Napaea melampia (Bates, 1867)

Dias, Fernando Maia Silva, Casagrande, Mirna Martins & Mielke, Olaf Hermann Hendrik, 2015, Description of the hitherto unknown female of Napaea joinvilea (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae: Mesosemiini), with a discussion on its taxonomic status, Florida Entomologist 98 (1), pp. 126-126 : 126

Key Words: Napaea melampia ; Morphology; Bahia; Paraná; Santa Catarina

Resumo

A fêmea de Napaea joinvilea Hall & Harvey, 2005 ( Lepidoptera : Riodinidae : Mesosemiini ), até agora desconhecida, é descrita, e são fornecidos novos dados distribucionais para esta espécie - atualmente conhecida somente de uma única localidade no estado de Santa Catarina, Brasil, aumentando a distribuiÇão em mais de 1.500 quilômetros na direÇão Norte. Diagnose e descriÇão da fêmea, distinÇão das espécies simpátricas e ilustraÇão dos adultos em vistas ventral e dorsal, e das genitálias de ambos os sexos são forneci- das. AtenÇão especial é conferida ao distinguir N. joinvilea de sua espécie-irmã, N. melampia (Bates, 1867) , uma espécie rara conhecida somente de localidades não especificadas no estado da Bahia, Brasil. Baseando-se na fêmea e nos novos dados de distribuiÇão, N. joinvilea é claramente reconhecida como uma espécie distinta.

Palavras-Chave: Napaea melampia ; Morfologia; Bahia; Paraná; Santa Catarina

Napaea Hübner, [1819] 2005 ( Lepidoptera : Riodinidae : Mesosemiini ) is a genus of medium to large 5 forewing radial-veined riodinid butterflies, which contains 15 species distributed throughout most of the Neotropics ( Hall 2005). The genus is distinguished by the presence of the third pale bar from wing base in forewing cell CuA 2 proximally displaced in upper half; an isolated spot at the base of the forewing cell R 1; and individual pale spots at costa of dorsal hindwing, above discal cell and vein M 1 ( Hall 2005). Males usually perch along streams, hilltops, forest gaps and edges in the late afernoon, usually upside down in tree trunks or epiphytes, with their wings half-open; while females fly slowly at various heights along forest edges, gaps, and secondary growth areas, and only occasionally near the males perching sites ( Hall 2005). Both sexes ofen rest under leaves with their wings spread open ( Hall 2005).

Napaea belongs to the recently defined subtribe Napaeina which is part of Mesosemiini and both taxa were determined to be monophyletic by Hall (2003, 2005). Most genera currently in Napaeina were previously considered part of the Eurybiina by Stichel (1910, 1911, 1930, 1931), and were further placed in an incertae sedis group based in more comprehensive phylogentic and taxonomic analyses ( Harvey 1987; Callaghan & Lamas 2004). Napaea and several other related genera belonging to the Napaeina were phylogenetically tested and revised by Hall (2005), who proposed a number of new synonymies and combinations, and described 5 new species for the genus, includ- ing Napaea joinvilea Hall & Harvey, 2005 ( Figs. 1–5, 7–8 , 10–13 ). Even though specimens of many species – and especially females – are rath- er uncommon in collections, only 2 species of the genus do not have known females: N. joinvilea and N. fratelloi Hall & Harvey 2005 .

Napaea joinvilea was described based on 6 males, the holotype ( Fig. 3 ) and one of the paratypes from the municipality of Joinville, state of Santa Catarina, southeastern Brazil; the remaining 4 paratypes are from unspecified localities in the same state. According to the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Hall (2005), the sister species of N. joinvilea is N. melampia (Bates, 1867) ( Figs. 6, 9 ), a rare taxa with only 9 known specimens collected in unspecified localities in the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil ( Hall 2005); Stichel (1910, 1911) also indicates the presence of N. melampia in the state of Espirito Santo (an unspecified locality), southeastern Brazil. Hall (2005) noted subtle, but significant differences between N. joinvilea and N. melampia , however, due

Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidoptera Neotropical, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 19.020, CEP 81.531-980, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil to the small series of specimens examined to explore the phenotypic variation and the absence of the female of N. joinvilea , he stated that is important to find additional specimens from these taxa from another sites to definitively resolve the taxonomic status of N. joinvilea . In fact, he was unsure about the true taxonomic status of N. joinvilea stating that, given the clear-cut differences observed between nearly all Napaeina species, the description of N. joinvilea was “the only subjective species-level taxonomic decision” he had to make while revising the Napaeina ( Hall 2005) .

The purpose of this paper is to describe the female, to resolve the taxonomic status, and to provide new distributional data for N. joinvilea Hall & Harvey 2005 .

Figures

Figs. 1–9. Adults of species of Napaea Hübner, [1819]. 1–5. Napaea joinvilea Hall & Harvey, 2005. 1–2. Male from São Francisco do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil, 1. Dorsal. 2. Ventral. 3. Holotype from Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil, dorsal (right) and ventral (lef). 4–5. Male from Itacaré, Bahia, Brazil. 4. Dorsal. 5. Ventral. 6. Napaea melampia (Bates,1867),male from “Brazil”, dorsal (right) and ventral (lef). 7–8. N. joinvilea, female from Atami,Pontal do Paraná,Paraná,Brazil.7. Dorsal. 8. Ventral. 9. N. melampia, female from “Bahia”, Brazil. Figures 3, 6 and 9 reproduced from Hall (2005). Scale bar = 1 cm.

Figs. 10–11. Head of the female of Napaea joinvilea Hall & Harvey, 2005. 10. Anterior view; 11. Ventral view. Scale bar = 0.5 cm.

Figs. 12–13. Genitalia of Napaea joinvilea Hall & Harvey, 2005. 12. Male, lateral view. 13. Female, dorsal view. Scale bar = 0.25 mm.