Pardaleodes tibullus Fabricius 1793

Pardaleodes tibullus (Fabricius) (Fig. 59, $ genitalia)
Hesperia tibullus Fabricius, 1793 [1793-1794], (1): 326 C'lndiis"). = Plastingia reichenowi Plotz, 1879b: 357 (Guinea). =Pardaleodes festus Mabille, 1890a: 33; pi. 3, fig. 2 (Ivory Coast). = Pardaleodes torensis Bethune-Baker, 1906: 341 (Toro, Kenya). = Pardaleodes aurivilli Reuss, 1921: 25 (N. Cameroon).
Evans (1937: 106) lists the nominate form and torensis as subspecies, but we can find no dependable means of separating the two; torensis does not appear worthy of retention. This is another of the highly variable members of the genus.
We are following Evans (1951: 1272) and Berger (1962: 453) in substituting the long-forgotten Fabrician name tibullus for the familiar reichenowi, under which name the species has been known since the proposal of reichenowi. We do this under protest, as in the case of Sarangesa tertullianus, since the Fabrician description could apply to other species as well as to the familiar "reichenowi" .
A change of name is especially unfortunate for this species since
it is perhaps the commonest hesperiid in the Guinean rain forest and the one most commonly reported in small collections. It inhabits the small forest clearings with P. edipus and members of the Genus Ceratrichia (Birket-Smith, 1960b: 1271-1272).
This species is known from Sierra Leone and Guinea to Gabon and east into Uganda and Kenya; the material in Carnegie Museum is primarily from the eastern and southern parts of the range.
Liberia: Kaouyeke, 1 5 , III (Picard, 1950: 626); Harbel, 1 2 , I; Ganta, 1 S , V, 4 $ , 3 ? , VI (Fox).

Pardaleodes tibullus, the large pathfinder skipper, is a butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. The habitat consists of open areas in forests.

Adults are attracted to flowers, particularly those of the families Acanthaceae and Lamiaceae.

The larvae feed on Pennisetum species.