MIMETIC ASSOCIATIONS 



77 



THE PLANEMA POGGEI GROUP. 

 PLANEMA POGGEI. 



Dewitz, Nov. Act. Ac. Nat. Cur. (41), ii, No. 2, p. 18, pi. i, f. 8 (1879). 



Smith and Kirby (a^ nelsoni), Rhop. Exot., xix, Acraea, p. 10, pi. 3, ff. 9, 10 (1892). 



Aurivillius, Rhop. Aeth., p. 120 (1898). 



Plate VIII, Fig. 2, 



This beautiful and characteristic Planema was first described by Dewitz, apparently 

 from a female, as the male was subsequently described by Smith and Kirby as a distinct 

 species under the name of nelsoni. The species was first reported from West Africa, Cameroon 

 and Angola being given as localities. With the receipt of large collections from the 

 neighbourhood of Entebbe we find, however, that, as with most species previously 

 considered West African, it extends across to Lake Victoria Nyanza. At Entebbe it is very 

 common. Judging by the number of its mimics, it may be regarded as an old-established 

 and well-protected species. The female differs from the male in its larger size and much 

 more rounded outline of wings. The most perfect mimics belong to the genus Pseudacraea. 



PLANEMA MACARISTA. 



E. M. Sharpe, Ann. Nat. Hist., vii, vol. xviii, p. 76 (1906). 



Plate VII, Fig. 3 ?. Plate VIII, Fig. i, o^. 



This Planema, the male of which resembles P. poggei very closely, is distinguished by 

 the narrowness of the yellow band in the fore-wing at the costa, by its serration on the 

 lower distal side, and by the fact that the female is black and white. It occurs at Entebbe. 

 There would appear to be several distinct species of Planema having males of the poggei 

 coloration, the females being either like the male or black and white. The Planema plagioscia 

 described by Bethune- Baker from a male in the Powell-Cotton collection (Ann. Nat. Hist., 

 8, vol. ii, p. 471, 1908) closely resembles P. macarista, but has the yellow bar deeply serrated 

 on the apical distal outline. It was received from the Upper Congo. It is very remarkable 

 that there should occur at Entebbe two species of orange-banded Planemas, the one having 

 the sexes similar whilst the other has a black and white female, and in company with these 

 we find Pseudacraea kunowi with similar sexes, and also Pseudacraea hohleyi in which the 

 female is black and white like that of Planema macarista. The association of these forms is 

 further complicated by the presence at Entebbe of Planema alcinoe, or an allied form very 

 like PI. alcinoe, var. camerunica, both sexes of which are described and figured by Professor 

 Aurivillius (Ent. Tisdkr., xiv, p. 285, Plate 6, Figs. 4, 5, 1893). The male is a tawny and 

 brown form resembling some of the West African Planemas, whilst the female is a large 

 black and white insect very similar to the female of Planema macarista, but usually to be 

 distinguished by the much browner colour of the hind- wing basal area. 



The affinities of the forms of Planema alcinoe are not yet very clearly defined, and the 

 resemblance at Entebbe between the females of this species and those of P. macarista has 

 caused some difficulty. The two examples mentioned by Neave in Novit. Zool., xi, p. 348, 

 1904, and identified as Planema godmani are females of Planema macarista. Planema 

 godmani appears to be the female of PI. alcinoe, whilst the female described by Butler as 

 salvini is labelled in the National Collection as identical with the female camerunica. So 

 far as can at present be discerned we must therefore tabulate the forms as follows : — 

 Planema alcinoe, Felder. 



Felder, Reise Novara. Lep., p. 368, pi. 46, ff. 12, 130^ (1865-7) (Sierra Leone). 

 = godmani, Butler, An. N. H. (6), xvi, p. 415 ? (1895) (Sierra Leone), 

 var. camerunica. 



Aurivillius, Ent. Tidskr., xiv, p. 285, pi. 6, ff. 4, 5, 6^ and $ (1893) (Cameroon). 

 = salvini, Butler, An. N. H. (6), xvi, p. 415, $ (1895) (Cameroon). 



