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A total of 385 Euphaedra eberti Aurivillius, 1898, adults collected between 2012 and 2018 in the vicinity of Bangui, Central African Republic, were examined for intraspecific morphological variability, genetic diversity and genitalia structure. The species shows significant wing pattern variability. Two main morphotypes were identified in the set: the nominate form eberti, and the one comprising specimens with a red patch, form rubromaculata. However, both forms had similar genitalic structures and shared some specific wing marks, in addition to displaying the same COI (i.e., barcode region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene) haplotype, strongly suggesting that the two morphologically distinct forms belong to the same species, E. eberti. The causes of this variability remain unclear.

The Afrotropical genus Abantis Hopffer, 1855 includes about 23 species so far, all quite rare. In Evans’ Catalogue of the African Hesperiidae only 14 species were listed but, apart from a few newly discovered ones, some of the subspecies indicated over there have subsequently been raised to species level, although they look very similar in facies with previously recognised taxa. This article shows the presence of an unrecognised species similar to A. lucretia Druce, 1909 in West Africa, namely A. fabiana sp. n., and another one similar to both A. contigua Evans, 1937 and A. elegantula Mabille, 1890 in Central Africa, namely A. torbeni sp. n. The rarity in collections of almost all forest-dwelling Abantis spp. is reported as connected to their habit of flying high in the forest canopy, but the authors have no conclusive evidence of it. Most Abantis are hill-toppers, mud lovers and are attracted by dead animals (fish and turtles), although some of them are also flower-visiting.

Updated data on the distribution, ecology and taxonomy of Euphaedra cyparissa (Cramer) and Euphaedra sarcoptera (Butler) are presented. Three new subspecies of E. cyparissa and one of E. sarcoptera are described and their geographic distribution is presented. The monophyly of the genus Euphaedra sensu Hecq is assessed based on morphological, in particular male and female genitalia, and behavioural traits. Possible evolutionary reasons for the convergence of colour pattern between the sympatric subspecies of E. cyparissa and E. sarcoptera are discussed.