Bungalotis aureus Austin, 2008

Austin, George T., 2008, Hesperiidae of Rondônia, Brazil: Taxonomic comments on “ night ” skippers, with descriptions of new genera and species (Lepidoptera: Eudaminae), Insecta Mundi 2008 (29), pp. 1-36 : 5-7

Bungalotis aureus Austin , new species

( Fig. 7-8 , 88 )

Description. Male: FW length = 31.0 mm (holotype); forewing with prominent costal fold, apex slightly produced, termen slightly convex; hindwing termen slightly undulate, convex to CuA 2 -2A where vaguely concave to short tornal lobe; dorsum bright tawny-orange; forewing with lavender iridescence at base; faint brownish postmedial consisting of curved thin line from costa to M 3 and broader irregular line offset slightly basad from M 3 to 2A; discal cell with vague brown line at distal end and brownish macule 1/3 distance from this to wing base; fringe dark gray. Hindwing costa black with bright purple iridescence to vein Rs, nearly reaching termen in Sc+R 1 -Rs; very vague submarginal series of brownish macules from Rs to 2A; vague brownish macule at distal end of discal cell; fringe dark gray.

Ventral forewing dull tawny-orange grading gradually to yellow-orange along anal margin; dark macules more or less as on dorsum, but no more prominent. Ventral hindwing dull tawny-orange, slightly darker along costal and outer margins; submarginal series of poorly defined square brownish macules with ground-colored centers, macule in Sc+R 1 -Rs offset basad; similar postmedial series, macule in discal cell centered with ground color, macule in Sc+ R

1

-Rs offset far basad.

Head (including palpi), thorax, and abdomen bright tawny-orange; white beneath and behind eyes, this extending onto outer sides of palpi; antennae black, bright tawny-orange proximad on dorsum, ochreous distad on venter including club and apiculus, broadly encircled just before nudum by very pale yellow, nudum orange-brown, 32 segments.

Genitalia ( Fig. 88 ): tegumen slender in both lateral and dorsal views; uncus thin in lateral view, more or less rectangular in dorsal view with the edges concave; gnathos with arms slender, especially in ventral view; valva with cephalic portion broad and quadrate, prominent style caudad from ampulla, harpe elongate with broad dorsal triangular projection and narrow caudal projection, dorsal and caudal edges finely serrate; aedeagus slightly longer than valva, moderately robust; cornuti as series of spikes; juxta more or less quadrate.

Female: unknown (see below).

Type. Holotype male with the following labels: white, printed and hand printed - / Tinalandia Hotel / 13 km east of Santo / Domingo de Los / Colorados, Ecuador / 14-18 July 1983 / leg. Jim Brock /; white, printed and hand printed - / Genitalia Vial / GTA – 3387 /; red, printed - / HOLOTYPE / Bungalotis aureus / Austin /. Deposited at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Gainesville, Florida.

Type locality. ECUADOR: Pichincha Province: Hotel Tinalandia, 13 kilometers east of Santo Domingo de los Colorados .

Etymology. The name means “golden” referring to the dorsal color. The element of this color was the passion of Midas, after whom a closely related species was named.

Distribution and phenology. The species is known only from the type. It is very likely, given the popularity of the type locality for collectors, that additional material from there (and probably from elsewhere) exists in collections and is identified as B. midas .

Diagnosis and discussion. Bungalotis aureus is superficially so similar to B. midas (Cramer, [1775]) , that it was considered as that species until it was examined more closely. Both the forewing and hindwing of B. midas are less broadly rounded, the ventral wings are extensively brown on B. midas , and the macules of the hindwing are broader. Bungalotis midas also has no pale ring at the base of the club of the antenna as there occurs on B. aureus .

Male genitalia of the two species are substantially different ( Fig. 87, 88 ). On B. midas , the tegumen and uncus are shorter and more robust than on B. aureus , the uncus in ventral view is rectangular (constricted with a short lateral process and notched at the caudal end on B. aureus ), the gnathos arms are broad in ventral view and broadly expanded at their caudal ends (narrow with parallel sides on B. aureus ), the cephalic end of the costa of the harpe is sloped caudad and the anterior valva is more or less rhomboidal (costa more erect cephalad and valva rectangular on B. aureus ), the harpe is generally bluntended and with coarse serrations on its dorsal edge (caudal end of harpe pointed and with fine serrations on B. aureus ), and the juxta is triangular (quadrate on B. aureus ).

An unidentified female (FW length = 32.4 mm [n = 1]) of the “ midas ” group was seen from the Tikal area of Guatemala ( Fig. 10-11 ). The wings are similar to those of female B. midas from Rondônia except they are proportionally shorter. The palpi have the white along the lateral surface as on B. midas . The genitalia, although similar in overall form to those of B. midas , are different in detail ( Fig. 96 ) with the lamella postvaginalis much less deeply excavate, the lamella antevaginalis being very deeply excavate with a V-shape and having a prominently serrated caudal margin, and a less bulbous ductus bursae. It is unknown at present if this represents the female of B. aureus or yet another species. This is not Bungalotis milleri H. A. Freeman, 1977 . Besides wing pattern differences ( Fig. 9, 12 ), the female of B. milleri ( Fig. 95 ) has a genital plate resembling that of B. astylos (including the prominent ridges laterad on the lamella antevaginalis), a long sclerotized antrum leading to a very broad ductus bursae, and a B. midas - like globular corpus bursae (note that males of B. milleri resemble B. astylos in wing pattern [except for the lack of the violet iridescence on the dorsal hindwing costa] and genitalia). The genitalia of all “ midas ” group specimens need to be examined to determine their identity and the distributions of the included taxa.

Figures

Figure 1-12. Bungalotis (from BRAZIL: Rondônia, unless noted otherwise; dorsum and venter of same specimens). 1-2) B. erythus male, 5 km S of Cacaulândia, 19 Dec 1993. 3-4) B. midas male, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 19 Jul 1994. 5-6) B. midas female, 5 km S of Cacaulândia, 9 Jan 1994. 7-8) B. aureus holotype male, data in text. 9, 12) B. milleri female, MEXICO: Veracruz; Catemaco, 21 Jul 1981. 10-11) Bungalotis sp. (“midas” group) female, GUATEMALA: Petén; El Remate, Cerro Cahul, 29 Sep 1994.

Figure 86-88. Male genitalia of Bungalotis (from BRAZIL: Rondônia, unless noted otherwise). Structures shown are lateral, dorsal, and ventral views of tegumen, uncus, gnathos, and associated structures; lateral internal view of right valva; lateral view of aedeagus and associated structures; and ventral view of transtilla and juxta. 86) B. erythus (GTA #4155). 87) B. midas (GTA #3168); variation of valvae, a. (GTA #7215), b. (GTA #7216), c. (GTA #7217), d. (GTA #7218). 88) B. aureus holotype, ECUADOR (GTA #3387), including lateral view juxta.

Figure 93-97. Female genitalia (ventral view) of Bungalotis (from BRAZIL: Rondônia, unless noted otherwise). 93) B. midas (GTA #7189). 94) B. astylos (GTA #7191). 95) B. milleri, MEXICO (GTA #7219). 96) Bungalotis sp. (“midas” group), GUATEMALA (GTA #7190). 97) B. quadratum, TRINIDAD (GTA #7195).