Porphyrogenes specularis Austin and Mielke, 2008

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 : 26-27

Porphyrogenes specularis Austin and Mielke , new species

( Fig. 95, 96 , 130 , 149 )

Description. Male ( Fig. 95, 96 ) - forewing length = 22.3 mm (holotype); forewing with costal fold, apex produced, pointed, termen relatively straight, anal margin convex in middle; hindwing termen slightly convex, tornus produced to very short lobe, vein Rs arising nearer to end of discal cell than to its base and just basad of CuA 2 ( Fig. 130 ); dorsum brown; forewing overscaled with tawny-ochreous, heaviest basad, anal margin with sparse tuft proximad; hindwing overscaled with tawny-ochreous posterior to vein Rs, vague indication of brown discal macules; shining gray speculum in anterior discal cell, proximal 2/3 of Sc+R 1 -Rs, and proximal 1/2 of costal cell; short dark brown and contrasting recumbent tuft near base of Sc+R 1 -Rs, slightly larger semierect pale tan tuft arising from near base of discal cell covering most of speculum in discal cell and, with anterior tuft, covering basal 1/2 of speculum in Sc+R 1 -Rs ( Fig. 130 ); conspicuous erect tawny-ochreous tuft along anterior edge of vein 2A, recumbent ochreous-tan tuft from posterior edge of 2A; fringes on both wings dark brown.

Venter similar to dorsum, duller and browner; forewing vein 2A weakly sinuate, bare and broadly swollen for nearly entire basal 1/2, this inconspicuously in groove ( Fig. 130 ), shining gray speculum in proximal 1/3 of CuA 2 -2A and in proximal 2/3 of anal cell (continued to tornus as modified tan scales); hindwing with no indication of discal macules; cell 2A-3A with deep groove just caudad of vein 2A.

Dorsal head and thorax tawny-ochreous, palpi pale ochreous, eyes red, antennae black, yellow on venter distad and beneath apiculus, nudum red-brown, 29 (n = 1) segments, ventral thorax and pectus tawny-ochreous, legs orange, dorsal abdomen brown, vaguely gray at segments, overscaled with tawnyochreous anteriorly, ventral abdomen ochreous-gray, last segment red-brown.

Genitalia ( Fig. 149 ) - tegumen narrow in lateral view, short and moderately broad in dorsal view, thin dorsad oriented process of moderate length from each side of caudal end, tuft single and dense; uncus slightly decurved and thin in lateral view, divided in V-shape in dorsal view, arms moderately spaced, long and broad, ventral process of uncus broadly triangular; gnathos shorter than uncus, caudal arm straight, terminal ends narrow and rounded in ventral view; combined ventral arms from tegumen and dorsal arms from saccus sinuate; saccus medium in width and long, oriented dorso-cephalad; valva with costa-ampulla broadly rounded, curving gradually ventro-caudad to harpe, harpe long, narrowing caudad, mostly straight with slight upward curve at caudal end, entire dorsal ridge finely serrated; aedeagus shorter than valva, moderately broad with blunt caudal end; cornuti in two rows of slightly curved spikes, one series of thin and the other of 6 more robust spikes.

Female - unknown.

Type. Holotype male with the following labels: white, printed - / BRASIL: Rondonia / 62 km S Ariquemes / linea C- 20, 7 km E / B-65, Fazenda / Rancho Grande / 14 June 1993 / leg. G. T. Austin / (at paper lures / 1500-1530) /; white, printed and handprinted - / Genitalic Vial / GTA - 3589 /; white, printed - / G. T. Austin colln. / MGCL Accession / # 2004-5 /; red, printed - / HOLOTYPE / Porphyrogenes specularis / Austin & Mielke /. Deposited at the Departamento de Zoologia , Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil .

Type locality. BRAZIL: Rondônia; 62 kilometers south of Ariquemes, Linha C-20, 7 kilometers (by road) east of route B-65, Fazenda Rancho Grande , elevation 180 m. This is approximately 5 km northeast of Cacaulândia in typical lowland tropical rainforest .

Etymology. The name means “like a mirror” and refers to the shining patches on the dorsal hindwing and ventral forewing. The former is more extensive than it is on most species in the genus.

Distribution and phenology. The species is known only from the holotype taken in June.

Diagnosis and discussion. Porphyrogenes specularis appears most similar to the male assigned by Evans (1952) to P. sororcula (see also above under that species). Porphyrogenes sororcula was named from a single female from French Guiana ( Mabille and Boullet 1912) and Evans (1952) was unsure if he properly associated a male, also from French Guiana, at the BM(NH). Porphyrogenes specularis apparently differs from that male in several respects. The hindwing has the central portion of the anal margin convex (this reported as “nearly straight” for P. “ sororcula ” by Evans 1952) and no mention was made of a prominent speculum anteriad on the dorsal hindwing. Additionally, Evans (1952) reported the tufts (erroneously as on the forewing) as being brown on P. sororcula ; the anterior is brown on P. specularis , but the posterior is a much paler tan in color. The genitalia of the taxon from Rondônia also show several differences from those illustrated for P. sororcula by Evans (1952; note again that his genitalic figures for Porphyrogenes are uniformly poor): the tegumen is shorter, the uncus is much narrower with its arms more closely spaced, and the valva is longer with the harpe more elongate and costa/ampulla broader. We believe that the male of P. sororcula is Bungalotis immaculata (see above).

Porphyrogenes specularis is readily recognized by the extensive speculum on the dorsal hindwing with the conspicuous dark brown tuft from its proximal end.

Figures

Figure 83-100. Porphyrogenes (ds = dorsal surface, vs = ventral surface). 83) undescribed species, male, COSTA RICA: Ciudad Colon, Finca Hamadryas, 15 September 1998, ds. 84) same, vs. 85) P. convexus, holotype male, data in text; 86) same, vs. 87) P. splendidus, holotype male, data in text, ds. 88) same, vs. 89) P. simulator, holotype male, data in text, ds. 90) same, vs. 91) P. spadix, holotype male, data in text, ds. 92) same, vs. 93) P. sparus, holotype male, data in text, ds. 94) same, vs. 95) P. specularis, holotype male, data in text, ds. 96) same, vs. 97) P. spina, holotype male, data in text, ds. 98) same, vs. 99) P. sporta, holotype male, data in text, ds. 100) same, vs.

Figure 129-133. Venation and some secondary sexual characters of male Porphyrogenes. Shown is ventral surface including modification of vein 2A and extent of speculum on ventral forewing (irregular line in CuA 2 -2A and anal cell) and origins of veins on hindwing. Insert is of anterior portion of dorsal hindwing showing hair-like tufts. 129) P. sparus, paratype, BRAZIL: Rondônia (GTA #2806); 130) P. specularis, holotype, BRAZIL: Rondônia (GTA #3589); 131) P. spina, holotype, PANAMA (GTA #8905); 132) P. sporta, holotype, COLOMBIA (GTA #4180); 133) P. speciosa, holotype, COSTA RICA (GTA #13985).

Figure 146-151. Male genitalia of Porphyrogenes; shown are lateral view of uncus, gnathos, tegumen, and saccus; dorsal view of uncus and tegumen; ventral view of uncus and gnathos; juxta; lateral view (with extended vesica) and often dorsal view of aedeagus; internal lateral view of right valva (inset shows the flattened harpe). 146) P. simulator, holotype, BOLIVIA (GTA #4181); 147) P. spadix, holotype, BRAZIL: Rondônia (GTA #3894); 148) P. sparus (also including anterior view of harpe), holotype, BRAZIL: Rondônia (GTA #3928); 149) P. specularis, holotype, BRAZIL: Rondônia (GTA #3589); 150) P. spina, holotype, PANAMA (GTA #8905); 151) P. sporta, holotype, COLOMBIA (GTA #4180).