Revised species definitions and nomenclature of the blue and purple / rose Cithaerias butterflies (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae)
Author
Penz, Carla M.
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-04-19
4963
2
293
316
journal article
7137
10.11646/zootaxa.4963.2.3
a680b0d1-c6c7-4352-bc7c-3e86a6553f20
1175-5326
4700886
C1539A50-36B3-4050-8378-7E309F0053D9
Cithaerias esmeralda
(Doubleday)
,
STAT. REV.
(
Figs 3a–c
,
7a
,
9b
,
10
)
Haetera esmeralda
Doubleday, 1845
; Descriptions of new or imperfectly described diurnal
Lepidoptera
.
Annals and Magazine of natural History
16(106): 304–308.
Type
locality:
Brazil
,
Pará
.
Type material:
The male
holotype
is deposited in
The Natural History Museum
,
UK
.
Distribution.
Brazil
, Pará. See map (
Fig. 10
) for localities of examined specimens.
Diagnosis.
This species is defined based on the following combination of characters (numbered in
Fig. 3a–c
): (1) male HW submarginal and marginal bands amalgamated and thin; (2) male HW postmedial band proximal to the ocellus below M
1
thin, fragmented, often limited to cell Rs; (3) male HW postmedial band broad around tornus, sometimes absent from cell M
3
; (4) male HW scale cover pink-violet, dense and limited to the tornus area, covering postmedial band, and enclosing medium-small pink spots; (5) female similar to male but with wider HW brown bands on wing membrane, and a continuous postmedial band including the portion outlining the ocellus below M
1
; (6) dense scale cover at tornus can be of the same color and intensity as in males or paler, pink spots at tornus usually larger than in males. Male genitalia (
Fig. 7a
): in lateral view, uncus bent near base, longer than tegumen; in dorsal view, the uncus and short tegument form a shallowly sinuous outline. In ventral view, valva relatively thin, sinuous. Saccus broad, triangular-shaped, shorter than in
bandusia
. Phallus long and smoothly curved approximately at midpoint. Sub-anal plate somewhat rectangular, adjacent area mildly sclerotized with small microtrichia. Female genitalia (
Fig. 9b
): sterigma short and narrow (as compared to other species in this study), ostium bursae wide; post-sterigmal plate weakly sclerotized, rounded and bearing minute microtrichia. Antrum long and slightly more sclerotized than the ductus bursae; the length of the antrum plus ductus bursae seems to match the elongated male phallus. Corpus bursae lacks signa.
Variation in wing pattern (
Fig. 3a–c
).
Few specimens were available for examination but males showed variation in HW color pattern (compare
Fig. 3a and c
). Specifically, the pink-violet area on the HW tornus ranges from bright pink to vivid violet. The small pink spots near the HW margin vary in size among the examined male specimens, less so in females.
Subspecies.
None.
Remarks.
Both male and female
C. esmeralda
show remarkable differences in color pattern and genitalia morphology from
C. andromeda
where they had been placed by
Lamas 1998
). These differences include: dense hind wing scaling, elongate and arched phallus, bent uncus, and a short and delicate sterigma (compare
Fig. 3a–c
to
Fig. 2
,
Fig. 7a
to
Fig. 6
,
Fig. 9b
to 9a). Furthermore,
C. esmeralda
has been collected at the same locality with
C. bandusia
; i.e.,
Brazil
, Pará, Santarém based on CMNH and LACM specimens (note that Taperinha is
56 km
east of Santarém). This species differs from
C. bandusia
by having pink-violet wing color (compare
Fig. 3a–c
to 3d–g) and an evenly arched phallus, rather than the sharply bent one in
C. bandusia
,
(compare
Fig. 7a
to 7b). Thus, the species status for
C. esmeralda
proposed here is justified by wing color and genitalia characters plus putative sympatry with
C. bandusia
.
Material examined:
MALE
:
1♂
,
Brazil
,
Amazonas
,
Mujo
(sic, locality unknown to me),
21 Dec 1940
, 19-01
Dissected
by
CM
Penz (
FMNH
);
1♂
,
Brazil
,
Pará
(Miles Moss) 19-03
Dissected
by
CM
Penz (
FMNH
); 2M, Bra- zil,
Pará
,
Benevides
,
Oct 1918
(
CMNH
); 1M,
Brazil
, Pará, Santarém, Taperinha (
ETHZ
)
.
FEMALE
:
1♀
,
Brazil
,
Amazonas
,
21 Dec 1940
, 19-02
Dissected
by
CM
Penz; (
FMNH
);
1♀
,
Brazil
,
Pará
, km 1666
Cuiabá-Santarém Highway
,
26 Jul 1978
, 19-04
Dissected
by
CM
Penz (
FMNH
); 2F,
Brazil
, Pará, Santarém (
CMNH
); 1F,
Brazil
, Pará, Santarém, Taperinha (
ETHZ
)
.