Trico Nakahara & Espeland, 2023

Espeland, Marianne, Nakahara, Shinichi, Zacca, Thamara, Barbosa, Eduardo P., Huertas, Blanca, Marín, Mario A., Lamas, Gerardo, Benmesbah, Mohamed, Brévignon, Christian, Casagrande, Mirna M., Fåhraeus, Christer, Grishin, Nick, Kawahara, Akito Y., Mielke, Olaf H. H., Miller, Jacqueline Y., Nakamura, Ichiro, Navas, Vanessa, Patrusky, Brooke, Pyrcz, Tomasz W., Richards, Lindsay, Tan, Denise, Tyler, Stephanie, Viloria, Angel, Warren, Andrew D., Xiao, Lei, Freitas, André V. L. & Willmott, Keith R., 2023, Combining target enrichment and Sanger sequencing data to clarify the systematics of the diverse Neotropical butterfly subtribe Euptychiina (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), Zoological Research 2023, pp. 1-73 : 32-67

Trico Nakahara & Espeland , genus novum.

Type species — Euptychia tricolor Hewitson, 1850 , by present designation.

Zoobank registration: https://zoobank.org/Nomenclatural Acts/1EB03CDD-C7B3-4AB0-9920-CC59642A4353

Systematic placement and diagnosis. Trico gen.n. is a member of the so-called ‘ Splendeuptychia clade’, and it is weakly supported as sister to Omacha (SH-aLRT/UFBoot = 52.3/62, Figure 10 ), with these two taxa being rather distantly related to the remainder of the clade.

This genus was not included in Espeland et al. (2019a). Nevertheless, both Trico gen.n. and Omacha are monotypic genera, and both accommodate distinctive euptychiine species that do not resemble each other, or other euptychiine genera. Males of Trico gen.n. are distinguished from virtually all euptychiine species by the combination of their iridescent blue scales covering DHW cells Cu 2 and 2A, which also traverse up along the outer margin towards apex, coupled with orangish area anterior of DHW M 2 ( Figures 26 and 27 ). Although lilac-blue scales are present in a similar area in some male euptychiine species (e.g. Chloreuptychia chlorimene, Lazulina tolumnia comb.n.), these species never possess orangish colouration at the anterior region of DHW. On the other hand, female specimens of Trico gen.n. can closely resemble some euptychiine taxa, perhaps phenotypically being most similar to Satyrotaygetis iris comb.n., despite being distantly related. The male of S. iris is easily distinguished from female specimens of Trico gen.n. by its androconial scales at the distal side of DHW discal cell extending slightly along M 3 and Cu 1, as well as presence of greyish long setiform scales in the discal cell, which are both absent in the female of Trico gen.n. Female specimens of Trico gen.n. are distinguished from females of S. iris comb.n. by having a smoother VHW submarginal band in cell Cu 2, which usually bends inwards in S. iris comb.n. The females of these two taxa can be further distinguished by the membranous lamella antevaginalis of specimens of Trico gen.n. ( Figure 28c ; sclerotized in S. iris ) and ductus seminalis exiting from the ductus bursae closer to the corpus bursae in specimens of Trico gen.n. ( Figure 28d ; origin of ductus bursae close to ostium bursae in S. iris comb.n.).

Etymology. The generic name is based on the Latin word ‘trico’, which is a masculine noun in the nominative singular, meaning ‘mischief-maker’ or ‘trickster’, in reference to the remarkable sexual dimorphism of this species.

Description ( Figures 26 – 28 ). Some notable characters include: eyes naked; pterothoracic legs dorsally darker, tibia with two principal longitudinal rows of spines ventrally, pair of short spurs of similar length at distal end of tibia, first tarsomere with three principal longitudinal rows of spines ventrally until distal end, distal end of first tarsomere and remaining distal tarsomeres with four principal longitudinal rows of spines ventrally. Medium-sized Euptychiina (FW length typically 21 – 25 mm). Sexes dimorphic. Male: DHW with light yellowish long hair-like scales at base of discal cell, somewhat at posterior edge of orangish area; greyish long hair-like scales visible in cell Cu 2, area between postdiscal band and submarginal band, along 2A; greyish androconial patch present in adjacent area of cell 2A in male, otherwise wing shape and pattern as illustrated ( Figures 26 and 27 ). Male genitalia with cornuti absent, otherwise as illustrated ( Figure 28 ). Female: DFW and DHW with purple lilac sheen; otherwise as illustrated ( Figures 26 and 27 ). Female abdomen with intersegmental membrane of 7th and 8th abdominal segment not pleated and expandable ( Figure 28 ); genitalia with lamella antevaginalis membranous; ductus bursae membranous, pair of signa present on corpus bursae.

Trico Nakahara & Espeland , gen.n.

tricolor ( Hewitson, 1850) , comb.n., was Magneuptychia

- fulgora ( Butler, 1869) , comb.n., was Magneuptychia

Figures

FIGURE 10 Phylogeny of the ’Splendeuptychia clade’ based on the FULL dataset. Interpretation of support values can be found in the legend. The scale bars under the butterfly images equal 1 cm.

FIGURE 26 Trico tricolor tricolorcomb.n. (a) male wing venation; (b and c) male dorsal (b) and ventral (c); (d and e) female dorsal (d) and ventral (e). Scale bars 1 cm.

FIGURE 27 Trico tricolor fulgoracomb.n. (a and b) male dorsal (a) and ventral (b); (c and d) female dorsal (c) and ventral (d). Scale bars 1 cm.

FIGURE 28 Trico tricolor comb.n. (a and b) male genitalia, lateral (a) with posterior view juxta, aedeagus lateral (b); (c and d) female genitalia, ventral view exterior tip abdomen (c), dorsal view interior abdomen (d). Scale bars 1 mm.