First records of 31 species of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) in Cameroon, with remarks on their elevational ranges

Abstract Background The biodiversity of West and Central Africa is understudied, including butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera). Cameroon, through its position in between few biogeographic regions and diversity of habitats, is an important hotspot of lepidopteran diversity. However, the country also ranks low when it comes to local biodiversity knowledge. During our long-term ecological projects in the Cameroonian part of the Gulf of Guinea Highlands, we collected rich material of butterflies and moths, including a number of interesting faunistic records. New information In this study, we report 31 species of butterflies and moths which have not yet been recorded in Cameroon. These species comprised eight new genera records for the country. In many cases, our records represented an important extension of the species’ known distribution, including ten species whose distribution ranges extended into the Guinean biogeographic region. We also comment on the species’ elevational distribution ranges on Mount Cameroon where most of our records originated. Additionally, we confirm the presence of a butterfly Telchinia encedena, after more than a century since its first and so far its only record in Cameroon.


Introduction
West and Central Sub-Saharan Africa belong to the areas with the lowest knowledge on regional biodiversity on the continent. Although almost 3,000 taxa of moths (De Prins and De Prins 2019) and almost 1,600 taxa of butterflies (Williams 2018) have been reported from Cameroon so far, much higher diversity of these groups can be expected, considering the country's high habitat heterogeneity. The Gulf of Guinea Highlands is an important montane range on the borders of Nigeria and Cameroon (i.e. at the edge of the Guinean and Congolian biogeographic regions). It represents the only large montane area in the region and is recognised as a biodiversity hotspot with high endemism for numerous taxa (Myers et al. 2000), including butterflies and moths (Larsen 2005, Ustjuzhanin et al. 2018). However, the biodiversity of this montane range is still relatively unexplored and comprehensive studies of Lepidoptera are still under-represented.
Several recent ecological studies on lepidopteran communities in the Gulf of Guinea Highlands (e.g. Tropek and Konvička 2010, Maicher et al. 2020 collected an extensive number of butterflies and moths, including several newly described species (e.g. Yakovlev and Sáfián 2016, Ustjuzhanin et al. 2018, Sáfián et al. 2019, as well as new country records already published during earlier stages of the projects (e.g. Tropek et al. 2013, Tropek et al. 2015, Ustjuzhanin et al. 2018, Przybyłowicz et al. 2019b. The large amount of collected material still holds new species of general faunistic or taxonomic interest. In this study, we report 31 species of butterflies and moths recorded in Cameroon for the first time. In some cases, these records significantly extended the species' known geographical ranges. These are supplemented by a rediscovery of a butterfly species in Cameroon after more than a century.

Distribution
This species was known from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our record on Mount Cameroon has extended its western distribution and has evidenced the species from the Guinean biogeographic region. On Mount Cameroon, it is restricted to above 1,100 m a.s.l. (Fig. 4).  Anapisa metarctioides (Hampson, 1907

Distribution
This species was recently described from Gabon and considered as endemic to the country. Our record extended its known distribution to Cameroon, as well as to the Guinean biogeographic region. On Mount Cameroon, our records came from lowland forests only (350 and 650 m a.s.l.) (Fig. 7).

Notes
The species was originally described as Balacra (

Distribution
This species was reported from montane regions of Central (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Eastern (Kenya and Tanzania) Africa. Our record thus extended its known range to the Guinean biogeographic region. It was also the first record of Ligulosia genus in Cameroon. On Mount Cameroon, it has a relatively broad elevational distribution range (650-2,200 m a.s.l.), although most specimens were recorded at the higher elevations ( Fig. 9).

Distribution
This species was known from Gabon and Ghana only. This is also the first record of the Calligraphidia genus in Cameroon. The only specimen from Mount Cameroon was collected in montane forest (1,850 m a.s.l.) (Fig. 11).

Distribution
D. punctifera was known from several countries across Central and Eastern Africa (but none bordering with Cameroon), but also in Côte d'Ivoire and South Africa. In the Mount Cameroon region, it has a very broad elevational range from 30 m to 1,850 m a.s.l. (Fig. 13).

Distribution
This species was known from Ghana and Nigeria. Our record broadened its known distribution eastwards. In the Mount Cameroon region, we recorded it in all sampled lowland and upland forests up to 1,100 m a.s.l. (Fig. 14).

Distribution
This species was considered as endemic to Nigeria; we extended its known distribution eastwards. On Mount Cameroon, it was collected in forests from 350 to 1,100 m a.s.l. (Fig. 15).

Distribution
This species was previously recorded only in Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe; our record thus partly filled the wide gap in its distribution. It is also the first record of the Orgyia genus in Cameroon. On Mount Cameroon, it was recorded in lowland and upland forests ranges from 350 to 1,100 m a.s.l. (Fig. 16).

Distribution
This species was known only from Uganda and Central African Republic. Our Cameroonian record thus broadened its distribution range westwards to the Guinean biogeographic region. On Mount Cameroon, it was collected in lowland forests at 350 and 650 m a.s.l. (Fig. 17).

Distribution
This species was known from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and South Africa. Our record in Cameroon is thus the westernmost for the species and extended its distribution to the Guinean biogeographic region. In the Mount Cameroon region, it was recorded in all studied lowland forests up to 650 m a.s.l. (Fig. 18).
First records of 31 species of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) in Cameroon, ...

Distribution
The known distribution of this species already included the Guinean (Ghana) and Congolian (Gabon, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo) biogeographic regions. The only specimen was collected in coastal forest at 30 m a.s.l. (Fig. 19).

Distribution
This species was reported from Ghana, Nigeria and Gabon. It is also the first record of Hypotrabala genus in Cameroon. In the Mount Cameroon region, it was collected in lowland forests up to 350 m a.s.l. (Fig. 20).

Distribution
This species was known from the Guinean (Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria) and Zambezian (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) biogeographic regions, with a large distribution gap in the Congolian biogeographic region. On Mount Cameroon, it was recorded in the submontane and montane forests between 1,450 and 1,850 m a.s.l. (Fig. 21).

Distribution
This species was already known from several countries in the Guinean and Congolian biogeographic regions, including Nigeria, Gabon and Congo bordering Cameroon. On Mount Cameroon, it was recorded in lowland forests at 350 and 650 m a.s.l. (Fig. 22).

Distribution
This species was known from the Guinean (Côte d'Ivoire) and Congolian (Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda) biogeographic regions. It is also the first record of the Archinadata genus in Cameroon. On Mount Cameroon, it was recorded in the lowland forests at 350 and 650 m a.s.l. (Fig. 23).

Distribution
This species was considered endemic to Gabon. Our record in Cameroon extended its distribution range into the Guinean biogeographic region. On Mount Cameroon, it occurred in lowland and upland forests between 350 and 1,100 m a.s.l. (Fig. 24).

Distribution
This species was known from Gabon, Central African Republic and Tanzania. Our record from Cameroon thus broadened its known distribution westwards, as well as into the Guinean biogeographic region. In the Mount Cameroon region, it was collected in lowland forests (30 and 350 m a.s.l.), although one specimen was recorded in submontane forest (1,450 m a.s.l.) (Fig. 26).

Distribution
This species was reported from the Congolian biogeographic region only (Central African Republic and Gabon). Our record extended its known distribution to the Guinean biogeographic region. On Mount Cameroon, it was recorded in lowland forests at 350 and 650 m a.s.l. (Fig. 27).

Distribution
The nominotypical subspecies is relatively common in the Guinean biogeographic zone (most countries along the seashore between Mauritania and Nigeria) and from the Southern African region and Madagascar. Our Cameroonian record thus extended its distribution to the easternmost edge of the Guinean biogeographic zone. In the Mount Cameroon region, it was recorded from coastal (30 m a.s.l.) and submontane forests (1,450 m a.s.l.) (Fig. 28).

Distribution
This species was known to be widely distributed in the Guinean biogeographic region (most countries from Guinea to Nigeria) and in Gabon. In the Mount Cameroon region, it was collected in the two lowest localities (30 and 220 m a.s.l.) (Fig. 29).

Distribution
This relatively widespread species was recorded from numerous countries of the Guinean (from Senegal to Cameroon) and Congolian (Democratic Republic of the Congo) biogeographic regions, but also from the Ethiopian, Somalian, Zambezian and Shaba regions. In Cameroon, its only record was published by Aurivillius (1905) more than a century ago, from the Adamawa Province. Our recent record therefore confirmed its presence in the country and extended the species' distribution range to the Northwest Province (Fig. 30).

Distribution
This species was known from Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, both in the Congolian biogeographic region. Our record thus extended its distribution range northwards and evidenced its occurrence in the Guinean biogeographic region. On Mount Cameroon, it was collected mostly in the lowland forests at 350 and 650 m a.s.l.; one specimen was caught also in the upland forest at 1,100 m a.s.l. (Fig. 31).

Discussion
Altogether, the Lepidoptera species included in this study comprise 31 species and 8 genera new for the entomofauna of Cameroon, as well as a butterfly T. encedana that had not been recorded for more than a century in Cameroon. With the records from this study, the known diversity in Cameroon now surpasses 3,000 taxa for moths (species and subspecies combined; De Prins and De Prins 2019), whilst it approximates 1,600 taxa for butterflies (Williams 2018).
Of the 31 species new for Cameroon, four are known from the Guinean biogeographic region only (De Prins and De Prins 2019, Williams 2018). Therefore, our records did not change their endemic status, although this study extended their distribution to the easternmost border of the Guinean region (including an extension of ca. 1,000 km for A. holobrunnea and A. macaria). Another ten of the listed species had been previously recorded in the Congolian region only. From these, our records have extended distribution of Euphaedra temeraria northwards, while the other species' distributions have been extended eastwards (De Prins and De Prins 2019, Williams 2018). Mainly, we have evidenced these ten species to occur in the Guinean biogeographic region, although only at its edge. This broadening of the easternmost, westernmost or northernmost limits of the numerous species distribution shows the importance of Cameroon (with special emphasis on Mount Cameroon) as the 'crossroads' between the Guinean and the Congolian biogeographic regions. It also reinforces Mount Cameroon as a biodiversity hotspot area (Myers et al. 2000, Ustjuzhanin et al. 2018. Several other species records included in this report are not surprising since they more or less expectedly fill gaps in their known distribution. Most expectedly, we recorded twelve species (such as A. makomensis and S. plagiatus) already known from the countries bordering Cameroon or some other nearby countries in the Guinean and Congolian regions (De Prins and De Prins 2019). Six other species (such as P. spurrelli and M. tripunctata) were known to have a more scattered distribution amongst West, East and South Africa, but in countries more distant from Cameroon, forming a relatively large gap in their known distribution. Aside from the species with azonal distribution (such as the First records of 31 species of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) in Cameroon, ... montane species), such large gaps rather imply lack of knowledge on the species occurrence (cf. . Our records in Cameroon have confirmed such suggestion by the partial filling of these distribution gaps. The record of the widespread T. encedana more than 100 years after its first and only record in Cameroon is also a perfect illustration of this general lack of knowledge on the Cameroonian (and Afrotropical) biodiversity of Lepidoptera. This was already pointed out by Tropek et al. (2013) and Tropek et al. (2015) for butterflies and by  for moths.
Considering the elevational ranges of the reported species, 19 reported lepidopteran species were exclusively collected in lowland and upland forests (between 30 and 1,100 m a.s.l) on Mount Cameroon, while records of five moth species were restricted to submontane and montane forests (between 1,450 and 2,100 m a.s.l.). Consequently, given that the local lepidopteran diversity is known to be higher at lower elevations (differing amongst the lepidopteran groups but always up to 1,100 m a.s.l.; Maicher et al. 2020), it appears that the knowledge gap seems proportionally comparable between the lower and higher elevations on the mountain. Although knowledge on precise elevational ranges of Afrotropical moths is highly limited, all five high-elevation species were previously reported from countries with montane ranges. These species are also the ones with the known azonal distributions which can be related to their affiliation to (sub)montane habitats rather than the severe lack of knowledge on their actual distribution. The remaining seven species have been recorded in both lowland and montane forests on Mount Cameroon.
In conclusion, our report of numerous butterfly and moth species and genera, previously not known to occur in Cameroon, highlights the relatively poor knowledge on the local and regional diversity of Afrotropical Lepidoptera. Moreover, some of these records represent a substantial extension of the individual species' known distribution. Altogether, we encourage the collection and publishing of similar faunistic data on lepidopteran occurrence from the Afrotropical countries.