i-ii    Editorial

iii-vii Chairman's report - The last eight years

viii    Honorary Life and Sponsor Members of LepSoc Africa

ix      Metamorphosis Peer reviewers

The Brenton Blue butterfly became nationally famous in the 1990s when the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa (LSA) launched a campaign to prevent its imminent extinction, because of the development of a luxury housing estate at Brenton-on-Sea on the southern coast of South Africa. This campaign gained support from national and international NGOs as well as the South African public and pressure mounted on the National Government to intervene. Eventually the Brenton Blue Butterfly Reserve (BBBR) was established to protect the butterfly in 1997, with the status of a “special nature reserve”. An intensive research project was conducted from 2000–2005, which uncovered the butterfly's unusual ecological requirements, including the caterpillar's habit of feeding on the rootstock of its host plant Indigofera erecta under the protection of Camponotus baynei ants. The vegetation composition and dynamics, the biology of the host plant, the ant community and the population dynamics of the butterfly were also outcomes of this research. This facilitated the development of a reserve management programme, which for over 20 years seemed to ensure the butterfly's survival. Fire exclusion was practiced because of the risk to the host ants, which nest in dead wood on the surface. Despite these precautions, during the unprecedented Knysna fire in June 2017 the entire butterfly reserve was burnt, and even though some butterflies emerged in November 2017, these were the last ones seen at the BBBR.

I met Jean-Louis at the University of Yaoundé (Cameroon), where I arrived in 1979 to teach chemistry. He was responsible for the Zoology department, a discipline which my son François, although barely eight years old, was already passionate about. The two large aquariums which stood in Jean-Louis' vast office at the Faculty of Sciences and where Aphyosemions were evolving, naturally attracted him. The professor not only knew how to explain, but also how to tell a story, and François was a great listener. These were François' first steps in ichthyology, which he still practises today. This is his story.

Robinson & Kirke (1990) reported the occurrence of Melipotis obliquivia (Hampson, 1926) on Ascension Island. After more material was available for genitalia dissection and barcoding, the identity of the Melipotis population on Ascension has been verified. The specimens are conspecific with Melipotis famelica (Guenée, 1852), which is widely distributed in southern North America, the Caribbean, Central and South America. On Ascension the species is quite common, with a focus on the Green Mountain.

Three new species from Africa are described in the genus Coccothera Meyrick, 1914 (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Grapholitini). Coccothera yangambiana sp. nov., Coccothera willydeprinsi sp. nov. and Coccothera juratedeprinsi sp. nov. Diagnostic characters are illustrated and described, and the type locality is illustrated. The biology and distribution of the species are not known except for the collecting dates and locality.