GENERA OF AFRICAN LYCAENIDAE 



123 



quite distinct from the tegumen ; and in catori the very large dorsal elements are 

 distally serrate and devoid of subunci. 



Had we based our classification solely on the male genitalia, it would have been 

 possible to devise genera wholly homogeneous in respect of this character, yet 

 decidedly heterogeneous in respect of the characters of the venation and external 

 features. We therefore adopted a system which is pragmatic rather than strictly 

 logical, by retaining the genus Iolaus as a kind of " super-genus ", by erecting 

 subgenera for the species having genitalia profoundly different from the main bulk 

 of the species, and by retaining the generic names hitherto in use, but treating them 

 as subgenera. In this way it has resulted that within each subgenus there is both 

 uniformity of venation and uniformity of genitalia. These characters are indicated 

 in each of the subgenera adopted. 



IOLAUS (HEMIOLAUS) Aurivillius 



Hemiolaus Aurivillius, 1923 : 386 ; Pinhey, 1040 : 102. Type-species : Iolaus caeculus 



Hopffer, 1855, designated by Stemplter & Bennett, 1958 : 1254. 



Hypolycaena Feldcr (partim) ; Aurivillius, 1898 : 316 ; Murray, 1935 : 69 ; Swanepoel, 



1953 : 180. 



Eyes smooth ; frons reddish with two white side stripes and a dark depressed median line ; 

 palpi reaching well beyond the frons, third segment slender, acuminate ; antennae thin, 4/7th 

 length of costa, each segment much longer than wide ; club gently swollen ; Legs as in 

 llvpolycaena, q" fore leg unsegmented. 



Wing shape. Fore wing inner margin <>i ; * with a large lobe near the base ; hind wing 

 outer margin excised between the ends of veins 3 and 4, a delicate tail at the end of vein 2 and 

 a much longer one at the end of ib, a small lobe at the anal angle. Male secondary sexual 

 characters : on the upperside of the hind wing a gleaming bronze patch covers the base of the 

 wing and the greater part of the cell, the upper part of this patch being covered by the lobe of 

 the fore wing ; between the lower edge of the cell and the basal part of vein ib there is a tuft 

 of long adpressed hairs facing towards the costa, and this is also partially covered by the lobe 

 of the fore wing; on the underside of the fore wing, along the inner margin, a nacreous zone, 

 but no hair-tuft. 



Wing venation (Text-fig. 289). Fore wing with only 10 veins. 



Fig. no. Iolaus [Hemiolaus) coeculus coeculus Hopffer, $ genitalia. 



