Cosmosatyrus stelligera ( Butler, 1881 ) (Faunula)

Matz, Jess & Brower, Andrew V. Z., 2016, The South Temperate Pronophilina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae): a phylogenetic hypothesis, redescriptions and revisionary notes, Zootaxa 4125 (1), pp. 1-108 : 25-26

Cosmosatyrus stelligera ( Butler, 1881) (Faunula) n. comb.

( Figs. 4 I; 13M–O; 24)

Holotype: BMNH (male) Photo Negative No. 43399-400, Slide No. 16,911 (Photo examined) Type locality: Termas de Chillán, Chile

Other combinations:

Chillanella stelligera —Herrera (1966); Lamas & Viloria (2004, p. 216) Faunula stelligera — Calvert (1886); D’Abrera (1987 p. 799) Tetraphlebia stelligera — Heimlich (1972), Peña & Ugarte (1997, p. 284)

Distribution. Found in Chile from eastern Bío-Bío Province to eastern Los Ríos Province and in western Neuquén Province in Argentina from December to March at 200–1850m ( Fig. 24 ).

Diagnosis. Easily distinguished by the oval hindwing, the wide, pale postmedian band with dentate borders on the ventral side of the hindwing, and the white ocelli with weak black borders in each cell between Rs and 1A+2A. Dorsal sides of most specimens without red markings on either wing, but some specimens may bear rust orange markings along the postmedian bands of both wings. Male genitalia similar to Neosatyrus schajovskoii , but with the uncus widest at the base rather than at the median, the valvae triangular at the proximal end and more blunt at the distal end, the aedeagus lacking lateral dentate projections and more even in width than in N. schajovskoii . Males and females very similar in appearance, but the females tend to be lighter in color.

Redescription. Head: Antennae 7–8mm with white and dark coffee scales, terminating in a spatulate club. Eyes round and naked, length approximately 1.2X greater than width. Palps white to tan, chocolate, and dark chocolate. Terminal palp segment cylindrical and less than one-fourth the length of the second segment.

Thorax with iridescent black scales and chocolate to dark chocolate piliform scales in the males. Females with iridescent black scales and cream and chocolate brown piliform scales. Abdomen tan to tawny in the females. Forelegs in both sexes with three tarsal segments. Midlegs and hindlegs with four rows of black spines on the tibia and tarsus.

Forewing ( Fig 4 I): Wingspan 24–28mm. Termen slightly convex and the distal end of the discal cell deeply sinuous, the distance between M1-M2 much longer than the distance between M2-M3. Males are without visible androconia. Dorsal side chocolate to dark chocolate brown with fringe scales the same color. Some specimens may have a long rectangular rust orange patch between M3-CuA1. Ventral side the same color as the dorsal side with a rust orange to rust red patch extending over the discal cell to just past the median. Postmedian band obscured in some specimens, but sometimes visible as a band of slightly lighter brown, the median border dark coffee and deckle-edged. Apical ocellus between M1-M 3 may appear as a single, round, black, bipupillate ocellus ringed in tan to chocolate or rust red or as two separate unipupillate ocelli, fused at M2.

Hindwing ( Fig. 4 I): Wing oval, termen convex and entire. Dorsal side and fringe scales similar in color to the forewing and long piliform scales appear at the base and over the discal cell, extending to the median and toward the inner margin. Chevron-shaped patches of rust orange sometimes appear at the postmedian band between M2 and CuA2. Ventral side also similar in color to the forewing, the postmedian band a slightly lighter brown with scalloped borders in dark chocolate to dark coffee, the median border stronger than the subterminal border. A single white ocellus weakly ringed in black is present in each cell between Rs and CuA2 and the cell between CuA2-1A+2A has two such ocelli.

Male Genitalia ( Fig. 13 M–O): Uncus finger-like and nearly even in width throughout, slightly wider where it joins with the tegumen, terminating in a blunt end, and almost 1.3X the length of the tegumen. Gnathos acute and half the length of the uncus. Pedunculus short, wide, and U-shaped. Saccus widely U-shaped, nearly deltoid, and a little more than three-fourths the length of the gnathos. Valvae widest at the median, narrowing to an acute, blunt triangle at the proximal end, narrowing slightly and then even in width toward the distal end to a blunt finger-like terminus. Aedeagus nearly even in width throughout, the proximal half slightly wider and terminating in a flattened U-shape.

Remarks. Elwes (1903) noted this species’ ecological association with a dwarf colihue bamboo ( Chusquea culeou ?) and suggested this as the larval host plant.

Specimens examined. Chile, Bío-Bío Province, (BMNH) Holotype: male, Photo Negative No. 43399-400, Slide No. 16,911 (Photo examined); (MTSU) female CH 24A-1; (CUIC) 1 male; (MGCL) 1 male, 1 female; Chile, Araucanía Province, (CUIC) 1 female

Figures

FIGURE 4. Composite habitus images of Auca and Cosmosatyrus species. The left side of each specimen is the dorsal surface, the right side is the ventral surface. A, B: Auca coctei (Guérin-Méneville, [1838]) male (OSU # 93358) (A), female (OSU # 95049) (B); C: Auca barrosi (Silva, 1917) male (OSU # 95050); D-F: Cosmosatyrus leptoneuroides C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867 male (D), female (E), and aberrant male (F) (MZUJ); G, H: Cosmosatyrus dubii (Pyrcz, 2012) n. comb. male (BMNH # 808379) (G), female (BMNH # 808378) (H); I: Cosmosatyrus stelligera (Butler, 1881) n. comb. male (BMNH # 809772).

FIGURE 13. Male genitalia of Auca and Cosmosatyrus species. See Fig. 2 for labels of parts. All to the same scale. A – C: Auca coctei (Guérin-Méneville, [1838]) (OSU # 95107); D – F: Auca barrosi (Silva, 1917) (CH 29 C- 2); G – I: Cosmosatyrus leptoneuroides C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867 (CH 15 - 7); J – L: Cosmosatyrus dubii (Pyrcz, 2012) n. comb. (BMNH # 808379) (note that the uncus is broken); M – O: Cosmosatyrus stelligera (Butler, 1881) n. comb. (MZUJ); showing ornamentation on the aedeagus.

FIGURE 24. Distribution of locality records for Cosmosatyrus species. Note that the locality for C. dubii is overlain by a record for C. stelligera from the same site.