Auca Hayward, 1953

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

Auca Hayward, 1953

Type species: Satyrus pales ( Philippi, 1859) (syn. nov. of Auca coctei ( Guérín-Ménéville, [1838]) ( Satyrus ); see below)

Diagnosis. Similar in size and coloration to species of Neomaenas (but more closely-related to Cosmosatyrus ), Auca is characterized by a well-developed M1-M3 ocellus on the ventral side of the forewing and a trapezoidal hindwing, barely scalloped to scalloped and excavated between the anal vein and 1A+2A, resulting in an anal lobe. Male Auca also bear heavy androconia on the forewings that are clearly visible to the naked eye. Hayward’s description relied heavily on wing venation, but there are no notable differences in venation from most other Neosatyriti. Antennae terminate in a spatulate club, eyes are oval and naked, and foreleg tarsi are clublike and unsegmented, though Hayward (1953) described some pseudosegmentation in the foreleg tarsi. Palps are not longitudinally striped as most Neomaenas are, and the terminal segment is cylindrical and about a third the length of the second segment. Male genitalia of both A. coctei and A. barrosi are similar to that of N. monachus , but overall more slender in the uncus, valvae, and tegumen.

Remarks. Auca coctei is perhaps the most common Chilean satyrine, ranging throughout Chile from Coquimbo to Los Rios Province. Populations can be found on dry hillsides with scrubby bushes, in urban and suburban settings, in low, wet places, in meadows, and in open places near woods.