Male secondary sexual structures and the systematics of the Thereusoppia species group (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Eumaeini)
Author
Robbins, Robert K.
Author
Heredia, Maria Dolores
Author
Busby, Robert C.
text
ZooKeys
2015
520
109
130
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.520.10134
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.520.10134
1313-2970-520-109
A3F77DC0CA0F48149F097FE1A6042447
A3F77DC0CA0F48149F097FE1A6042447
Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Lycaenidae
Thereus orasus (Godman & Salvin, 1887)
Figs 1, 5, 9, 15, 19
Diagnosis.
Thereus orasus
differs from other members of the
Thereus oppia
group by having a gray ventral ground color, not brown (Figs 1-4). The male is also unique in having no dorsal forewing brown border (except for some marginal black scales) and the gray part of the dorsal hindwing scent patch is restricted to the basal part of cell rs-M1 (Fig. 9).
Nomenclature.
Robbins (2004)
synonymized
Thecla echinita
Schaus (Fig. 1, female type in USNM) with
Thecla orasus
(male holotype in BMNH) because they share a similar ventral wing pattern and occur in the same habitats and have the same distribution. We have examined both types.
Distribution and habitat.
Thereus orasus
is an uncommon species that is recorded from montane habitats from central Mexico (Colima and Veracruz) to those of western Panama (
Chiriqui
) at elevations from 1100 to 1800 m.
Caterpillar food plant.
Greg Ballmer collected a larva on 30 Aug 1988 at El
Jabali
, 13 mi NE Comala, Colima, Mexico, at 1100-1200 m. The caterpillar was eating
Struthanthus condensatus
Kuijt (
Loranthaceae
). An eclosed adult female and its pupal case are deposited in UCRC. The mistletoe plant was growing on coffee and was identified by Kuijt.