Distribution

Benin.

Biology

Larvae were found and reared on Lannea nigritana (Scott-Elliot) Keay (Anacardiaceae), a small (height 3–6 m), deciduous, heliophilous tree species occurring from Senegal to Gabon, West and Central Africa (Liston et al, 2017). The flight period extends from June to December, peaking in July and October after the annual flushing of individual trees of Lannea nigritana. Pampsilota dahomeyanus has a multivoltine life cycle with polymodal adult emergence. During larval peak periods adults of an unidentified Boethus species (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Tryphoninae) were observed attaching eggs externally to the surface of the larvae (Liston et al, 2017).

References

Liston, A.D., Goergen, G. & Koch, F. 2017. Revisions of the Afrotropical genera of Argidae and species of Pampsilota Konow, 1899 (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinoidea). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 64(1): 1-25. doi: 10.3897/dez.64.10800

Credits

Photographs © Andrew Liston (Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Müncheberg) or © Georg Goergen (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Biological Control Center for Africa).

Map illustration © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).