GENERA OF AFRICAN LYCAENIDAE 171 



Genus CAPYS Hewitson 



Capys Hewitson, 1865, ///. Diurn. Lep. : 59 ; Aurivillius, 1898 : 337, 1924 : 423 ; Murray, 

 IQ 35 : 3° '• Swanepoel, 1953 : 156. Type-species : Papilio alphaeus Cramer, 1777, by 

 original designation. 



Scoptes Hiibner, [1819], Verz. bek. Schtnett. : iir, an unused senior synonym of Capys is the 

 subject of an application to the Commission, under Article 23 (b), for rejection. 



Head broad ; eyes large, densely pilose ; frons clothed with erect hair ; palpi horizontal, 

 second segment laterally compressed, third segment short and slender in the (J, slender but 

 much longer in the 5 ; antennae about two-thirds the length of the costa, club fusiform, well 

 differentiated ; thorax robust, clothed with long hair ; J fore leg with tibia much shorter 

 than femur, tarsus unscgmented, finely spinose below ; mid and hind legs with tibiae shorter 

 than femora, metatarsi very long. 



Wing shape. Fore wing, apex pointed, outer margin very oblique ; hind wing oval, pro- 

 duced at the anal angle, outer margin slightly scalloped, a short obtuse projection at the end of 

 vein ib. Male secondary sexual characters : on underside of fore wing a tuft of hairs in the 

 middle of the inner margin ; on upperside of hind wing a small scaly spot at the origin of vein 7. 

 These characters are present in the type-species, alphaeus, and in disjunctus and penningtoni ; 

 they are absent in brunneus and catharus. 



Wing venation (Text-fig. 308). Fore wing with 1 1 veins. 



Male genitalia (Text-fig. 153). Uncus composed of two lobes separated by the rounded 

 depression of the distal margin of the tegumen ; subunci long, bent at an acute angle, tapering 

 gradually in the apical third ; tegumen large, in situ hood-shaped ; vinculum narrow with an 

 indistinct saccus ; no lower fultura ; valves very elongate, narrow, fused together on the 

 lower edge for about half their length, apex slightly hook-shaped ; penis elongate, widely open 

 dorsally for almost the whole length of its internal portion, the external portion narrowing 

 gradually to a slightly wider, obliquely truncate apex ; vesica with a series of large cornuti and 

 many smaller ones ; uncus and upper edges of the distal part of valves clothed with long, 

 fine hair. 



The male genitalia of C. catharus are almost identical with those of C. alphaeus, 

 except for some minor differences in the valves. The male genitalia of these two 

 species of Capys resemble those of species of Deudorix and indicate a generic affinity 

 to which Hewitson called attention in his original description of Capys. 



The early stages of C. alphaeus and C. disjunctus Trimen have been described by 

 Dr. J. Lunt and J. F. Leigh (see Murray, 1935 : 97-8) and by C. G. C. Dickson 

 (1947, /. ent. Soc. sth. A jr. 10: 128). The larva of penningtoni has been described 

 by Pennington (1946, /. ent. Soc. sth. Afr. 9 : 22). 



Fig. 153. Capys alphaeus (Cramer), ^ genitalia. 



