Magneuptychia nebulosa (Butler, 1867)

Nakahara, Shinichi, Marin, Mario Alejandro & Rios-Malaver, Cristobal, 2015, Taxonomic status and redescription of Magneuptychianebulosa (Butler, 1867) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) with a lectotype designation, ZooKeys 503, pp. 135-147 : 137-141

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Nymphalidae

Magneuptychia nebulosa (Butler, 1867) Figs 1, 2and 4

Euptychia nebulosa Butler (1867: 479)

Redescription.

MALE: forewing length 19.6-21.5 mm (n=4).

Wing shape. Forewing with costa slightly convex, inner margin straight, outer margin almost straight, medium section slightly concave, anterior slightly convex, angular. Hind wing rounded, slightly angular, base of costa convex, inner margin convex beyond vein 3A, tornus rounded, outer margin slightly undulating, apex slightly angular.

Wing venation. Forewing recurrent vein absent; hindwing humeral vein present.

Dorsal surface. Forewing ground color brown, submarginal band dark brown, undulating, extending from apex towards tornus, delimiting the slightly darker area, marginal band dark brown, extending from apex towards tornus, fringe greyish brown.

Hindwing color brown, submarginal band dark brown, undulating, extending from apex towards tornus, convex in each cell; marginal band dark brown extending from apex towards tornus; postmarginal and tornal areas pale ocher, fringe greyish brown.

Ventral surface. Forewing ground color chestnut brown, paler along inner margin; discal band thin, straight, reddish brown, extending from radial vein to just beyond vein 2A; postdiscal band reddish brown, weakly undulating, slightly wider than discal band, extending from radial vein and traversing towards inner margin until vein 2A, curved basally in cell Cu2-2A, approximately 2/3 distance from wing base to apex; faint band between postdiscal and submarginal bands dark brown, broad, extending from radial vein to just beyond vein Cu2; submarginal band dark brown, undulating, extending from apex to tornus, becoming less undulating towards the tornus, parallel to postdiscal band; marginal band dark brown, darker than submarginal band, almost straight, extending from apex towards tornus; narrow band distal to marginal band, dark brown, traversing outer margin, delimiting remaining area and fringe; submarginal ocellus in cell M1-M2 black with two white pupils and orange ring; fringe brown.

Hindwing ground color same as forewing, overlaid with subtle whitish pearly cast along inner margin and basal area; discal band reddish brown, slightly distally curved, extending from costal margin to inner margin, approximately 1/3 distance from wing base to apex; undulating postdiscal band color and width same as discal band, weakly undulating, traversing from costal margin towards inner margin, slightly bent basally in discal cell, curved distally in cell Cu1-Cu2 and curved inwards towards the anal mar gin below vein 2A, approximately 2/3 distance from wing base to apex; submarginal band dark brown, extending from apex towards tornus, curved basally in each cell; dark brown marginal band traversing along marginal line from apex towards tornus; narrow band distal to marginal band, band dark brown, traversing along outer margin, delimiting remaining area and fringe; five submarginal ocelli present, cells Rs-M1 and M1-M2 each with black, orange-ringed ocellus with two white pupils, M1-M2 ocellus relatively large (compared to ocellus in cell Rs-M1), cells M2-M3 and M3-Cu1 each with orang ish relatively small ocellus, sometimes indistinct, Cu1-Cu2 with black, orange-ringed ocellus with two white pupils, similar in size to M1-M2 ocellus; fringe greyish brown.

Head. (Fig. 2a) Eyes entirely brown, sparsely hairy; frons golden-brown, with whitish scales at base; labial palpi approximately 4 mm long, covered with brown and white scales, 2nd segment densely covered in long black and white hairs ventrally, about 3-4 times as long as segment width, 3rd segment about 40 % of 2nd segment in length; antennae 8 mm long, approximately 40% of forewing length, scape and pedicel white, flagellum reddish brown dorsally, grey ventrally.

Legs. Tarsal segments reduced, foretarsus and tibia equal in length, femur slightly longer (Fig. 2g); midleg and hindleg covered with cream greyish scales, tarsus and tibia adorned with spines ventrally, a pair of tibial spurs present at distal end of tibia.

Abdomen. Eighth tergite and sternite reduced.

Genitalia. (Fig. 2b, c) Uncus elongate, slightly curved downward, with hooked apex, appears nearly elliptical in dorsal view, brachia hooked, pointed upward, positioned at approximately 45° angle, curved dorsally at middle of dorsal posterior mar gin, about 2/3 length of uncus; tegumen expanded dorsally, flattened ventrally; appendices angulares present; vinculum fused to posterior margin of tegumen, divided medially; saccus narrow and evenly wide in lateral view; costal margin of valvae slightly broadened medially, apex narrow, slightly curved towards uncus; aedeagus straight, broadening anteriorly.

FEMALE: Similar to male except as follows: Wings wider and rounder; forewing length 19.6-21.0 mm (n=8); dorsal ground color slightly paler; ventral ground color pale ocher, discal and postdiscal bands orange-brown; foretarsus divided into 5 segments (Fig. 2h); weakly sclerotized region between 7th and 8th sternite present in intersegmental membrane. Female genitalia. (Fig. 2 d–f) Eighth tergite sclerotized, dorso-posterior area apparently weakly sclerotized; lamella antevaginalis sclerotized, sub-triangular in ventral view; 8th segment heavily sclerotized laterally; ductus bursae unsclerotized, origin of ductus seminalis located approximately one third distance from ostium bursae to corpus bursae, corpus bursae equally long as ductus bursae, with two brownish signa.

Distribution.

(Fig. 3) All known specimens of Magneuptychia nebulosa are from the slope of Serranía del Litoral in the Cordillera de la Costa: A huge mountainous district in northern Venezuela. However, one male specimen in the BMNH has a label that says ‘Colum’, implying it may have actually been collected in Columbia. On the other hand, it may be a misinterpretation of 'Colonia [Tovar]' (popular collecting site near Caracas) rewritten from an original label by BMNH staff. This label also says ‘Dys’, indicating the specimen was collected by Dyson, who had a lot of northern Venezuelan specimens and may have accidentally attached a Venezuelan label to this specimen (A. Neild, pers. comm.). A valid record from Colombia is needed to confirm its occurrence, as it is possible that this is a mislabeled Venezuelan specimen. The specimens in the BMNH bear no locality information other than the country of collection. However, Magneuptychia nebulosa specimens found in other collections have more accurate locality data: 4 males, VENEZUELA, Miranda, Altos de Pipe, 24 March 1973. J.B. Sulivan (MGCL) (3 dissection vials prepared: SN-14-33; SN-14-34; SN-14-35; 1 without label); 4 females, same data as males; Female, Venezuela: Miranda, Altos de Pipe J.B. Sullivan (MGCL) (1 dissection vial prepared: SN-14-59); 1 female, VENEZUELA, Miranda, Altos de Pipe, 17 March 1973. J.B. Sullivan (MGCL); 1 female, VENEZUELA, Miranda, Altos de Pipe, 24 July 1979. J.B. Sullivan (MGCL) (dissection vial without label); 1 female, VENEZUELA, Miranda, Altos de Pipe (IVIC site), above km11 turn off to Caracas to Los Teques rd, 1550-1650m, 13 Oct 2002 (AN). 1 female, VENEZUELA, Miranda, Cumbre Azul, 2km. NW of Los Teques, 11-0-1200m, 23.vii 1981 Lee D Miller (MGCL). 1 female, VENEZUELA, Dist. Federal Massif du Naiguta, 3 July 1957. R. Lichy (MGCL) (1 dissection vial prepared: SN-14-106); 1 female, VENEZUELA, Dist. Federal Massif du Naiguta, 1 September 1948. R. Lichy (MGCL) (dissection vial prepared: SN-15-44). In addition, the third author has recorded Magneuptychia nebulosa many times from Quebrada Honda (Fig. 4), El Jarillo (Miranda, Venezuela) and Altos de Pipe, see Suppl. material 1 for these data.

The female specimen in the AN collection is from a humid lower montane forest isolated on a ridge line along the southern slope of Cordillera de la Costa. The vegeta tion here has trees with a canopy over 15 m high, such as Miconia sp. ( Melastomataceae ), Palicourea sp. ( Rubiaceae ), Clusia sp. ( Clusiaceae ), and Chusquea sp. ( Poaceae ) (pers. obs.). Several true cloud forest inhabitants (e.g. Evenus coronata (Hewitson, 1865) ( Lycaenidae ), Corades enyo enyo (Hewitson, 1849) ( Nymphalidae ) and Epiphile epicaste epicaste (Hewitson, 1857) ( Nymphalidae ) are also recorded here (pers. obs.). Thus, it is reasonable to expect that Magneuptychia nebulosa can also be found in lower cloud forests on the slopes of the Cordillera de la Costa.

Godman and Salvin (1880) reported a record of Magneuptychia nebulosa from Chiriquí, Panama. However, his illustration is morphologically different from the lectotype, suggesting that this record is invalid. The ventral hindwing postdiscal band is not wavy as in Magneuptychia nebulosa . Three of the ocelli differ in both size and color, and the large apical ocellus has one pupil instead of two. The ventral forewing submarginal area lacks an obvious brown undulating band, and the ventral forewing discal band is much more curved. Forster (1964: p.104, figure 105, as Yphthimoides nebulosa ) figured a male genitalia of Magneuptychia nebulosa based on a specimen from Bolivia. Although this genitalia appears to resemble those of Magneuptychia nebulosa , to judge from the curved ventral margin of tegumen and the developed cucullus, we believe this is not Magneuptychia nebulosa and this Bolivian record is invalid.

Diagnosis.

Phenotypically, Magneuptychia nebulosa most closely resembles Magneuptychia alcinoe and Magneuptychia mimas . These species can be distinguished from Magneuptychia nebulosa by size and wing pattern. Magneuptychia nebulosa is relatively small and possesses a wavy, somewhat irregular postdiscal band (slightly bent basally in discal cell, curved distally in cell Cu1-Cu2) of the ventral hind wing, whereas Magneuptychia alcinoe and Magneuptychia mimas are larger and have a straight hindwing postdiscal band. This straight ventral hindwing postdiscal band is also present in all other Magneuptychia . However, some of the members of Paryphthimoides (e.g. Paryphthimoides poltys (Prittwitz, 1865)) also exhibits this curved postdiscal band. Magneuptychia nebulosa possesses a rather reddish discal and post discal bands. The number of white pupils in the five ventral hindwing subapical ocelli varies within Magneuptychia alcinoe and is thus occasionally diagnostic; some specimens of Magneuptychia alcinoe have only one pupil in one of the ocellus (K. Willmott, pers. comm.), whereas Magneuptychia nebulosa always have two pupils in four ocelli, and one pupil in the larger, fifth ocellus. In addition, Magneuptychia nebulosa may be confused with a variation of Magneuptychia modesta (Butler, 1867), which is a species that seems to be very variable and is perhaps a complex of several species. However, Magneuptychia nebulosa differs from this taxon by the combination of the undulating ventral hindwing postdiscal band and double-pupilled ocelli in ventral hindwing cell M1-M2 (usually one in Magneuptychia modesta ).