Punargentus chiliensis chiliensis

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 : 63-65

Punargentus chiliensis chiliensis ( Guérin-Méneville, [1830]) ( Satyrus ) n.comb.

( Figs. 11 G, H; 20D–F; 29)

Holotype: (female) MNHN, Paris (Photo examined)

Type location: Concepción, Chile

Subspecies:

Punargentus chiliensis elwesi ( Bryk, 1944) (Cosmosatyrus) n. comb.

Holotype: (male), NRM, Stockholm (photo examined)

Paratypes (5 males), NRM., Stockholm (not examined)

Type location: Peninsula Llau Llau, north of Punto Nuevo, Lago Nahuel Huapí, Neuquen Province, Argentina, Oct. 1933 - March 1934, leg. Anna Hildegard Ljungner

Punargentus chiliensis magallanicaus ( Herrera, 1965) (Etcheverrius) n. comb. Paratype: (male) MNHN, Santiago de Chile (Photo examined)

Type location: Puerto Prat, Magallanes Province, Chile

Punargentus chiliensis wygnankii ( Junge, 1987) (Cosmosatyrus) n. comb. Holotype: (female) ZSM (Photo examined)

Allotype: (male) ZSM

Paratypes: (23 males, 9 females) ZSM (Photo of a female examined) Type location: Apoquindo, Santiago Metropolitan Province, Chile

Other combinations:

Etcheverrius chiliensis — Herrera (1965); Lamas & Viloria (2004, p. 216) Argyrophorus chiliensis —D’Abrera (1988, p. 798); Pyrcz & Wojtusiak (2010) Cosmosatyrus chiliensis — Heimlich (1972); Peña & Ugarte (1997, p. 277)

Distribution. Commonly found in Chile from central Coquimbo Province to central Aisén Province, possibly as far south as Punta Delgada in the northeastern part of the Strait of Magellan, and in Argentina from western Mendoza Province to western Neuquén Province, and to northeastern Rio Negro Province from November to March at nearly sea level to 2800m ( Fig. 29).

Diagnosis. Most similar to and sometimes confused with Punargentus monticolens , but with a spatulate antennal club and the yellow ring surrounding ocelli between Rs-M1 and M1-M2 reduced to a streak appearing just proximal and distal to the ocellus, but not circumscribing it. Dorsal side is chocolate to taupe in the females and dark chocolate in the males, which have patches of androconia inside the discal cell along the cubitus and between M2-M3, M3-CuA1, CuA1-CuA2, CuA2-1A+2A, and between 1A+2A and the inner margin. Ocellus between M1- M2 is unpupillated and surrounded by patches of pale yellow to light peach. Postmedian band on the ventral side of both forewing and hindwing is bordered on the distal side with a series of dark coffee chevrons. Hindwing bears dark coffee striations over all design elements and hindwing ocelli are flat lenticular black dashes between Rs-M1, M1-M2, and CuA1-CuA2 with adjacent yellow streaks just distal. Short, pale yellow streaks parallel to the veins appear between M2-M3 and M3-CuA1. Tarsus of both male and female forelegs is unsegmented and club-like and the aedeagus bears acute dentate projections along the distal 1/3.

Redescription. Head: Antennae 10–12 mm with white scales and a longitudinal stripe of taupe to coffee scales that covers half of a spatulate club. Eyes oval and naked, length approximately 1.3X the width. Palps with a longitudinal chocolate stripe along the median with the dorsal side piliform scales white and chocolate and the ventral side white with dark chocolate piliform scales. Terminal palp segment cylindrical and about one-third the length of the second segment.

Thorax of the males dark amber with iridescent dark grey scales and covered in white and warm medium brown piliform scales. Females with the same coloration but with the addition of pearly white scales interspersed with the iridescent dark grey scales. Abdomen pearly white ventrally and taupe dorsally. Foreleg tarsi club-like and unsegmented, a little longer in the females. Midlegs and hindlegs with four rows of amber to dark amber spines on the tibia and tarsus.

Forewing ( Fig. 11 G, H): Wingspan 28–36mm. Termen nearly straight and the distal end of the discal cell widely V-shaped. Males with androconial patches inside the discal cell along the cubitus and between M2-M3, M3- CuA1, CuA1-CuA2, CuA2-1A+2A, and between 1A+2A and the inner margin, not extending beyond the median. Dorsal side dark chocolate in the males and chocolate to taupe in the females. Both sexes with an indistinct dark coffee to black ocellus between M1-M2, sometimes extending to M2-M3. Females with a patch of peach-brown to rust orange over the discal cell and a postmedian band that is a lighter brown than the wing streaked with patches of pale yellow that surround the apical ocellus from R5-CuA1. Fringe scales in stripes of chocolate to dark chocolate and taupe to tan perpendicular to the termen. Ventral side with a ripple pattern along the costa and extending from the median to the termen. Area from the discal cell to the postmedian band may range from peach to orange to rust orange to rust red and is widely bordered at the inner margin in taupe to chocolate. Postmedian band is taupe to chocolate with an irregular proximal border of dark coffee and the distal border a series of dark coffee chevrons. Patches of pale yellow to light peach surround the apical ocellus, which is unpupillated and occupies the cell between M1-M2, sometimes extending beyond the confines of the cell. Apex is white at the costa and terminal sections of veins are highlighted in white.

Hindwing ( Fig. 11 G, H): Wing oval, termen slightly convex and scalloped. Dorsal side similar in color to the forewing with the distal edge of the postmedian band barely visible as a series of dark coffee chevrons. Fringe scales are as in the forewing and long piliform scales appear at the base and over the discal cell, extending to the median and toward the inner margin. Ventral side chocolate to taupe with a ripple pattern superimposed over all design elements in dark chocolate to dark coffee striations. A thin, irregularly dentate, dark coffee band extends across the median, edged in grey to white along the proximal side. The proximal edge of the postmedian band irregularly dentate and bordered in dark coffee with a thin strip of white just distal to the proximal border. Distal border is a series of dark coffee chevrons with a patch of white just proximal to the border from the costa to M2 and just distal to the border along the terminal band from M2 to the tornus. Cells between Rs-M1, M1-M2, and CuA1- CuA2 bear a flat lenticular black ocellus with an adjacent pale yellow streak on the distal end. Cells between M2- M3 and M3-CuA1 contain a short streak of pale yellow. Ocellus between Rs-M 1 may not be visible or reduced to a yellow streak similar to that between M2-M3 and M3-CuA1. Veins are highlighted in white.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 20 D–F): Uncus wide at the base, narrowing slightly, widest at the median, and narrowing to a finger-like terminus. Uncus approximately 1.4X the length of the tegumen. Gnathos acute and approximately 0.4X the length of the uncus. Pedunculus long and nearly acute. Saccus truncate and about equal in length to the gnathos. Valvae narrow at the proximal end, widest at the median and narrowing slightly, but nearly even in width through the distal two-thirds with a deltoid terminus. Aedeagus nearly even in width throughout with a truncate proximal end and acute dentate projections along each lateral edge on the distal one-third.

Remarks. A common and widespread species in Chile and central Argentina. There is a high degree of regional variability in P. chiliensis , particularly in the coloration of the discal cell on the ventral side of the forewing. Each of the subspecies listed above mentions this as a primary character used in the differentiation between the subspecies and the nominal subspecies. This patch is red-orange in the nominal form, orange in P. chiliensis elwesi , peach-orange in P. chiliensis wygnankii , and a dull orange-brown in P. chiliensis magallanicus . Whether or not these bear out as distinct subspecies in a phylogenetic sense is unresolved here. P. chiliensis wygnankii can be found on grassy slopes near Santiago ( Junge 1987). Bryk identified P. chiliensis elwesi from illustrations provided in Elwes 1903, who noted that “It is possible that this form may prove distinct from chiliensis .” Elwes noted that it can be found in grassy pampas east of Lago Nahuel Huapí in western Neuquén and Río Negro province, Argentina. Curiously, Hayward (1958) remarked that P. chiliensis can be found in Bolivia, although this is far to the north of the extent of the distribution observed in collections or recorded elsewhere.

Elwes described its flight as “a slow short flight among bushes,” contrasting it with the rapid straight flight of P. monticolens . The ultimate instar larva and pupa were described by Henry (1992), who noted that the larvae feed on the bunchgrass Stipa speciosa Trinius & Ruprecht.

Specimens examined. Chile, Valparaíso Province, (MTSU) CH 30-2, CH 30-4, CH 30-6; Chile, Santiago Metropolitan Province, (ZSM) Holotype P. chiliensis wygnankii male (photo examined), (MTSU) CH 29-2- CH 29- 4, CH 29A-1- CH 29A-3, CH 29A-5; Chile, Maule Province, (OSU) 0 0 0 0 94379, (MTSU) CH 15-1- CH 15-3, CH 18-4, CH 19-1-19-3; Chile Bío-Bío Province, (MNHN, Paris) Holotype P. chiliensis chiliensis female (photo examined), (OSU) 0 0 0 0 94369, 0 0 0 0 94366, 0 0 0 0 94376, (MTSU) CH 2-1, CH 32-2, CH 37-1, CL0312, CL0423, (UJ) 2 males, 3 females; Chile, Araucanía Province, (MTSU) CH 40-3, CH 40-4, (MGCL) 1 male; Chile, Magallanes Province, (MNHN, Santiago de Chile) Paratype P. chiliensis magallanicus male (photo examined); Argentina, Mendoza Province, (MTSU) JMC0810, (MZUJ) 4 males, 1 female; Argentina, Neuquén Province, (MTSU) JMC0801; Argentina, Río Negro/Neuquén Province, (NRM, Stockholm) Holotype P. chiliensis elwesi male (photo examined)

Figures

FIGURE 11. Composite habitus images of Punargentus species. The left side of each specimen is the dorsal surface, the right side is the ventral surface. A: Punargentus lamna (Thieme, 1904) male (MZUJ); B: Punargentus angusta picota (Fuchs, 1954) male, Pampa Galeras, Ayacucho, Peru, 4200 m (photo reproduced from Cerdeña et al. 2014, open access); C: Punargentus blanchardii blanchardii (Pyrcz & Wojtusiak, 2010) n. comb. holotype male (photo reproduced from Pyrcz & Wojtusiak, 2010, open access); D: Punargentus monticolens (Butler, 1881) n. comb. male (MZUJ); E, F: Punargentus gustavi (Staudinger, 1898) n. comb., two specimens from Tacna Prov., Peru showing variability in the degree of silver scaling on the dorsal surface (photos reproduced from Cerdeña et al., 2014, open access); G, H: Punargentus chiliensis chiliensis (Guérin-Méneville, [1830) n. comb. male (G) and female (H) (MZUJ).

FIGURE 20. Male genitalia of Punargentus and Stuardosatyrus species. See Fig. 2 for labels of parts. All drawings to the same scale. A – C: Punargentus lamna (Thieme, 1904) (CUIC) (uncus (A) and right valva (C) damaged); D – F: Punargentus chiliensis chiliensis (Guérin-Méneville, [1830) n. comb. (CH 32 - 2) showing ornamentation on the aedeagus (E); G – I: Punargentus monticolens (Butler, 1881) n. comb. (CH 24 A- 5); J – L: Stuardosatyrus williamsianus (Butler, 1868) (JMC 1003), showing ornamentation on the aedeagus (K).