Symmachia hetaerina hesione Stichel, 1910

Leite, Luis Anderson Ribeiro, Fernando, Mielke, Hendrik & Martins, Mirna, 2012, An annotated list of Symmachia Hübner, [1819] (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae: Symmachiini) from Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor, Acre, Brazil, with the description of a new species, Insecta Mundi 2012 (249), pp. 1-11 : 6-8

Symmachia hetaerina hesione Stichel, 1910 , stat. rev.

( Fig. 25-28 , 50)

Symmachia hetaerina Hewitson, 1867 was decribed based on a female from the state of Pará, Brazil. Stichel (1910) described S. hesione as a valid species, based on a male from the municipality of Fonte Boa, Amazonas, Brazil, and subsequently placed it as a subspecies of S. hetaerina ( Stichel 1911) , but the two names were synonymized by Callaghan and Lamas (2004). We have examined specimens from Pará, Acre and Mato Grosso ( Brazil) and found the two phenotypes to be consistently different (see below) and confined to distinct geographic regions. Since the male genitalia vary greatly among species of Symmachia , and there are only slight differences between the male genitalia of the two taxa, and we have not found them to be sympatric, we believe that the two taxa probably correspond to the same species, in a conservative approach. We therefore remove S. hesione from synonymy with S. hetaerina and place it again as a subspecies of that species: Symmachia hetaerina hesione Stichel, 1910 , stat. rev. ( Fig. 25-26 ). Symmachia hetaerina hetaerina occurs in the southern and eastern portion of Amazonia and S. hetaerina hesione occurs in the middle-west portion of Amazonia.

The following male wing pattern characters serve to diagnose the two taxa. Forewing: dorsal surface – a) small costal sub-triangular spot with pale yellow coloration located after the costal curvature, anteriorly limited by the costal margin and posteriorly reaching 2/3 of the discal cell’s final width, present in S. haeterina hesione ( Fig. 25 ) and absent in S. h. hetaerina ( Fig. 23 ); b) marginal subrectangular orange spot, bigger in S. hetaerina hesione ( Fig. 25 ) anteriorly reaching M 2 and posteriorly reaching half of the space in CuA 1 -CuA 2, smaller and pale white in S. h. hetaerina ( Fig. 23 ); c) posterior median spot, orange in S. hetaerina hesione ( Fig. 25 ), occupying 3/5 of the anal margin while half the width and pale white in S. h. hetaerina ( Fig. 23 ). Ventral surface – d) costal spot begins on the costal margin and reaches 2/3 of the final width of the discal cell in S. hetaerina hesione ( Fig. 26 ) while smaller and not beginning on the costal margin in S. hetaerina hetaerina ( Fig. 24 ); e) small spot that posteriorly borders the basal portion of Sc smaller in S. hetaerina hesione ( Fig. 26 ); other spots as mentioned for the dorsal surface, but pale orange in S. hetaerina hesione ( Fig. 26 ). Hindwing: dorsal surface – f) orange median spot 1.5 times larger in S. hetaerina hesione ( Fig. 25 ) while smaller and pale white in S. h. hetaerina ( Fig. 23 ); g) wihtish yellow marking along the anal margin of S. haeterina hesione . Ventral surface – h) median spot limited to M 3 in S. hetaerina hesione ( Fig. 25 ) while reaching the anal margin in S. h. hetaerina ( Fig. 23 ) and h) marginal spot in cell CuA 2 -2A around three times larger in S. h. hetaerina ( Fig. 23 ).

The females have more elongate wings than the males in both subspecies, with wing pattern resembling that of the respective male. The female of S. h. hetaerina has markings of the same color as the male, while S. hetaerina hesione differs by having yellow spots instead of orange ( Fig. 27-28 ).

This species was the most common Symmachia at PNSD, with eight captured individuals, all of them flying fast and landing on the adaxial surface of the leaves of small trees, about three meters above the ground after 14:00h.

Figures

Figures 5-38. Symmachia species collected at PNSD (dorsal and ventral view for each species). 5-6) S. divisora sp. nov., Paratype. 7-8) S. probetor. 9-10) S. estellina. 11-12) S. falcistriga falcistriga. 13-14) S. leena punctata. 15-16) S. calliste. 17-18) S. pardalis. 19-20) S. accusatrix. 21-22) S. threissa seducta. 23-24) S. hetaerina hetaerina (Diamantino, Mato Grosso, Brazil). 25-26) S. hetaerina hesione. 27-28) S. hetaerina hesione, female (Senador Guiomard, Acre, Brazil). 29-30) S. miron miron. 31-32) S. emeralda. 33-34) S. calligrapha. 35-36) S. elinas. 37-38) S. tricolor. Scale line: 1cm.