Philaethria constantinoi Salazar, 1991

Constantino, Luis Miguel & Salazar, Julian A., 2010, A review of the Philaethria dido species complex (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae) and description of three new sibling species from Colombia and Venezuela, Zootaxa 2720, pp. 1-27 : 8-10

Philaethria constantinoi Salazar, 1991

( Figs. 8, 9 )

Shilap Rvta Lepid. 19(76):273–279. fig. 1 (female), fig.2, 3 (male and female genitalia)

Type locality. Rio Tatabro, 600 m, Anchicayá, Valle, Costa Pacifica, Colombia. Type: ( MHNUC):Allotype female: illustrated in Salazar (1991). fig. 1. Paratype male, illustrated in Constantino & Salazar, 2007: 354, figs.25, 26 (CFC).

Diagnosis. Forewing length 58–60 mm in males and 60–62 mm in females. Philaethria constantinoi is easily separated from the other species by the intense orange inner postdiscal band on the ventral surface of the hindwing, not red as in P. dido . HW medial postdiscal band orange; FW postmedial area very reduced; VFW medial cell bar orange. P. constantinoi is the largest species of Philaethria in the neotropical region and is also the largest of all the heliconiini reaching a wingspan of 62 mm from base to apex.

Haploid chromosome number: n=62 (voucher specimen fig.8) from W. Colombia (RioTatabro-Anchicayá, Valle)

Male genitalia ( Fig. 34 ): As illustrated. Saccus short and straight, vinculum stout, slightly curved and swollen basally, tegumen rounded distally with setae in the medial area; uncus long, curved dorsally, tapering gradually to pointed tip; gnathos short and slightly curved; valvae with a very long basal hook curved forward, reaching the base of the tegumen (in P. dido do not reach the tegumen), tip of uncus, with a swollen arm with a round head armed with microspines; aedeagus long and straight, tapering gadually to pointed tip.

Distribution and habitat. P. constantinoi is an endemic and rare species from the Chocó biogeographic region in W. Colombia and Ecuador. It occurs from 100 to 800 m in association with rain forest habitats in the western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental in Colombia (Chocó, Valle, Cauca) to northwestern Ecuador (Esmeraldas). P. constantinoi flies sympatrically with P. dido chocoensis . Adults fly above the forest canopy as solitary individuals and never visit wet sand.

Hostplant and Immature stages. unknown.

Material examined. COLOMBIA: CHOCO: San José del Palmar, 800 m, J. A. Salazar leg. (JAS). RISARALDA: Santa Cecilia, 400 m, J. A. Salazar leg. (JAS). VALLE: Bajo Anchicayá, Rio Tatabro, 100 m, L.M. Constantino leg. ( MHNUC), Rio Tatabro, 200 m, L. M. Constantino leg. (CFC), Bellavista, Central Hidroelectrica del Bajo Anchicayá, 800 m, C.A. Saldarriaga leg. (CFC), Yatacué, Hidroelectrica del Alto Anchicayá, 600 m, L.M. Constantino leg (CFC). ECUADOR: ESMERALDAS: Cerro Mutiles, 100 m, K. Willmott leg. (KW JH).

Figures

FIGURES 2 - 11. 2. P. dido dido 3 Rio Amazonas, Colombia, 3. P. dido chocoensis 3 Rio Anchicayá, W. Colombia, 4. P. dido dido 3 Bajo Rio Caura, Bolivar, Venezuela, 5. P. dido panamensis, ssp. nov., 3 Holotype. Pácora, Chiriquí, Panama, 6. P. diatonica 3 ACG Guanacaste, Costa Rica, 7. P. diatonica Ƥ Metates, Oaxaca, Mexico, 8. P. constantinoi 3 Chocó, W. Colombia, 9. P. constantinoi Ƥ Chocó, W. Colombia, 10. P. wernickei 3 S ao Paulo, Brazil, 11. P. pygmalion pygmalion 3 Araracuara, Amazonas, Colombia.

FIGURES 32 – 41. Male genitalia, with aedeagus removed in lateral view. 32. P. diatonica. 33. P. dido 34. P. constantinoi. 35. P. wernickei. 36. P. pygmalion. 37. P. neildi. 38. P. andrei. 39. P. o s t a r a. 40. P. browni. 41. P. romeroi. Scale line 1 mm.