Lamprospilus stegmaier Prieto & Faynel, 2023

Prieto, Carlos, Faynel, Christophe & Lorenc-Brudecka, Jadwiga, 2023, Integrative description of two new species and two new subspecies of Lamprospilus Geyer (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), Zootaxa 5244 (2), pp. 145-159 : 147-148

Lamprospilus stegmaier Prieto & Faynel , sp. nov.

( Figures 1, 2 , 20 , 32 )

Type material. Holotype male: COLOMBIA, Antioquia, Yarumal, La Marconia , 2700 m, 06/08/2019, C. Prieto. The holotype is currently deposited in RCCP (specimen number: m2679 ).

Paratypes (n = 3): 2 males, 1 female RCCP: same locality as the holotype, 27/07/2015, specimen numbers: m2018 , m2020 , m2022 .

Description.

Male: Wings. Forewing costal length measured from wing base to apex 14, 14.5 and 15 mm (n = 3); hindwing with a short black tail with white tip at vein CuA 1 end, and with an additional five times longer tail at vein CuA 2 end; dorsal forewing surface background black, with 1.2 mm wide white medial band crossing the wing vertically from M 1 to CuA 2, a 4 mm wide triangular white band covering the dorsal forewing base from the discal cell to the inner basal margin; dorsal hindwing crossed by a 3.5 mm wide white medial band, dorsal hindwing background dark brown, tornus with small orange scaled lobe; area of anal veins greyish covered with long hairs; ventral surface as in dorsum but background coloration lighter brown, tornus with a black spot, and another black spot between veins CuA 1 and CuA 2 on the wing margin ( Figure 1 ).The thorax and abdomen are covered with brown and dark grey scales. The abdomen is lighter ventrally.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 20 ): Similar to Lamprospilus nicetus ( Fig. 22 ). No brush organ visible. In ventral view, base of valvae oval with tapered posterior ends (1/3 of total length), short and pointed saccus. In lateral view, vinculum bulging ventrally, long and thin aedeagus with a cornutus at its end.

Female: Hindwing with a short black tail with white tip at vein CuA 1 end. Forewing costal length measured from wing base to apex 10 mm (n =1); dorsal ground color light blue, with a 2–3 mm wide dark brown margin, conspicuously wider towards apex; hindwing dorsally light blue from base to medial area, dark brown distally; forewing ventral surface with light grey background with a thin white line delimited by the discal cell, single postmedian transverse white line with brown basal scaling running from costa to CuA 2 and continued by a well-defined arrowhead-shaped line between CuA 2 and 2A veins, submarginal area with a faint brown line with white basal scaling and running parallel to outer margin from M 1 to CuA 2; ventral hindwing with the typical “W” shaped medial-postmedial hairstreak pattern, marginal regions with a faint band colored towards basal area in order of white, orange, brown and white ( Figure 2 ). Thorax and abdomen covered with brown and dark grey scales.

The apical part of the tornal area on both hindwings has been damaged in the only known female, but presumably there is a tail at the distal end of the CuA 2 vein as in the male.

Etymology. The new species is named after the Stegmaier Group, Germany, in recognition of their support of biodiversity research and nature conservation through the BIOPAT initiative. The specific epithet is a masculine noun in apposition.

Biology. Males appear to display their main activity around mid-day from 11:00–13:00 hours on the sunny edges of ridge tops. Three males were collected on the same isolated bush at 1.80 m above the ground. The female was captured on an isolated bush near the ground on a high Andean forest hilltop. The immature stages, larval food plants, and adult nectar sources are unknown. Adults were captured during the months of July and August.

Diagnosis. Males of L. stegmaier sp. nov. can be differentiated from L. nicetus by the wider medial and postbasal bands on fore and hindwings; this difference is conspicuous dorsally and ventrally. White bands are less hyaline in L. stegmaier sp. nov. and the individuals are consistently larger than in L. nicetus ( Figures 1 and 3 ). Females of L. stegmaier sp. nov. differ from those of L. nicetus ( Figures 2 and 4 for comparison) in having a light blue dorsal forewing surface instead of greyish green. Additionally, the female of L. stegmaier sp. nov. is smaller than that of L. nicetus , the ventral forewing medial band is straighter and the arrowhead-shaped line between CuA 2 and 2A is much better defined in the new species.

Males of L. stegmaier sp. nov. can be easily differentiated from those of L. draudti because the latter are consistently smaller and lack entirely the basal triangular white band on the dorsal forewing. Females of these two species are very similar but the ventral forewing medial band is thinner and straighter in L. stegmaier sp. nov.

Molecular diagnostic characters and BINs.

No intraspecific haplotype diversity was found in the available sequences for L. stegmaier sp. nov. (n = 4). The lowest overall mean distance to another member of the genus is 3.22% to L. nicetus from Tungurahua, Ecuador. The BIN associated to this new species in BOLD systems is BOLD: ADD3183. The maximum intraspecific distance was 0%. Diagnostic fixed states and their position in the COI barcode sequence are: a Cytosine in positions 213, 270, 405, and 522 ( Figure 27 ).

Distribution: L. stegmaier sp. nov. has been found only in the northern part of the Central Cordillera of Colombia, on a ridge top of La Marconia hill in Yarumal, Antioquia, the type locality ( Figure 32 ).

Remarks: Although L. stegmaier sp. nov. and L. nicetus (its closest relative, see Figure 26 ) have very similar wing patterns in males and females, the differences, though small, are consistent enough to reject the hypothesis of conspecificity because of the following reasons:

1. L. stegmaier sp. nov. and L. nicetus fly sympatrically on Cerro La Marconia (Yarumal, Antioquia) visiting the same hilltops and without any evidence of morphological intergradation (see Figures 1–4 ).

2. Individuals of L. stegmaier sp. nov. cluster in a separate clade from L. nicetus on the Neighbour Joining and Maximum Likelihood trees, suggesting genetic cohesion and reproductive isolation of the two entities (see Figure 26 ).

3. Females were easily associated with their respective males using DNA barcodes (see Figure 27 ).

Figures

FIGURE 26. Neighbor Joining (NJ) identification tree of full-length barcodes (658 bp) for eleven species of Lamprospilus. BIN (Barcode Index Number) assignment using BOLD is also depicted.

FIGURE 27. Molecular diagnostic characters. Nucleotide sites with unique fixed states for the COI gene, which serve to identify nine species of Lamprospilus. Only species with three or more individuals were included in the analysis. Red: diagnostic characters; orange: partially diagnostic characters.

FIGURE 32. Collecting localities of the new taxa.

FIGURES 1–8. Adults. 1. Lamprospilus stegmaier sp. nov. male (Holotype, Yarumal, Colombia); 2. Lamprospilus stegmaier sp. nov. female (Paratype, Yarumal, Colombia); 3. Lamprospilus nicetus, male (Yarumal, Colombia); 4. Lamprospilus nicetus, female (Yarumal, Colombia); 5. Lamprospilus draudti, male (La Elvira, Colombia); 6. Lamprospilus draudti, female (La Elvira, Colombia); 7. Lamprospilus decorata valluna ssp. nov., male (Aguacatal, Colombia); 8. Lamprospilus decorata valluna ssp. nov., female (Aguacatal, Colombia).

FIGURES 17–25. Genitalia. 17. Lamprospilus bicolor sp. nov, male (Aguacatal, Colombia); 18. Lamprospilus coelicolor, male (Peru); 19. Lamprospilus aunus, male (Guainía, Colombia); 20. Lamprospilus stegmaier sp. nov, male (Paratype); 21. Lamprospilus draudti, male (Aguacatal, Colombia); 22. Lamprospilus nicetus, male (Cauca, Colombia); 23. Lamprospilus decorata valluna ssp. nov., male (Valle del Cauca, Colombia); 24. Lamprospilus coelicolor, female (Peru); 25. Lamprospilus bicolor sp. nov. female (Aguacatal, Colombia).