Heteropsis strigula

C, Lees David, 2016, Heteropsis (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae: Satyrini: Mycalesina): 19 new species from Madagascar and interim revision, Zootaxa 4118 (1), pp. 1-97 : 58

Heteropsis strigula group

The Ht. strigula species group (the ‘ strigula 15 ’ group of Torres et al., 2001), now including Ht. tornado described here (Aduse-Poku et al., 2015) is a monophyletic clade, consisting of a diverse, primarily rainforest-interior, radiation of butterflies 100% endemic to Madagascar (a few species occur in mesic parts of deciduous forest, or in swampland at the margins of forest). This clade is at least partially supported by morphology ( Lees, 1997: 156) although it was weakly or not at all ( Torres et al., 2001) supported by mitochondrial DNA (COII and cytochrome b). Eight species sampled within it that include Ht. ankova (Ward, 1870) placed by Lees, 1997 in a separate group, (the Ht. ankova clade of the Ht. strigula group that sometimes included Ht. tornado ) are united by a single C->T transversion in the highly conserved 28SDDFF region that is not observed elsewhere in the Malagasy satyrines (dataset of Monaghan et al., 2009). Now with the ten gene study of Aduse-Poku et al., (2015, see Fig. 1 and Suppl. File S4) that included 13 sampled members, the slightly expanded Ht. strigula group is shown to be the wellsupported sister of the Ht. subsimilis clade, which might possibly be (with submarginal bootstrap support) sister to a clade consisting of Ht. narcissus ( sensu Balletto & Lees, 2012 ) + Ht. ankaratra . Five sampled members of the Ht. strigula group were submarginally supported (pp=0.86) in the three-gene study of Kodandaramaiah et al., (2010). As for the Ht. subsimilis group, ♂♂ and ♀♀ are similar, apart mainly from size and androconial and/or inflated HW vein differences. ♀♀ of some species are as yet unknown. Both sexes are attracted strongly to fruit as adults, do not fly high, and seem to specialise on forest (or sometimes marshland) grasses. Most species (apart from Ht. tornado , and from the members Ht. ankova , Ht. turbata (Butler, 1880) and Ht. pallida ( Oberthür, 1916) that were recovered as sister to the rest of the group in Lees, 1997: 156, although equivocally, see Lees, 1997: 168, and also apart from Ht. roussettae described below) show reduction in ocellus expression in the HW, so that only the space- CuA1 ocellus is expressed, as apparently parallelled in the Ht. subsimilis group, as described above. Var i ou s species show from LV a combination of relatively straight or gently sinuate ‘neck’ to the uncus before the apical hook, a relatively asymmetric valve base and the extensive development of spinoid setae on the valve tips, and a few members (belonging to Ht. angulifascia clade) show a striking planification of the gnathos into an ear-like structure, and wavy androconial tufts from HW space-CuA2 sometimes correlate with ventral androconial scale patches. The main radiation occurs throughout the eastern rainforest biome, but one member, Ht. maeva ( Mabille, 1878) , also occurs in Western Madagascar. Ht. turbata and Ht. pallida are unusual in that they occur outside forest margins in marshy areas, whereas Ht. ankova as well as Ht. lanyvary sp. nov. fly just inside the forest margin.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Venation and wing patterning diagram of a fairly typical species of Heteropsis from Madagascar (Heteropis antahala group; ♂), DV. Sdbp = Supra-discocellular brush and patch. Cub = Cubital brush. Ventral banding: Cb = Costal bars. Mf = Median fleck (pale highlight). Mb = Median band. PMb = Premedian band. Ore = Ocellus ring extension. Pml = Premarginal line. Sml = Submarginal line.