Porphyrogenes virgatus ( 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

Porphyrogenes virgatus ( Mabille, 1888)

( Fig. 45, 46 )

Thymele virgatus Mabille, 1888 . Type locality: Pebas , Brazil (sic = Peru), female type (herein designated the lectotype, Fig. 45, 46 ) in MNHU.

Description. Female - (described from photographs of the type, Fig. 45, 46 ) – forewing apex produced and acute, termen convex anteriorly, slightly concave posteriorly, anal margin prominently 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 crossed diagonally by narrow white band from costa (where divided into two macules), through discal cell, base of M 3 -CuA 1, mid CuA 1 - CuA 2, and terminating near termen distad in mid-CuA 2 -2A; hindwing overscaled with grayish posteriorly, no indication of discal macules; fringes on both wings brown, paler than ground color.

Venter brown; white band as on dorsum, forewing vein 2A bowed following contour of anal margin, entire anal cell tan; hindwing unmarked, heavily overscaled with grayish posterior to vein 2A; cell 2A-3A with groove just caudad of vein 2A.

Dorsal head and thorax brown; palpi gray-brown, antennae broken; ventral thorax and pectus graybrown, legs gray-brown with orange tinge; dorsal and ventral abdomen gray-brown.

Genitalia - not examined.

Distribution. The distribution of this taxon, like that of P. passalus , cannot be fully elaborated from the literature since records often did not indicate the sex of the P. zohra (the previously supposed male) reported. Known records are for Honduras, Guyana, and Peru ( Mabille 1888, Evans 1952).

Diagnosis and discussion. Thymele virgatus is another taxon described from a female without a clearly associated male. Evans (1952) and subsequent students (e.g., Mielke 2004, 2005) have, without justification, considered it as the female of and synonymous with Porphyrogenes zohra . Porphyrogenes virgatus is here removed from that synonymy until its affinities are clarified. The type in MNHU ( Fig. 45, 46 ) is here designated as the lectotype of Thymele virgatus , fixing its identity for the same justification as noted above for Eudamus passalus . This specimen has five labels: / Origin. /, / Pebas Hhl. /, / Thymele virgatus Mab. /, / Virgatus Mab. /, and / Virgatus Mab. /. Porphyrogenes virgatus differs from similar females by the narrower white band on its forewing.

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.