Drephalys (Drephalys) dracarys Madruga, Siewert, Mielke & Dolibaina, 2018

Siewert, Ricardo Russo, Madruga, Janaína, Dolibaina, Diego Rodrigo, Mielke, Olaf Hermann Hendrik & Casagrande, Mirna Martins, 2018, Hidden in plain sight: a morphological study revealing three new species of the skipper genus Drephalys Watson, 1893 (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from Brazil, Zootaxa 4472 (3), pp. 573-580 : 574-576

Drephalys (Drephalys) dracarys Madruga, Siewert, Mielke & Dolibaina , sp. n.

( Figs 1–2 , 7 , 13 )

Diagnosis. Drephalys dracarys sp. n. closely resembles D. heraclides Bell, 1942 , D. phoenicoides (Mabille & Boullet, 1919) , and D. electrinus Siewert, Madruga, Mielke & Dolibaina sp. n. in wing markings, but it can be easily distinguished from them by the following male genitalia characters: uncus thinner and not widely opened as in D. heraclides ( Fig. 10 ); costa of valva with a small projection curved inwards ( Fig. 7 ), and not truncated as in D. heraclides ( Fig. 10 ) and D. phoenicoides ( Fig. 12 ), and distal margin of aedeagus with a straight and thin spine-like process ( Fig. 7 ).

Description, male. Head: brown; frons covered with dark brown and cream scales; antenna dark brown, ventrally with yellow scales covering 2/3 of its surface; ventral club yellow, nudum of 32 segments (n=1); eye glabrous, brown, surrounded by cream scales; labial palpus dark brown dorsally and cream ventrally, third segment short, conical, dark brown. Thorax: dorsally dark brown with yellowish sparse scales; ventrally creamy yellow; legs creamy yellow. Forewing, upper side: length 19 mm; costal fold short; ground color brown; dark yellow patch covering the proximal half of costal margin; two hyaline spots in discal cell, the proximal spot rectangular and short, with the same width of discal cell, the distal spot ellipsoid, about 1/4 the width of the former; two discal hyaline spots, the distal in M3-CuA1, rectangular and with the distal margin excavate, the proximal in CuA1-CuA2, similar to the former but larger; one large semicircular yellow spot in CuA2-2A, aligned with the proximal hyaline spot of discal cell; a dark patch covers half of discal area; three small apical hyaline spots in R3-R4, R4-R5, R5-M1; anal margin yellow on the proximal area; fringes brown. Forewing, underside: similar to the upper side, except for lighter colors. Hind wing, upper side: ground color brown; costal and anal margins yellow; a large yellow spot at the end of discal cell; four post-discal, rectangular, and yellow spots: one in Rs-M1 long; three short, aligned with each other in CuA1-CuA2 (one) and CuA2-2A (two); fringes brown. Hind wing, underside: ground color light brown; basal area and costal and anal margins yellow; white transversal band from Sc-R1 to 2A; yellow submarginal markings in CuA2-2A. Genitalia ( Fig. 7 ): tegumen rectangular; ventral projection sinuous and fused with the dorsal projection of saccus. Anterior projection of saccus long and wide. Uncus bifid, “V”-shaped; each arm with a rounded tip and a spine like short ventral projection. Gnathos bifid, “U”-shaped in a single plate. Valva rectangular; costa with a long and pointed process curved inward; ampulla with a hook-like process curved inwards, with several small spines and a thick spine at the end; harpe broad, undivided from ampulla, distal margin smooth and inferiorly projected. Aedeagus cylindrical, long and slender; ejaculatory bulb opening dorsally; insertion of manica in the proximal third of aedeagus; distal margin with a straight and narrow spine-like process; vesica with four needle-like cornuti of different sizes. Female: unknown.

Type material. Holotype male with the following labels: / HOLOTYPUS / 5-20.VII.1990 Faz[enda] paraná [sic], 400m BraS[sic]norte, M[a]T[o] [Grosso] C. Mielke & Miers leg. / Gen. Prep. Mielke 1992 / OM 26.492 / Holotypus Drephalys (Drephalys) dracarys Madruga, Siewert, Mielke & Dolibaina /. Deposited at DZUP.

Paratypes. BRAZIL: Acre— Mâncio Lima, Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor (7° 26’ 52’’ S, 73° 39’ 55’’ W), 20-27.VI.2013, 1 male, Mielke, Casagrande, Carneiro, Dias & Dolibaina leg., DZ 31.101 ( DZUP) . Rondônia— Candeias do Jamari, Fazenda Urupá , 1 male, 1 – 4.VII.1996, O.-C. Mielke & Miers leg., OM 42.347 ( DZUP-OM) .

Etymology. The name is High Valyrian, a fictional language created by George R. R. Martin in his novel “A Song of Ice and Fire”. Dracarys means “dragon’s fire” and it is a command used by Daenerys Targaryen to make their dragon’s breathe fire. The name represents the color pattern on the wings of this new species.

Distribution. Drephalys dracarys sp. n. is known to be from southwestern Amazonia, with records in the Brazilian states of Acre, Mato Grosso and Rondônia.

Comments. Despite the external similarity of D. dracarys sp. n. to D. electrinus Siewert, Madruga, Mielke & Dolibaina sp. n., D. heraclides and D. phoenicoides , the general pattern of its male genitalia resembles D. helixus (Hewitson, 1877) , especially at the distal margin of the aedeagus, with a straight and narrow spine-like process, and

the vesica with a needle-like cornuti ( Burns & Janzen 2000). However, the above-mentioned valva characters distinguish D. dracarys sp. n. from its congeners.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Distribution map of Drephalys species.

FIGURES 1–6. Species of Drephalys in dorsal and ventral views. 1–2, D. dracarys sp. n. 3–4, D. electrinus sp. n. 5–6, D. citrinus sp. n.

FIGURES 7–9. Male genitalia of Drephalys species. Tegumen, uncus, gnathos and saccus in lateral view; right valva in left, right and dorsal views; tegumen and uncus in dorsal view; aedeagus in left lateral and dorsal views; detail of the everted cornuti. 7. D. dracarys sp. n., 8. D. electrinus sp. n., 9. D. citrinus sp. n.

FIGURES 10–12. Male genitalia of Drephalys species. Structures as presented in figures 7–9. 10. D. heraclides. 11. D. phoenice. 12. D. phoenicoides.