Auca coctei

Matz, Jess & Brower, Andrew V. Z., 2016, The South Temperate Pronophilina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae): a phylogenetic hypothesis, redescriptions and revisionary notes, Zootaxa 4125 (1), pp. 1-108 : 19-21

Auca coctei ( Guérin-Ménéville, [1838]) ( Satyrus )

( Figs. 4 A, B; 13A–C; 23)

Holotype: (male) MNHN, Paris (Photo examined) Type locality: Chile

= Satyrus pales Philippi, 1859 syn. nov.

Type locality: Valdivia Province, Chile (from text) Type: no type

= Satyrus nycteropus Reed, 1877 syn. nov.

Holotype by indication ( ICZN Art. 12.2.7): Plate III fig. 2 in Reed (1877) = Satyrus tragiscus Reed, 1877

Holotype by indication ( ICZN Art. 12.2.7): Plate III fig. 3 in Reed (1877) = Epinephele coctei var. confusa Köhler, 1935

Type locality: Nahuel Huapí, Neuquén Province, Argentina Lectotype: (male) MACN (Photo examined)

= Epinephele nycteropus andensis Köhler, 1939 Type locality: Lago Traful, Neuquén Province, Argentina Lectotype: (male) MACN (photo examined)

Other combinations:

Neomaenas coctei —D'Abrera (1988, p. 795).

Neomaenas pales —D’Abrera (1988, p. 794).

Auca nycteropus — Lamas & Viloria (2004, p. 216). Auca pales — Heimlich (1972), Peña & Ugarte (1997, p. 303); Lamas & Viloria (2004, p. 216).

Distribution. Found in Chile from northern Coquimbo Province to northern Los Lagos Province and in the western part of Neuquén Province, Argentina from from late October to mid March at nearly sea level to 2300m ( Fig. 23).

Diagnosis. Most similar to Auca barrosi , but having bolder pattern elements on the HWV, including a more visible postmedian band with an irregularly scalloped median border rather than smoothly sinuous, as in A. barrosi . This species is common across central Chile and varies widely in the presence or absence of wing pattern elements. On the ventral side of the hindwing, ocelli between Rs-M1 and M1-M 2 may be black, white, yellow, or indiscernible, and the usual yellow spots between M3-CuA1 and CuA1-CuA 2 may be white or not visible at all. On the FW, the apical ocellus between M1-M3 is visible on the dorsal side in females and is black, round, and bipupillate on the ventral side of both sexes. Males have heavy androconia on the forewing in U-shaped patches between M1 and the inner margin. Foreleg tarsi are clublike and unsegmented in both sexes. Male genitalia are overall slender, the valvae and tegumen especially narrow relative to length.

Redescription. Head: Antennae 7–8 mm, covered in white scales with a longitudinal stripe of dark chocolate scales that cover half of a spatulate club. Eyes oval and naked, length approximately 1.3 times width. In the males, palp scales are white at the basal half of the dorsal side, the distal half chocolate brown, and white, black, and chocolate brown on the ventral side. Female palp scales are also white at the base on the dorsal side with the distal half taupe, and the ventral side taupe, white, chocolate, and black. Terminal palp segment is cylindrical and approximately three-tenths the length of the second segment.

Thorax is dark amber with taupe and coppery brown scales, with taupe and white piliform scales in the males and iridescent black and white with white piliform scales in the females. Foreleg tarsi are clublike and unsegmented in both sexes. Midlegs and hindlegs with four rows of black spines on the tibia and tarsus. Abdomen is taupe to white in the females and chocolate to dark chocolate in the males.

Forewing ( Fig. 4 A, B): Wingspan 20–26mm. Termen nearly straight to slightly concave. The distal end of the discal cell widely V-shaped. Males with heavy androconia in U-shaped patches in each cell between M1 and the inner margin. Dorsal side of the males chocolate to dark chocolate brown with the androconia clearly visible to the naked eye, the fringe scales taupe to chocolate and white. Females taupe to chocolate brown on the dorsal side with a broad patch of rust red to rust orange from the base to the median just beyond the border of the discal cell. Postmedian band is a lighter orange with the apical ocellus between M1-M3 appearing as an indistinct black spot. Ventral side taupe to dark chocolate, the females lighter than the males. A patch of rust orange to rust red extends from the discal cell to the subterminal side of the postmedian band. Subterminal border of the postmedian band deckle-edged and the median border nearly straight, but with a V-shaped curve toward the termen between M3 and CuA1. Rust color is lighter in the postmedian band than in the discal cell. Ripple pattern is visible along the costal border and the apex may be highlighted with white over the radials. Apical ocellus between M1-M3 is round, black, ringed in daffodil yellow, and usually bipupillate.

Hindwing ( Fig. 4 A, B): Wing trapezoidal, termen convex and scalloped with a lobe at the anal angle. Dorsal side similar in color to the forewing, both sexes with a postmedian band often appearing in rust orange to rust red patches between Rs and CuA2. Long piliform scales appear at the base and over the discal cell, extending to the median and toward the inner margin. Ventral side with a ripple pattern visible over all design elements in chocolate to dark coffee striations. A band often appears highlighted in white and daffodil yellow extending from the base to a scalloped dark coffee submedian border. Postmedian band is similar in color to this subbasal band, the subterminal border deckle-edged and the median border irregularly scalloped. A darker V-shaped patch splits the postmedian band from the costa to M1. A small yellow or white spot often appears in the postmedian band between M3-CuA1 and CuA1-CuA2. An oval to round black spot, sometimes ringed in daffodil yellow and rarely unipupillate, or sometimes reduced to a small white or yellow spot may appear between Rs-M1 and M1-M2.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 13 A–C): Uncus widest at the base, narrowing gradually to a blunt end and measuring approximately 1.3 times the length of the tegumen. Gnathos acute and a little less than half the length of the uncus. Pedunculus U-shaped. Saccus deltoid and about two-thirds the length of the gnathos. Valvae widest at the median, narrowing gradually toward the distal end, widening slightly then narrowing again on the dorsal side just before terminating in a blunt end. Aedeagus nearly even in width throughout, slightly narrower at the median, and terminating in a U-shaped proximal end.

Remarks. This is perhaps the most abundant species of the South Temperate clade. The wing pattern is highly variable, particularly on the ventral side of the hindwing. Examination of specimens from a wide variety of localities reveals that the intensity and color of the ventral side hindwing postmedian band and the ventral side hindwing ocelli, characters previously used to differentiate species, are expressed along a gradient. Two species listed in Lamas & Viloria (2004), A. nycteropus and A. pales , are synonymized here. In Reed (1877), the name Epinephele nycteropus is applied to an illustration that is “corrected” in the errata to refer to a redescription of Homoeonympha boisduvalii under the name Hipparchia boisduvalii , but the illustration is clearly an A. coctei with a very strong postmedian band. A. nycteropus , under the name Neosatyrus nycteropus , is described in Elwes (1903) with an illustration that matches Reed’s. Though no type specimen exists, we examined specimens identified as A. nycteropus that match these illustrations exactly, and are indistinguishable from A. coctei in both morphological and genetic characters.

Auca pales was described by Phillipi on the basis of the absence of two hindwing ocelli and a darker, more uniform hindwing color, but these characters are highly variable and insufficient to differentiate A. pales as a separate species. Auca tragiscus , A. coctei var. confusa , and A. nycteropus andensis were previously synonymized with A. coctei by Lamas & Viloria (2004) and photographs of the types indicate that they are, indeed, synonyms of A. coctei .

Specimens can be collected in dry mountainous environments with sparse, scrubby vegetation, in grassy meadows, in low, wet areas, and even in urban or suburban settings. Eggs are generally barrel-shaped with vertical ridges around the circumference and a round operculum. Henry (1992) described the fifth instar larva and pupa, and noted that the caterpillars feed on the bunchgrass Stipa speciosa Trinius & Ruprecht.

Etymology. Named for French herpetologist Jean Théodore Cocteau (1798–1838).

Specimens examined. Chile, Coquimbo Province, (MGCL) 3 males, 2 females; Chile, Valparaiso Province, (BMNH) 809656, (OSU) 0 0 0 0 93358, (MTSU) CH 31-1- CH 31-3, CL1019-CL1022, CL1025-CL1029, CL1031; Chile, Santiago Metropolitan Province, (OSU) 0 0 0 0 93355, 0 0 0 0 93356, 0 0 0 0 93359, 0 0 0 0 93360 (MTSU) CH 29-1, CH 29-5- CH 29-8, CH 43-2, CH 44-1, CL0101-CL0114; Chile, O’Higgins Province, (MTSU) CH 1-1, CH 1-2; Chile, Maule Province, (OSU) 0 0 0 0 93361, 0 0 0 0 95047, (MTSU) CH 26-6- CH 26-8; Chile, Bío-Bío Province, (OSU) 0 0 0 0 95045, 0 0 0 0 95949, 0 0 0 0 95052, (MTSU) CH 14-1, CH 15-4, CH 17-1, CH 17-2, CL0302-CL0306, CL0314, CL0316, CL0417, CL0418, CL0425-0432, CL0502-CL0517, CL0902-CL0906; Chile, Araucanía Province, (BMNH) 809656, 809657, (MTSU) CL0817-0822; Chile, Los Ríos Province, (MTSU) CH 12-2; Chile, unknown location, (CU) 3 males; Argentina, Neuquén Province, (MTSU) JMC0802-JMC0804

Figures

FIGURE 4. Composite habitus images of Auca and Cosmosatyrus species. The left side of each specimen is the dorsal surface, the right side is the ventral surface. A, B: Auca coctei (Guérin-Méneville, [1838]) male (OSU # 93358) (A), female (OSU # 95049) (B); C: Auca barrosi (Silva, 1917) male (OSU # 95050); D-F: Cosmosatyrus leptoneuroides C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867 male (D), female (E), and aberrant male (F) (MZUJ); G, H: Cosmosatyrus dubii (Pyrcz, 2012) n. comb. male (BMNH # 808379) (G), female (BMNH # 808378) (H); I: Cosmosatyrus stelligera (Butler, 1881) n. comb. male (BMNH # 809772).

FIGURE 13. Male genitalia of Auca and Cosmosatyrus species. See Fig. 2 for labels of parts. All to the same scale. A – C: Auca coctei (Guérin-Méneville, [1838]) (OSU # 95107); D – F: Auca barrosi (Silva, 1917) (CH 29 C- 2); G – I: Cosmosatyrus leptoneuroides C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867 (CH 15 - 7); J – L: Cosmosatyrus dubii (Pyrcz, 2012) n. comb. (BMNH # 808379) (note that the uncus is broken); M – O: Cosmosatyrus stelligera (Butler, 1881) n. comb. (MZUJ); showing ornamentation on the aedeagus.