Lon co Grishin, 2019

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2025, Advancing butterfly systematics through genomic analysis, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 12 (5), pp. 1-201 : 168

Lon co Grishin , 2023 and Lon ma Grishin, 2023 are sympatric in Monteverde, Costa Rica

Genomic analysis reveals that Lon co Grishin , 2023 ( type locality in Mexico: Guerrero) and Lon ma Grishin , 2023 ( type locality in Panama) are sympatric in Monteverde, Puntarenas Province in Costa Rica ( Fig. 132 ). They have been collected by different collectors in different years, which minimizes the chance of mislabeling. Moreover, one specimen of each species was collected there (elevation 1280 m) on September 7–9, 1988 by P. F. Milner (NVG-24065F01, Fig. 133b, h and NVG-24065E12, Fig. 133f, l ), and also in March 1987, J. Brenner collection (NVG-24065E10, Fig. 133a, g and NVG-23048E11, Fig. 133d, j ), as indicated on identical labels (within each pair) of these specimens. We use this opportunity to refine phenotypic characters for the identification of these species in the area of sympatry. Three males of each species from the Puntarenas Province are shown in ( Fig. 133 ). We noticed five characters that may be useful for identification, pointed at by green arrows in the first specimen ( Fig. 133a, g ): (1) in L. co, the dorsal hindwing discal orange patch extends deeper into cell CuA 2 -1A+2A and there is somewhat diffuse orange overscaling along and around the vein 1A+2A forming a “ray”, which is absent in L. ma; (2) the dorsal hindwing brown margin is wider in L. co and narrower, especially between veins M 1 and M 3, in L. ma; (3) the ventral hindwing marginal area in L. co is darker than in L. ma towards the tornus, e.g., between veins M 1 and M 3; (4) the discal brown spot in the cell CuA 2 -1A+2A of the ventral hindwing is relatively smaller in L. co than in L. ma, and brown spots in this row directed towards the apex are more similar in size in L. co than in L. ma, in which the inner spot is noticeably larger than others; (5) the anal cell of the ventral hindwing is yellower in L. co than in L. ma, in which it is overscaled with brown.

Figures

Fig. 132. Phylogenetic trees of three species of Lon inferred from protein-coding regions in: a) the nuclear genome (autosomes), based on 807,423 positions, and b) the mitochondrial genome. Specimens from Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica, are labeled in magenta. Ultrafast bootstrap (Minh et al. 2013) values are shown at nodes. Different species are in different colors: L. zabulon (blue), L. co (green), and L. ma (purple). The sequence of SAMN18587728 is taken from the alignment provided in Kawahara et al. (2023).

Fig. 133. Lon males from Costa Rica: Puntarenas Prov., in dorsal (left half, a–f) and ventral (right half, g–l) views: L. co in the 1st and 3rd column (a–c, g–i) and L. ma in the 2nd and 4th column (d–f, j–l), the same specimen is shown in the same position in the left and right halves of the image. Green arrows point to characters useful for identification of these species, numbered 1 to 5, see text. Specimens were collected in Monteverde and are in MGCL, except as indicated. a, g) NVG-24065E10, Mar-1987, J. Brenner coll.; b, h) NVG-24065F01, 1280 m, 7-9-Sep-1988, P. F. Milner leg.; c, i) NVG-18115B07, USNMENT 01531555 PT, 1300 m, 18-May-1985, J. A. Chemsak leg. [USNM]; d, j) NVG-23048E11, Mar-1987, J. Brenner coll.; e, k) NVG- 24065E11 Las Alturas, 1400 m, 5-Jul-1992 A. Sourakov leg.; f, l) NVG-24065E12, 1280 m, 7-9-Sep-1988, P. F. Milner leg.