B. tentyris, B. osyris and B. oshogbo sp. nov.

According to Hecq (2000) the B. tentyris -group consists of three sub-groups and following the taxonomic updates by Larsen (2005) the tentyris sub-group comprises seven species. Beside B. tentyris, B. subtentyris (Strand) and B. lucayensis Hecq, the recently recognised B. osyris (= winifredae Fox), the newly described B. dallastai Hecq, as well as B. seeldrayersi (Aurivillius), and the more distant B. carshena (Hewitson) are all considered to be members of the sub-group. The grouping is based on the wing morphology, particularly the upperside pattern — partially or totally overlaid by a metallic sheen of purplish-bluish colour — and the rather uniform underside with a distinctive rectangular costal spot. B. tentyris is a Guineo-Congolian forest species that is known to occur from Eastern Ivory Coast to Gabon and Congo. The species is usually very common in various types of forests and it can survive severe habitat degradation (Larsen 2005, the authors pers. obs.). In Ghana it even occurs in isolated, often degraded forest patches, where no other smaller Bebearia species are found (Bossart et al. 2006). It is replaced entirely by B. osyris in the Liberian sub-region, with an overlap in western Ghana where B. osyris is most common in the southwestern wet evergreen forests (e.g. Ankasa National Park). However, according to Larsen (2005), scattered records are also known from Bia and Kakum National Parks. Although Larsen (2005) was certain about the validity of B. dallastai, no specimens carrying clear characters of the species were found by the authors. Therefore all examined specimens with a darker bluish sheen collected in Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone are discussed as B. osyris in this paper. An interesting, morphologically similar species was discovered in Oshogbo Forest (western Nigeria), where B. tentyris was never recorded, despite its presence in other forest areas in western and Southern Nigeria (Larsen 2005; Sáfián & Warren 2010). It certainly represents an undescribed species, because little variation in the greenish tone of the iridescent sheen can be seen in a series of individual males, in this way the new species differs from both B. tentyris and B. osyris, the only similar species in the region.