Pamperis Heimlich, 1959

Matz, Jess & Brower, Andrew V. Z., 2016, The South Temperate Pronophilina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae): a phylogenetic hypothesis, redescriptions and revisionary notes, Zootaxa 4125 (1), pp. 1-108 : 59

Pamperis Heimlich, 1959

Type species: Pamperis poaoeneis Heimlich, 1959

Diagnosis. A dark gray butterfly with no forewing ocelli, and extremely aberrant wing venation. Forewing R1 has a separate origin at the anterior end of the discal cell and fuses with the subcosta, while the remaining radial veins branch as follows; R5, R2, R3+R4. in the hindwing, vein A3 is absent.

Remarks. In the original description, Heimlich associated Pamperis poaoeneis with Cosmosatyrus , but he considered the resemblance insufficient for placing in that genus, and created the monotypic genus Pamperis for this unusual species based primarily on peculiarities in the wing venation. Miller (1968) further set Pamperis poaoeneis apart as a genus of uncertain position, again due to its unusual venation, noting that "the veins in the apical portion of the forewing are arranged like no known satyrid." Pyrcz & Wojtusiak (2010) synonymized Pamperis with Argyrophorus , but noted its unusual venation, the absence of an M1-M2 ventral forewing ocellus, and antennae only partially covered in scales as features that set it apart: in other words, it is very little like Argyrophorus at all. Miller (1968) also noted, "Until these structures, as well as others not considered in the original description, have been studied, it will be quite impossible to assign this genus to its proper position among the Satyridae ." Molecular data confirm what morphology suggests: that Pamperis poaoeneis is distinct from Argyrophorus or any other taxon. Pamperis , then, remains a valid monotypic genus.