Swainson, 1830 subtribe iolaina riley, 1958 Iolaus pallene. Photo courtesy Jeremy Dobson

A pupa was found on a leaf of Culcasia scandens Beauv. (Aroideae), an ivy-like plant climbing up a kola tree. No interactions with the ants that were present on the plant. Crematogaster buchneri were, however, noted.

Larvae were found feeding on the flowers of Loranthus incanus parasitic on Crematogaster-infested Alstonia congensis Engler (Apocynaceae). Pupae were found on shrubs at the base of the Alstonia. Larvae were also found on an unidentified species of Loranthus on Crematogaster-infested Antiaris africana Engler (Moraceae).

“Pupa (Plate XIII, fig. 2). This pupa does not present any very marked features of interest. As the figure shows, the dorsal aspect is somewhat coffin-shaped and the cuticle is finely granulated. Attached to support by a sucker-like expansion of the terminal segment. It is described as “apple or Alga green – not shining but dull green like the surface of a tomentose leaf”. Length 18 mm.

Larvae were found feeding on the flowers of Loranthus incanus parasitic on Funtumia elastica. The larvae feeds on immature flowers and closely resembles them.

“Larva (Plate XIII, figs 9, 18). Fig. 9 shows the larva with head and feet retracted. It is really rather similar to that of the previous species [I. timon], but differs in the much simpler structure of the anterior segments. Farquharson describes the colour as “a sort of mistletoe-leaf green”, exactly resembling the immature flowers which are “dull green – a sort of bud-scale green shot with brownish hairs”. The cuticle, a surface view of which is shown at fig. 18, has the same squamoid markings, but the chitinanths are of a different type, being merely tufts without the elaborations shown in timon. Pupa. All the pupa skins are much shrivelled, but it is evident that the abdominal segments differ from those of timon in being less rounded, and so forming a marked dorsal angle. The whole effect is less bud-like, and the pupa seems generally to be attached to a leaf instead of to a stem. The cuticle is smooth. Length 15 mm.”