later (1896 : 123) he also included the African species buxtoni and caeculus. He 

 gave no generic description. Nevertheless this action, " indicating " a recognizable 

 known species, taken at that date, renders the name Tatura available. However, 

 the name has been used by no subsequent author, and lebona (its type-species) 

 cannot be separated from other species of Hypolycaena either on venation or male 

 genitalia, so it is here treated as a subjective synonym of Hypolycaena. 



