4 P. E. S. WHALLEY 



INTRODUCTION 



The present work deals with the 172 species and subspecies of Thyrididae known 

 from Africa and its islands. The expression "Africa and its islands" follows Moreau 

 (1966) and indicates a wider coverage than the current term "Ethiopian Region". 

 The islands include Madagascar, Sokotra, Mascarene, Seychelles and those in the 

 Gulf of Guinea, but not the Cape Verde or Canary Islands. 



The species in the Madagascan fauna are included but the information about 

 them is in summary only, since they were more fully dealt with by Whalley, 1967, 

 thus only a new species and additional data are given. 



The Thyrididae are a small family which is found primarily in tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions, only 15 species being known from the Palaearctic Region. 



The Thyrididae of the Ethiopian Region have been studied by several authors, 

 some of whom dealt with them as part of a world revision of the family (Pagenstecher, 

 1892; Hampson, 1897), while others dealt specifically with the species from the 

 Ethiopian Region (Gaede, 1917). In order to identify a collection of Thyrididae 

 from Africa, sent by Dr L. A. Berger, Tervuren, it soon became apparent that the 

 existing literature was not adequate for this. 



The first African species was described by Boisduval in 1829, who described it as a 

 species of Zygaena and figured it in colour. The collection locality of these early 

 specimens was not known to Boisduval and he suggested that they were from 

 Georgia (U.S.A.). Although the first monograph on the family was by Guenee 

 (1877) he did not include any African species. Walker (1856-69) described a few 

 species and Butler (1879), Plotz (1880), Dewitz (1881) and Saalmuller (1884) all 

 described species of Thyridids from Africa and Madagascar. 



The first study of the family as a whole after Guenee was a comprehensive revision 

 by Pagenstecher (1892). This was followed by Hampson (1897) who catalogued 

 the whole family and described new species. The "Lepidopterorum Catalogus" by 

 Dalle Torre (1914) summarizes the information to that date. 



The first African study was by Gaede (1917) who gave a detailed account of the 

 specimens in the collection of the Zoological Museum, Berlin. Subsequently (1929) 

 he expanded this study in a volume of Seitz's "Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde". 

 After this, few species were described until papers by Viette (1954 et seq.) and 

 Whalley (1967 and 1968) on African and Madagascan species. 



The type-specimens of all species have been examined and dissected and specimens 

 have been borrowed from many Institutions (see Acknowledgements). Lectotypes 

 and neotypes have been designated where necessary and an account is given of the 

 morphology, classification and geographical distribution of all the species. Although 

 the Madagascan species are referred to in this work and included on the maps, the 

 figures in Whalley, 1967, are not repeated here. Similarly, the recently revised 

 African species of Dysodia, (Whalley, 1968, figs and text), although included on the 

 maps, are only summarized in the present work. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 



To the following who loaned specimens or helped in various ways I offer my 

 thanks: Dr K. Barth, Stadtisches Museum, Wiesbaden; Dr L. A. Berger, Musee 



