Skipper butterflies of the Caldera de Lubá

Skipper butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) of the Caldera de Lubá (Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea)

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Ignacio Martín; Pablo Cobos & Oscar Rodríguez de Rivera
Zoology Department
School of Forestry and Natural Environment Engineering
Polytechnic University of Madrid
ignacio.martin@upm.es

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The Hesperioidea (Skipper butterflies) belong to a group that has not been deeply researched, specially those afrotropical species (Douglass, 2003), its organization in subfamilies and tribes is currently under revision (Warren et. al. 2008, 2009). In the present work, the species shown are those found in the Caldera de Lubá (only sample of the monsoon forests in Equatorial Guinea), being the first records of these families in the already mentioned south area of Bioko island (Martín and Cobos, 2010). The information given in this paper contributes to the knowledge of the geographical diversity and distribution of skipper butterflies.

The first records about the flora and fauna diversity of the Caldera, were obtained during the scientific expeditions carried out by the Polytechnic University of Madrid in the years 2005 and 2007 (Prieto and Martín, 2008; Martín and Cobos, 2010, 2011). Both expeditions were done with correspondence to the Spanish Investigation, Development and Innovation (I+d+i) National Plan, CGL2005-23762-E and CGL2006-27110-E/BOS

Of a total of 546 species of Lepidoptera collected on both expeditions, 7 correspond to skipper. Out of seven species belonging to this family and referred for the first time to the interior of the Caldera de Lubá, four of them mean the first quotes in the Island of Bioko: Coeliades forestan forestan (Coeliadinae), Semalea pulvina (Hesperiinae), Ceratrichia phocion camerona (Hesperiinae) and Celaenorrhinus plagiatus (Pyrginae).  The last specie was registered in Equatorial Guinea for the first time. Finally, about Celaenorrhinus galenus (Pyrginae) no records within the previous 100 years. The other two skippers founded were Pyrrhochalcia iphis (Coeliadinae) and Ceratrichia clara medea (Hesperiinae).

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