Arantia fasciata Walker 1869

Arantia fasciata (Walker, 1869)

(Fig. 10 A–C)

Syn. A. spinulosa Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878

Distribution. Africa south of the Sahara.

Gambia (Walker 1869); East Africa (Brunner v. Wattenwyl 1891), Angola, Gambia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Niger, Natal, Zambia, Central African Republic, Tanzania, Malawi, DRC (collection NHML).

Ecology and biology. Arantia fasciata is often collected at light by night. In savanna habitats on Combretum zehyeri.

Habitat. Hemp C. 2005. Canopy dweller in the planation belt on Mt Kilimanjaro. Feeding on Combretum zeyheri in tree savanna habitats.

Song. Arantia fasciata sings in the evening hours shortly after sunset. Its song of a few loud syllables is easy recognized produced from high trees.

Altitudinal range at Mt Kilimanjaro: 800–1500 m.

Records: 5

Remarks. When studying the specimen material in the NHM London, UK, it became clear that A. spinulosa Brunner, 1878 is synonymous with Arantia fasciata. This is based on material identified by P. M. Stock 1960, D. Ragge 1962, J. Huxley 1972, L.M. Pitkin 1973, and J. Marshall 1982. Thus the record of A. spinulosa by Kevan (1955) from Kilimanjaro (Makoa) refers to A. fasciata.

Probably due to its wide distribution A. fasciata shows some morphological variation in terms of colouration, size and slight differences in the genitalia. Molecular analysis and studies on song should be undertaken to shed light on the status of this species.

On Mt Kilimanjaro savanna specimens are of much lighter colour with different patterns of brown mottles or fasciae on the tegmina while individuals collected from the submontane plantation belt were always uniformely dark green (Fig. 8 A).