GENERA OF AFRICAN LYCAENIDAE 181 



Genus ERIKSSONIA Trimen 



Erikssonia Trimen, 1891, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1891 : 91 ; Aurivillius, 1898 : 343 ; 1924 : 432. 

 Type-species : Erikssonia acraeina Trimen, by monotypy. 



Head small, downy ; eyes glabrous ; palpi long, parallel, horizontal, second segment laterally 

 compressed, clothed below with long white scales, third segment long, acuminate ; antennae 

 rather short, thick, with a blunt ill-defined club ; thorax short and slender ; o* fore leg, tibia 

 with a strong apical spur, tarsus longer than the tibia, unsegmented, ending in a long sharp 

 pointed claw ; mid and hind legs, tibiae with a short spur, metatarsi longer than the tibiae, 

 terminal claws large and strong. 



Wing shape. Fore wing with costa weakly arched at the base then straight, outer margin 

 convex ; hind wing oval, apex rounded, outer margin slightly scalloped at the ends of veins 

 3 and 2, an obtuse projection at the end of vein ib. 



Wing venation (Text-fig. 314). lore wing with 12 veins 



Male genitalia (Text-fig. 161). Uncus crescent-shaped ; subunci long, curved, robust at 

 the base then slender to the blunt apex ; tegumen with convex proximal edge ; uncus and 

 tegumen together hood-shaped ; vinculum rather narrow with a weak rounded saccus ; lower 

 fultura shield-shaped with a deep notch in the upper edge ; valves oblong with rounded apices, 

 their upper processes connected together by a membrane which surrounds the penis ; penis 

 swollen at its base, apex obliquely truncate ; vesica armed with large cornuti ; uncus and 

 apices of valves sparsely pilose. 



The male genitalia of E. cooksoni are of the same type as those of E. acraeina. 



In his generic description Trimen wrote " Erikssonia exhibits considerable 

 divergence from the typical groups of the family and is probably best placed between 

 Zeritis and Mimacraea, but nearer to the former than the latter ". It is true that 

 Erikssonia belongs to the same subfamily as Zeritis, Axiocerses, Phasis etc. but on 

 the other hand it has no affinity whatever with Mimacraea. Trimen mentions that 

 E. acraeina bears a superficial resemblance to certain species of Acraea, e.g. to 

 Acraea buxtoni on the upperside and to A. axina and A. atergatis on the underside. 

 He attributes this resemblance to mimicry. 



List of Species of Erikssonia 

 *Erikssonia acraeina Trimen, 1891. 

 *Erikssonia cooksoni H. H. Druce, 1905. 



Fig. 161. Erikssonia acraeina Trimen, <J genitalia. 



