Porphyrogenes eudemus ( Mabille, 1888 )

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 : 31-32

Porphyrogenes eudemus ( Mabille, 1888)

( Fig. 47, 48 , 103, 104 , 160 )

Thymele eudemus Mabille, 1888 . Type locality: Chiriqui [ Panama]; female type (herein designated the lectotype, Fig. 47, 48 ) in MNHU.

Description. Female ( Fig. 47, 48 , 103, 104 ) - mean forewing length = 25.7 mm (25.3-26.0 mm, n = 4; from Panama and Peru); forewing apex slightly rounded and produced, termen slightly convex, anal margin straight; hindwing convex except somewhat concave before short tornal lobe, vein Rs arising nearer to end of discal cell than to its base and well distad of origin of CuA 2; dorsum dark brown; forewing overscaled basad with dull blue-green, continuous (divided thinly by dark veins) narrow white band from costa (where divided into two thin elongate macules), through distal end of discal cell, base of M 3 -CuA 1, mid-CuA 1 -CuA 2, and terminating nearly at termen distad in CuA 2 -2A; hindwing overscaled with dull blue-green basad, largely posterior of discal cell, more extensive than on forewing, extending to or nearly to termen at tornus; inconspicuous erect brown (with green proximad) tuft along vein 2A; fringes on both wings gray to gray-brown.

Venter similar to dorsum; duller, overscaling less extensive on hindwing; apex of forewing conspicuously tan, forewing vein 2A sinuate, shining tan speculum in posterior 1/2 of the proximal 1/4 of CuA 2 -2A and entire anal cell; hindwing with no indication of discal macules; cell 2A-3A with deep groove just caudad of vein 2A.

Dorsal head and thorax brown mixed with blue-green, palpi gray, eyes blackish, antennae black, ochreous on venter distad and beneath club, nudum red-brown, 27 (n = 2) or 28 (n = 2) segments, ventral thorax as dorsum, pectus grayish mixed with blue-green, legs ochreous-brown, dorsal abdomen brown, ventral abdomen gray-brown to brown.

Genitalia ( Fig. 160 ) - lamella postvaginalis sclerotized, more or less quadrate, caudal edge with narrow and shallow U-shaped indentation centrally; lamella antevaginalis as rectangular sclerotized plate with central process pointed caudad and largely sclerotized plates laterad; ductus bursae short, relatively broad and membranous, joining corpus bursae on dorsal surface cephalad of its caudal end; corpus bursae bulbous, relatively small.

Distribution. Like both P. passalus and P. virgatus , the known distribution of P. eudemus cannot be delimited from the literature. Probable records are for Panama, Colombia, and Brazil (Pará) ( Mabille 1888, Evans 1952), and potentially Bolivia ( Evans 1952, based on the reported female of P. immaculata ; see above under P. sororcula for the correct identification of the female of P. immaculata ). Females identified during this study as P. eudemus are known from Panama (May, July, December) and Peru.

Diagnosis and discussion. Porphyrogenes eudemus is here removed from the synonymy of P. vulpecula pending further knowledge on its relationship to males of described taxa of Porphyrogenes . The specimen of Thymele eudemus in MNHU ( Fig. 47, 48 ) is here designated the lectotype. It bears five labels as follows: / Origin. /, / Chiriqui /, / Th. Eudemus Mab. /, / Eudemus Mab. /, and / Eudemus Mab. /. The need for this designation is for the same reason lectotypes were designated for the preceding two taxa.

The three foregoing taxa have a similar brownish phenotype with a white diagonal band of macules across the forewing. The only other female of Porphyrogenes known to have a diagonal band is P. omphale on which the band is orange (but see following two entries). Most known females of the genus are tawny or gray and have one or two (often large) macules on the forewing. On some (e.g., P. omphale , P. probus , P. vulpecula , P. sororcula , and several of the smaller species), their color and pattern are sufficiently similar to that of males that they may be matched with some degree of confidence. Since the genitalia of two of the banded phenotypes ( P. passalus , P. virgatus ) have yet to be examined, nothing can be offered with respect to their interrelationships.

Figures

Figure 37-50. Types and associated specimens of Porphyrogenes (ds = dorsal surface, vs = ventral surface). 37) Porphyrogenes sparta, female associated with [holo]type male, ds. 38) same, vs. 39) Porphyrogenes spoda Evans, 1952, [holo]type male, ds. 40) same, vs. 41) Porphyrogenes stupa Evans, 1952, [holo]type male, ds. 42) same, vs. 43) Eudamus passalus Herrich-Schäffer, 1869, lectotype female, ds. 44) same, vs. 45) Thymele virgatus Mabille, 1888, lectotype female, ds. 46) same, vs. 47) Thymele eudemus Mabille, 1888, lectotype female, ds. 48) same, vs. 49) Porphyrogenes sp., female considered to be female of Telegonus probus in its original description (see text), ds. 50) same, vs.

Figure 101-114. Porphyrogenes (ds = dorsal surface, vs = ventral surface). 101) P. speciosa, holotype male, data in text, ds. 102) same, vs. 103) P. eudemus, female, PANAMA: Canal Zone; Cocoli, 10 July 1963, ds. 104) same, vs. 105) Porphyrogenes unassociated unnamed female #1, ECUADOR, Yasuni National Park, Yasuni Field Station, 767’, 8 May 2003, ds. 106) same, vs. 107) Porphyrogenes unassociated unnamed female #3, PANAMA: Canal Zone, Gatun, 2 May 1970, ds. 108) same, vs. 109) Porphyrogenes unassociated unnamed female #4, PANAMA: Panamá Prov.; Distrito de El Llano, Cordillera de San Blas, north of El Llano, ca. 330m, 29 May 1978, ds. 110) same, vs. 111) Porphyrogenes unassociated unnamed female #5, COSTA RICA: Ciudad Colon, Finca Hamadryas, 20 April 1998, ds. 112) same, vs. 113) Porphyrogenes unassociated unnamed female #2, BRAZIL: Pará, no date, ds. 114) same, vs.

Figure 160-165. Female genitalia of Porphyrogenes (ventral view). 160) P. eudemus, PANAMA (GTA #8902); 161) Porphyrogenes unassociated female #3, PANAMA (GTA #8907); 162) Porphyrogenes unassociated female #4, PANAMA (GTA #8906); 163) Porphyrogenes unassociated female #1, ECUADOR (GTA #13986); 164) Porphyrogenes unassociated female #5, COSTA RICA (GTA #13921); 165) Porphyrogenes unassociated female #2, BRAZIL: Rondônia (GTA #13993).