Corybantes veraguana veraguana ( Westwood, 1877 )

García-Díaz, José De Jesús, Espinoza-Sanabria, Bernardo A., Worthy, Robert, González, Jorge M., Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2024, Synopsis of the Castniidae (Lepidoptera) of Costa Rica, Zootaxa 5481 (2), pp. 151-202 : 158

3. Corybantes veraguana veraguana ( Westwood, 1877)

( Figs. 1A , 12D )

Castnia veraguana Westwood, 1877 ; Westwood, 1877. Trans. Linn. Soc. Lon., Zoo. 2 (1), p. 168, pl. 28, fig. 9; pl. 30, fig. 1.

Corybantes veraguana ; Houlbert, 1918. Étud. Lép. Comp. 15, pp. 62, 187, 678, 727, fig. 66.

Corybantes veraguana veraguana ; Miller, 1995, in Heppner. Castnioidea: Castniidae : Castniinae , Checklist part 2, Atlas Neo. Lep. , p. 133.

Corybantes veraguana veraguana ; Lamas, 1995. Revta. Per. Ent. 37, p. 76.

Corybantes veraguana ; Moraes & Duarte, 2014. Zoo. Jour. Linn. Soc. 170 (2), p. 30.

General comments. Corybantes veraguana veraguana ( Westwood, 1877) was described, as Castnia veraguana , from Veraguas (today Panama) and it is the only known castniid of this genus found in Central America. However, the records of this subspecies are limited, while the two South American subspecies, C. veraguana govara (Schaus, 1896) from Central Colombia and C. veraguana parambae ( Rothschild, 1919) from Southwest Colombia and Northwest Ecuador, are better represented in entomological collections worldwide. There are only four records of this subspecies, including the holotype, among the several collections and literature we studied. Of the three subspecies, C. v. govara is the most different in wing pattern since neither sex possesses the postdiscal band of orange spots on the dorsal hindwing.

Corybantes veraguana veraguana has a dark brown base color on the dorsal forewing, which becomes lighter in the subapical region and in the upper middle region of the “<”-shaped discal band that runs from the costa to vein 2A; it also has two translucent spots in the apical region. The hindwing is dark with an orange band that runs along the wing from the costa to the anal region, which branches out in the postdiscal region and forms a postdiscal band that goes from vein Rs to the anal angle; both bands seem to form spots, since the veins are black, so the bands do not appear continuous.

The basal area of all wings is brown. Ventrally, the wing pattern is similar, but less defined than dorsally; black scales appear in the inner half of the forewing and there are some blue scales on the hindwing. The wing pattern is very similar in both sexes, the females differ by being larger, having more rounded forewings, a slightly paler coloration, and the postdiscal orange band on the hindwing is wider than in males.

Ecology and behavior. Very little is known about the ecology and behavior of the subspecies. Jean-Michel Maes (pers. comm.) points out that the specimen cited by Maes & González (2022) was collected in a light trap used to attract Scarabaeidae ( Coleoptera ). Consequently, due to the scarcity of this subspecies in collections and knowing that at least one individual was captured at night, we could hypothesize that C. veraguana might be crepuscular, which together with the well-known territorial behavior of many other castniids could explain why they are so difficult to observe and collect, and the reason for their paucity in collections.

Distribution and biogeography. Besides the holotype from Veragua [ Panama] ( Westwood1877), the subspecies was reported for the first time for Nicaragua by Maes & González (2022), a male collected in Refugio Bartola, Río San Juan. They mentioned that, given the known distribution of the species, it could possibly be found in Costa Rica. Certainly, a female of C. v. veraguana was found in MNCR, originally collected in Magsasay, Sarapiquí, Heredia, Costa Rica, the first known record for the country. Additionally, we are aware of another specimen from the same region posted in iNaturalist (2023); it was photographed just 2.5 km east of the location where the MNCR female was collected. We are unaware of other localities where C. v. veraguana could be found. Based on the biogeographic proposal of Morrone et al. (2022), C. v. veraguana has been recorded in Costa Rican localities that belong to the Guatuso-Talamanca province of the Pacific dominion in the Brazilian subregion.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A: ♀, Corybantes veraguana veraguana, Heredia, Sarapiqui, Magsasay, 200m, 12 mayo 1994, C. Pineda, G. Vega, MNCR-A5055728 (MNCR); B: ♂, Amauta papilionaris amethystina, Costa Rica, Provincia de Limón, Limón, Nicholas Zakharoff gift (CAS) (photographs: Christopher C. Grinter); C–D: Amauta procera; C: ♂, Est. Hitoy-Cerere, 100m, R. Cerere, Res. Biol. Hitoy Cerere, Prov. Limón, G. Carballo, Jul 1991, L-N-184200, 643300, INBIOCRI001110672, MNCR-A1110672 (MNCR); D: ♀, Puntarenas, Sn. Vito, Las Cruces, Jardín Botánico, 24–27 Agosto 1987, L. D. Gómez, INBIOCRI001055983, MNCR-A1055983 (MNCR). Scale bar = 2cm.

FIGURE 12. Distribution maps of the genera Amauta (A), Athis (B, C), Corybantes and Mirocastnia (D), Divana (E) and Prometheus (F) in Costa Rica.