Hesperiidae of Rondônia, Brazil: Taxonomic comments on “ night ” skippers, with descriptions of new genera and species (Lepidoptera: Eudaminae)
Author
Austin, George T.
McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida P. O. Box 112710, Gainesville, Florida 32611
text
Insecta Mundi
2008
2008-03-03
2008
29
1
36
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.4532815
1942-1354
4532815
Dyscophellus erythras
(Mabille, 1888)
(
Fig. 50-55
,
99
,
108
,
127
)
No appreciable variation is seen among males of
D. erythras
from
Rondônia
(mean FW length =
24.1 mm
[23.7-24.8, n = 4]). Of the two females examined (FW length = 27.2,
29.1 mm
), one is pale fulvous and the other is considerably darker red-brown. Genitalia of males from
Rondônia
(
Fig. 99
) are as illustrated by
Bell (1940
, as
Discophellus tarquinius
Bell, 1940
), but exhibit a longer and narrower harpe with a shorter dorsal lobe than those illustrated by
Evans (1952)
. From their original descriptions (Mabille 1888,
Bell 1940
),
Telegonus erythras
and
Discophellus tarquinius
seem to be synonymous. The differences in their genitalia as illustrated by
Bell (1940)
and
Evans (1952)
apparently are a function of Evans’ diagrammatic figure. Female genitalia (
Fig. 108
) (based on the two females from
Rondônia
) are typical overall for the genus. The lamella postvaginalis slopes laterad from a shallow U-shaped central indentation. The lamella antevaginalis is represented by two large lateral plates without serrations or spines and a central portion that is rectangular. The sclerotized antrum narrows abruptly to a membranous tube that has a pair of small and weakly sclerotized plates just before opening into the side of a moderately broad ductus bursae leading to a bulbous corpus bursae.
Dyscophellus erythras
is uncommon near Cacaulândia, with records in August, October, and November (
Fig. 127
). The species is known from northern South America to
Peru
and western
Brazil
(
Evans 1952
, Lamas 1994).