Abstract
The ignobilis-group of the genus Bicyclus Kirby 1871 is revised. The species-group contains six species with a distinct wing pattern, but limited intraspecific variation, distributed across tropical African rainforest. We investigate a set of more than 1000 specimens from a range of museum collections, including some type material, and thoroughly update the biogeographical knowledge for the group. We also describe two new species as members of the group. The included species are: Bicyclus ignobilis (Butler 1870) stat. rev., B. rileyi Condamin 1961, B. maesseni Condamin 1971, B. brakefieldi Brattström 2012, B. ottossoni sp. nov. and B. vandeweghei sp. nov. Due to observing a gradual morphological cline within B. ignobilis without any sharp transitions we suppress the previously identified subspecies B. ignobilis eurini Condamin & Fox 1963 syn. nov. and B. ignobilis acutus Condamin 1965 syn. nov.
Highlights
The genus Bicyclus Kirby 1871 includes more than 85 described species distributed across sub-Saharan Africa (Condamin 1973)
Condamin described B. rileyi Condamin 1961 and B. maesseni Condamin 1971. He was responsible for the designation of two subspecies B. ignobilis eurini Condamin & Fox 1963 syn. nov. and B. ignobilis acutus Condamin 1965b syn. nov
We did not use distributional records from older literature, except those from Condamin (1971) from the Western parts of the range, as the recent additions of several morphologically similar taxa to the species-group occurring from Nigeria and eastwards (Brattström 2012; the new species described below) make it impossible to say with certainty what species older records referred to
Summary
The genus Bicyclus Kirby 1871 includes more than 85 described species distributed across sub-Saharan Africa (Condamin 1973). The ignobilis-group was designated as a species-group by Condamin (1973) when revising the genus Bicyclus. He grouped the three included species together due to their highly irregular disposition of the ventral hindwing eyespots and discal band, and because of shared characters in the male genitalia. Before Condamin’s early work on Bicyclus only a single taxon was known from this group, namely B. ignobilis (Butler 1870). This species was initially described from female material (most likely a single specimen) collected in Ghana. The latest species to be described within the ignobilis-group was B. brakefieldi Brattström 2012
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