Porphyrogenes vulpecula ( Plötz, 1882 )

Austin, George T. & Mielke, Olaf H. H., 2008, Hesperiidae of Rondônia, Brazil: Porphyrogenes Watson (Lepidoptera: Pyrginae: Eudamini), with descriptions of new species from Central and South America, Insecta Mundi 2008 (44), pp. 1-56 : 11-13

Porphyrogenes vulpecula ( Plötz, 1882)

( Fig. 17, 18 , 69, 70 , 158 )

Telemiades vulpecula Plötz, 1882 . Type locality: South America , type labeled Pará [ Brazil]; male type (herein designated the lectotype, Fig. 17, 18 ) in MNHU.

Description. Male (measured and described from photographs of type, Fig. 17, 18 ) - forewing length = 23.3 mm; forewing with costal fold, apex pointed, not produced, termen and anal margin slightly convex; hindwing termen slightly convex, tornus produced to short lobe, costa somewhat produced proximad, vein Rs arising very near end of discal cell and well distad of CuA 2; dorsum brown, unmarked; forewing overscaled with olivaceous orange-brown, heaviest basad, anal margin with sparse tuft proximad; hindwing overscaled with olivaceous orange-brown, no indication of discal macules; shining gray specular basal areas cephalad; moderate length black tufts; erect olivaceous orange-brown tuft along anterior edge of vein 2A, recumbent gray tuft from posterior edge of 2A; fringes on both wings tan.

Venter colored as dorsum; forewing vein 2A strongly sinuate, bare and broadly swollen in central 1/2, within distinct groove surrounded on both sides by shining area (appearing superficially as a doubled vein); shining gray speculum extending 3/4 distance distad in CuA 2 -2A, continued into anal cell (continued to tornus as modified brown scales); hindwing with vague indication of dark discal macules; cell 2A- 3A with deep conspicuously tan groove just caudad of 2A.

Dorsal head and thorax olivaceous orange-brown, palpi same, eyes appear reddish, antennae black on dorsum, pale on venter and beneath apiculus, ventral thorax and pectus olivaceous orange-brown, legs orange-brown, dorsal abdomen olivaceous orange-brown, ventral abdomen brownish.

Genitalia - not examined. Evans’ (1952) figure indicates a broad tegumen and a broad uncus with the arms short, parallel, and widely spaced. The valva bends dorsad in its caudal portion where the harpe narrows abruptly.

Female ( Fig. 69, 70 ) - forewing length = 25.2 mm (n = 1; from Rio Purus, Brazil); forewing apex pointed, termen convex, anal margin slightly concave; hindwing termen convex, concave just anterior to short tornal lobe, vein Rs arising nearer to end of discal cell than to its base and distad of CuA 2; dorsum brown; forewing overscaled with ochreous-olive, heaviest basad, two large white translucent macules, that in M 3 -CuA 1 with proximal edge just proximad of origin of M 3, broadest cephalad, larger in CuA 1 -CuA 2 centered under origin of CuA 1, irregularly trapezoidal; hindwing overscaled with ochreous-olive posterior to vein M 1, vague indication of brown discal macules; conspicuous erect ochreous-olive tuft on dorsum of vein 2A; fringes on both wings brown.

Venter brown, duller than on dorsum; forewing lightly overscaled with gray especially basad and along costa, forewing vein 2A slightly curved, modified pale gray-tan scales in entire anal cell; hindwing brown with grayish cast, vague darker brown discal macules from vein M 1 to vein 2A; cell 2A-3A with groove just caudad of vein 2A, margined broadly on both sides by grayish tan.

Dorsal head and thorax ochreous-olive, eyes appear dark, palpi ochreous-olive, antennae black, ochreous on venter distad (both clubs broken), ventral thorax and pectus ochreous-olive, legs brown proximad, ochreous-olive distad, dorsal abdomen brown, paler at segments, ventral abdomen grayish with broad, but indistinct, brown medial line.

Genitalia ( Fig. 158 ) - caudal edge of lamella postvaginalis nearly straight centrally without an apparent central indentation; lamella antevaginalis as more or less triangular central portion but with caudal apex as triangular points divided by deep V-shaped cut; ductus bursae moderately long, relatively broad connecting with caudal end of globular corpus bursae.

Distribution and phenology. Porphyrogenes vulpecula has been reported to occur in South America, including Trinidad, Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, the Amazonian drainage of Brazil and Peru, and in Paraguay and Argentina ( Plötz 1882, Godman 1907, Draudt 1922, Bell 1946, Hayward 1947, Moss 1949, Evans 1952, Cock and Alston-Smith 1990, Nuñez Bustos 2006). The more southern records may represent P. sororcula (see below). The female described above (in CMNH) is from BRAZIL: Amazonas; Hyatanahan (= Huitanaã), Rio Purus, Feb. 1922 (GTA #13796).

Diagnosis and discussion. Males of Porphyrogenes vulpecula and P. sororcula are readily distinguished from other Porphyrogenes by the doubled appearance of vein 2A on the ventral forewing (see below under the latter species). The illustration in Draudt (1922) appears to be of P. vulpecula , but does not show the tuft on the dorsal hindwing nor the speculum on the ventral forewing.

A male in MNHU ( Fig. 17, 18 ) is here designated as the lectotype of Telemiades vulpecula . That specimen is labeled as follows: / Typus /, / 48761 /, and / Vulpecula N. Parà Sieber /. This action is necessary to establish the undoubted identity of T. vulpecula , a species that may be confused with the following.

Draudt (1922) stated that the female of P. vulpecula was similar to that of P. probus (referring to the female assigned to P. probus in its original description, see above under P. probus ). Evans (1952) considered the female of P. vulpecula to be similar to that of P. passalus . That phenotype, Thymele eudamus Mabille, 1888 , was synonymized with P. vulpecula without justification by Evans (1955), a synonymy which has persisted to the present (e.g., Mielke 2004, 2005). Thymele eudemus is here removed from synonymy with P. vulpecula because there are no data relating the two phenotypes. The female as described above is assigned to this species based upon its general size, conspicuously pale groove on the ventral hindwing, and its overall general and genital similarity to an apparently closely related species, P. sororcula (see following species).

Evans (1952) included Bungalotis immaculata as a subspecies of P. vulpecula . Bungalotis immaculata is the male of Porphyrogenes sororcula . The relationship of the latter with P. vulpecula is uncertain. Although there seem to be differences indicating they are separate species (see below under P. sororcula ), P. vulpecula has not been sufficiently studied to resolve their statuses. They are here retained as specieslevel taxa based on differences in color and genitalia.

Figures

Figure 1-18. Types and associated specimens of Porphyrogenes (ds = dorsal surface, vs = ventral surface). 1) Porphyrogenes boliva Evans, 1952, [holo]type male, ds. 2) same, vs. 3) Phareas ferruginea Plötz, 1883, lectotype male, ds. 4) same, vs. 5) Augiades despecta Butler, 1870, lectotype female, ds. 6) same, vs. 7) Telegonus omphale Butler, 1871, lectotype male, ds. 8) same, vs. 9) Eudamus pausias Hewitson, 1867, lectotype male, ds. 10) same, vs. 11) Porphyrogenes pausias, female associated with lectotype, ds. 12) same, vs. 13) Telegonus probus Möschler, 1877, lectotype female, ds. 14) same, vs. 15) Porphyrogenes suva Evans, 1952, [holo]type male, ds. 16) same, vs. 17) Telemiades vulpecula Plötz, 1882, lectotype male, ds. 18) same, vs.

Figure 65-82. Porphyrogenes (ds = dorsal surface, vs = ventral surface). 65) P. probus, male, BRAZIL: Rondônia; Fazenda Rancho Grande, 12 August 1993, ds. 66) same, vs. 67) P. probus, female, BRAZIL: Rondônia; Fazenda Rancho Grande, ex larva, emerged 25 November 1991, ds. 68) same, vs. 69) P. vulpecula, female, BRAZIL: Rio Purus, Hyatanahan (=Husteneã), no date, ds. 70) same, vs. 71) P. sororcula, BRAZIL: Rondônia; Fazenda Rancho Grande, 17 July 1994, ds. 72) same, vs. 73) P. sororcula, female, BRAZIL: Amazonas, Tefé (Ega), Rio Solimões, no date, ds. 74) same, vs. 75) P. spanda, male, BRAZIL: Rondônia; Fazenda Rancho Grande, 22 November 1992, ds. 76) same, vs. 77) P. spanda, female, VENEZUELA: Delta Amacuro (Terr.), Rio Acure, no date, ds. 78) same, vs. 79) P. stresa, male, BRAZIL: Rondônia; Fazenda Rancho Grande, 21 July 1994, ds. 80) same, vs. 81) P. zohra, male, VENEZUELA: Barinas, Rio Caparo Res. Sta, 32 km east of El Caton, 3-5 February 1978, ds. 82) same, vs.

Figure 154-159. Female genitalia of Porphyrogenes (ventral view). 154) P. omphale, PANAMA (GTA #8908); 155) P. pausias, BRAZIL: Rondônia (GTA #8885); 156) P. sororcula, BRAZIL: Amazonas (GTA #4426); 157) P. probus, BRAZIL: Rondônia (GTA #4425); 158) P. vulpecula, BRAZIL: Amazonas (GTA #13796); 159) P. spanda, VENEZUELA (GTA #13797).