Telegonus erythras Mabille, 1888

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui & Grishin, Nick V., 2022, Taxonomic changes suggested by the genomic analysis of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera), Insecta Mundi 2022 (921), pp. 1-135 : 15-16

Telegonus erythras Mabille, 1888 is a junior subjective synonym of Dyscophellus damias (Plötz, 1882)

Inspecting unpublished illustrations by Plötz, Godman (1907: 135) suggested that Netrocoryne damias Plötz, 1882 (type locality Brazil) is synonymous with Dyscophellus ramusis (Stoll, 1781) . This treatment was followed by the subsequent authors, with Evans (1952) applying this name to the southernmost populations of this species as Dyscophellus ramusis damias . However, these specimens (and other D. ramusis populations) do not agree with the original description of N. damias ( Plötz 1882c) , given in a key, the last part of which can be translated as: “No hyaline spots. All wings are rust-colored on both sides, with small brown spots instead of the hyaline spots, which below are mostly gray in the middle. FW near the base in cell 1, with two brown points one above the other, HW with a broad brown costal margin[al area].” First, all D. ramusis populations are brown-colored, not rust-colored. Rust color is orange-brown, with clear reddish tones absent in D. ramusis . Second, southern D. ramusis populations have gray-, white- and hyaline-centered dark spots on wing above, not only below.

Furthermore, we found at least one syntype of N. damias in the ZMNB, where many Plötz types are curated. One of these specimens (NVG-15031F05) bears a 4-digit label || 4858 ||. Such labels were frequently referenced in Plötz papers (but not for N. damias ). This specimen also bears a green label || Damias | HSch ||. Plötz referenced his N. damias as “ Coecutiens var. Herr. Sch.” ( Plötz 1882c), and “HSch” on the label stands for Herrich-Schäffer. Another green label with “Pará” suggests that the specimen is from Brazil. The specimen is reddish in color, has brown spots and these brown spots have pale centers on ventral hindwing. Therefore, it matches the description of N. damias , is from Brazil, and is a syntype. This specimen has a red “Typus” label pinned next to it and is referenced in the ZMHB card catalogue as both N. damias and Telegonus fulvius Plötz, 1882 . Indeed, it also bears a white label || fulvius Pl | type || in more modern handwriting, but it does not match the description of T. fulvius Plötz, 1882 , and therefore is not a syntype of this taxon. A second specimen (NVG-15031F12) is labeled as a type of “ sebaldus, Cr. ” (i.e., Papilio sebaldus Stoll, 1781 ), which it is not, because it does not match the original description of P. sebaldus and is not from Suriname. However, it bears an old label matching Herrich-Schäffer’s handwriting || Amazon inf. | H[a]h[ne]l ||, generally fits the description and locality of N. damias and is therefore a possible syntype of this taxon, although it is smaller than mentioned in the description of N. damias .

Genomic sequencing reveals that both N. damias specimens (NVG-15031F05 and NVG-15031F12) are likely conspecific with each other and with specimens identified as Dyscophellus erythras ( Fig. 1 ). Telegonus erythras Mabille, 1888 (type locality “ Amazone inférieur”) was described and illustrated from the Staudinger collection ( Mabille 1888), which for the large part is in the ZMHB. However, it is possible that other syntypes exist and they may belong to other species. To stabilize nomenclature, N.V.G. hereby designates the specimen with a clear syntype status (NVG-15031F05) in the ZMHB as the lectotype of Netrocoryne damias Plötz, 1882 . This specimen is chipped near the tornus of the left hindwing and bears the following labels || 4858 || Pará Sieber || fulvius Pl | type || Damias | HSch. || [barcode image] http://coll.mfn-berlin.de/u/ | 940b35 || DNA sample ID: | NVG-15031F05 | c/o Nick V. Grishin ||.

Next, we see that a possible paralectotype of N. damias (NVG-15031F12) from “Amazon inf” without discrepancies matches the description and the first illustrated syntype of T. erythras and is most likely this syntype, making this specimen part of the type series of both taxa: N. damias and T. erythras . We also located and sequenced the second illustrated syntype (NVG-15031G03), which Mabille assumed to be a female of this species in his description ( Mabille 1888), but it is a male (even labeled as a male in Mabille handwriting) of a species known today as Fulvatis fulvius (Plötz, 1882) (formerly in Salatis ) ( Fig. 1 ), which lacks costal fold in males and for this reason can pass for a female by mistake. This second syntype bears a similar label || Amaz. inf. | H[a]h[ne] l || and it also is labeled || Tel. erythras | ♂ Mab || in Mabille’s handwriting in addition to the label || Erythras | Mab. || in Staudinger’s handwriting. The “Amazon inf.” labels on both connect the two syntypes together and offer additional evidence that these are the two syntypes from the Staudinger collection illustrated by Mabille (1988: Fig. 3 ). To select one species from the polytypic series of Telegonus erythras that agrees best with the current usage of these names, to resolve the confusion about them, and to stabilize their usage, N.V.G. designates the syntype in the ZMHB with its right hindwing chipped near tornus and bearing the following labels || Origin || Amazon inf. | Hhl || Dyscophus | sebaldus, Cr. | ♂ | not ♂ of | Erythus, Cr ! || Sebaldus | Crm. || [barcode image] http:// coll.mfn-berlin.de/u/ | 940b3e || DNA sample ID: | NVG-15031F12 | c/o Nick V. Grishin || as the lectotype of Telegonus erythras Mabille, 1888 .

Genomic and phenotypic comparison of the two lectotypes: N. damias (type locality Brazil: Para) and T. erythras (type locality “Amazon inf.”) reveals that they are conspecific ( Fig. 1 ). Therefore Telegonus erythras Mabille, 1888 is a junior subjective synonym of Dyscophellus damias (Plötz, 1882) . As a result, the taxon that Evans (1952) following Godman (1907) misidentified as damias is left without a name, a situation that is corrected next.

Figures

Figure 1. Genomic tree of Eudaminae. The tree is constructed from protein-coding regions. The tree is rooted with Pterourus glaucus (Linnaeus, 1758) (NVG-1670), not shown. Statistical support values are shown on nodes. For each specimen, its name adopted in this work is given first, and a previously used name is listed in square brackets (if different), supplemented with the DNA sample number, type status (see Table 2 caption for abbreviations) and general locality. See Table S1 in the Supplemental file for additional data about these specimens. Synonyms are given in parentheses preceded by “=”, and in addition by “‡” for unavailable names. The type status refers to this synonym, if the synonym name is provided. Clades corresponding to new genera, subgenera and species are colored in red, orange and green, respectively, and the names of new taxa are highlighted accordingly. Names of selected tribes, subtribes, genera, and subgenera are labeled at their clades. Clades corresponding to some genera are highlighted in yellow to compare their genetic diversifications (length of the highlight in horizontal dimension) with each other. Groups of similar genetic diversification would ideally correspond to genera. The

Figure 3. Genomic tree of Tagiadinae. See Fig. 1 legend for notations.