The identity of Alfred Wallace's mysterious butterfly taxon Lycaena nisa solved: Famegana nisa comb. nov., a senior synonym of F. alsulus (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Polyommatinae)
Author
Hsu, Yu-Feng
Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 116, Taiwan, ROC
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2091-7775
t43018@ntnu.edu.tw
text
ZooKeys
2020
966
153
162
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.966.51921
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.966.51921
1313-2970-966-153
8E1E57D3BE4F452A9C8677B1C4DB3710
4FE5E4CD17135B5289D5F3DC90922CCD
Famegana nisa (Wallace, 1866)
comb. nov.
Figures 1-3
Lycaena nisa
Wallace, 1866: 360. Type locality: "Takaw, Formosa".
Lycaena alsulus
Herrich-Schaeffer
, 1869: 75. Type locality: Rockhampton and Upolu [Australia]. syn. nov.
Lycaena exilis
Lucas, 1889: 159, figs 13-15. Type locality: Cooktown to Bowen [Australia] (preoccupied by
Lycaena exilis
Boisduval, 1852). syn. nov.
Lycaena lulu
Mathew, 1889: 312. Type locality: Tongatabu, [Tonga]. syn. nov.
Lycaena gracilis
Miskin, 1890: 37. Type locality: Brisbane to Cooktown [Australia]. syn. nov.
Lycaena exiloides
Lucas, 1891: 47. Replacement name for
Lycaena exilis
Lucas, 1889.syn. nov.
Zizera nisa
:
Matsumura 1909
: 480.
Zizeeria alsulus
:
Waterhouse and Lyell 1914
: 106.
Zizera lulu
:
Rothschild 1915
: 390.
Zizera kalawarus
Ribbe 1926
: 91;
Vane Wright and de Jong 2003
: 155. Type locality: Celebes. syn. nov.
Zizera alsulus
:
Seitz 1927
: 926.
Zizera taiwana
Sonan, 1938: 254. Type locality: "Inrin, Formosa." syn. nov.
Zizeeria alsulus eggletoni
Corbet 1941
: 150;
Ek-Amnuay 2012
: 589. Type locality: Hong Kong, New territory. syn. nov.
Zizina alsulus taiwana
:
Shirozu
1944
: 37;
Shirozu
1960
: 334;
Hsu: 2013
: 252.
Famegana alsulus
:
Eliot 1973
: 453;
D'Abrera
1977
: 361;
D'Abrera
1986
: 651;
Parsons 1999
: 460;
Braby 2000
: 839;
Braby 2016
: 324.
Famegana alsulus alsulus
:
Common and Waterhouse 1981
: 587.
Type material examined.
Wallace
: The specimen of
Lycaena nisa
retrieved in NHMUK,
Lectotype
(here designated) (Figs
1-3
).
Taiwan • ♀; "♀. Formosa"; "
L. nisa
Wallace"; "Compare Otis Fab."; "Moore Coll. 1908-203. Formosa."; reg. no. 720422; NHMUK.
Figures 1-9.
Type specimens of
Famegana nisa
(Wallace, 1866)
1-3
lectotype of
Lycaena nisa
Wallace, 1866
4-6
holotype of
Lycaena taiwana
Sonan, 1938
7-9
holotype of
Zizeeria alsulus eggletoni
Corbet, 1941. Scale bar: 0.5 cm.
Sonan
: Three specimens belonging to the type series of
Zizera taiwana
Sonan, 1938 retrieved in TARI, reg. nos. 37, 40, 45.
Holotype
(Figs
4-6
)
Taiwan • ♂; "Type [round paper, red characters in red circle]"; "Inrin, 30. X. 1932 Col. J. Sonan"; "
Zizera taiwana
Sonan DET. J. SONAN"; "No. 37".
Paratypes
Taiwan • 1♀ (Allotype); "Allo Type [round paper, orange characters in orange circle]"; "Inrin, 30. X. 1932 Col. J. Sonan"; "
Zizera taiwana
Sonan DET. J. SONAN"; "No. 45" • 1 ♀; "Para Type [round paper, green characters in green circle]"; "Inrin, 30. X. 1932 Col. J. Sonan"; "
Zizera taiwana
Sonan DET. J. SONAN"; "No. 40"
Corbet
: Two specimens belonging to the type series of
Zizeeria alsulus eggletoni
Corbet, 1941 retrieved in NHMUK with the reg. no. 720438.
Holotype
Hong Kong • ♂ (Figs
7-9
); "♂ Holotype
Zizeeria alsulus eggletoni
Cbt."; "Hong Kong District. + New Territory 5. IX. 1914. R. W. Barney", "Type H T [round label with red edge]", "Brit. Mus. 1921-312", "
Zizeeria
GENITALIA slide No. NSC. l."
Paratype
Hong Kong • ♂; "Hong Kong District. + New Territory 5. IX. 1914 R. W. Barney", "Type Holo-type [round label with red edge]", "Brit. Mus. 1921-312." Note: Although this specimen also bears a
"holotype"
label, the former bears a label with
Corbet's
hand-written characters indicating that it is the true holotype.
Additional material examined.
Australia • 2 ♂ 2♀; Queensland, Mt. Stuart; 26 March 2017; Y. F. Hsu and M. Braby leg.; 1♂ 1♀; Queensland, Cairns, 30 March 2017; Y. F. Hsu and M. Braby leg. Hong Kong; 1♂; Yuen Long District, Shek Wu Wai; 14 October 2009; Y. F. Lo and W. L. Hui leg; 1♀; Ching Mun CP, Tai Mo Shan; 500m; 20. October. 2009; W. L. Hui leg; 1♀; New Territory, Ngau Tam Mei; 100m; 17 December 2018; Y. F. Hsu leg. Hainan• 3♂; Dongfang, Donghe, Nanran; 18 April 2010; Y. F. Lo leg.
Descriptions.
Lectotype of
Lycaena nisa
Female (Figs
1
,
2
). Forewing length 10.9 mm. Head hairy, brown, with medial white band on frons. Antennae dark brown, segmented with white. Proboscis brown. Labial palpus hairy, porrect; third segment slender, pointed at distal end, white but brown dorsally. Compound eyes smooth. Thorax and abdomen dark brown dorsally, white ventrally. Forewing broad, somewhat elongate, termen slightly convex. Hindwing rounded. Wing uppersides uniformly brown. Wing undersides ground color white tinged with gray, spotless except for presence of submarginal bands consisted of faint narrow bands proximally and a series of faint brown spots distally along termen of both wings; dot in cell CuA1 prominent, black. Fringe white.
Holotype of
Lycaena taiwana
Male (Figs
4
,
5
). Forewing length 10.9 mm. Morphology conformed to those of
L. nisa
, except metallic purple patches present on uppersides of both wings proximally and those on hindwings.
Holotype of
Zizeeria alsulus eggletoni
Male (Figs
7
,
8
). Forewing length 11.4 mm. Morphology conformed to those of
L. nisa
, except metallic purple patches present on uppersides of both wings proximally, and those on hindwings; submarginal bands on wing undersides slightly paler than those of
L. nisa
and
L. taiwana
.
Distribution.
This species occurs in the Oriental and Australian regions, and western Pacific, including southern China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Sulawesi, Australia, the Torres Strait islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga (
Eliot 1973
;
Braby 2000
;
Vane Wright and de Jong 2003
;
Ek-Amnuay 2012
).
Biology.
Larval hostplants of
Famegana nisa
have been reported to include various legume species, such as
Cajanus acutifolius
(F.Muell. ex Benth.) Maesen,
C. pubescens
(Ewart & Morrison) Maesen,
Desmodium elegans
Candolle,
Flemingia macrophylla
(Willd.) Merr.,
Indigofera pratensis
F. Muell.,
Galactia tenuiflora
(Klein ex Willdenow) Wight & Arnott,
Phyllodium pulchellum
(Linnaeus) Desvaux.,
Tephrosia purpurea
(L.) Pers.,
Vigna lanceolata
Benth.,
V. radiata
(L.) Wilczek and
V. vexillata
(L.) A. Rich (all
Fabaceae
) (
Bascombe et al. 1999
;
Braby 2000
,
2016
). Life histories are illustrated and described in
Bascombe et al. (1999)
. Eggs are laid near flowers, upon which the larvae feed. Facultative mymecophily does occur.