Libythea lepita Moore [1858]

Kawahara, Akito Y., 2013, <strong> Systematic revision and review of the extant and fossil snout butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Libytheinae) </ strong>, Zootaxa 3631 (1), pp. 1-74 : 31-32

Libythea lepita Moore [1858]

( Figs. 7 , 19, 31, 44, 59, 119–128)

Libythea lepita Moore [1858] : 240.

Libythea celtis Lang 1884: 152 [in part, distribution].

Libythea lepida [sic] Fruhstorfer 1914: pl. 139e.

Libythea celtis lepita Shields 1984a: 265 .

Libythia [sic] lepita Roberts 2001: 121 .

Diagnosis. Libythea lepita is sister species to L. celtis and shares with it a gradually incrassate antenna, but the former can be distinguished from the latter by having: 1) a hindwing anterior margin that is weakly lobed near the fusion of the costa and Sc + R 1, and 2) the proximal margin of the forewing dorsal orange mark between M 3 and CuA 2 projects proximally along CuA 1, forming a curved or angled margin, which is straight in L. celtis .

Distribution. Northern India and Pakistan, east to China, Korea, and Japan.

Biology. Host plant species include: Celtis boninensis Koidz, C. formosana Hayata , C. jessoensis Koidz , and C. sinensis Pers. (Celtidaceae) . Trema orientalis (L.) Blume ( Cannabaceae ) has been reported but this record is questionable. Host plant data were extracted from: Kono & Sawamoto (1939), Shirôzu & Hara (1960), Fujioka (1975), Kawazoé & Wakabayashi (1976), Shin Gakkai (1979), and Fukuda et al. (1983).

Remarks. Evans (1910) synonymized lepita with celtis , but without any specification of the number of specimens studied, the types examined, or the species concept used. Many faunal and life-history studies have followed Evans (1910) and treated lepita as a synonym of celtis (e.g., Nagano 1933, Gaede 1932, Shirôzu & Hara 1960, 1962, Fujioka 1975, Kawazoé & Wakabayashi 1976, Fujioka & Ôya 1977, Lee 1982, Fukuda et al. 1983, Inomata 1990, Io 1994, Park & Kim 1997, Aoyama 1998, Io 1998, Osada et al. 1999, Igarashi & Fukuda 2000).

However, Hans Fruhstorfer, an authority on butterflies, treated lepita as a separate species. He wrote, ‘I formerly believed to be right in considering lepita as a geographical form of celtis , but although it is certain that lepita appears everywhere where celtis disappears, I think to be allowed to treat lepita nevertheless as a species’ (1914: 769). Some authors (e.g., Matsumura 1919, Kasahara 1936, Kono & Sawamoto 1939) chose to follow Fruhstorfer (1914) and regarded the Japanese population as L. lepita . Yoshimoto (1999) discussed the possibility that celtis and lepita may be separate species, but did not make any taxonomic changes.

Based on the morphology and distributions of more than 800 specimens examined from Asia and Europe, I follow Fruhstorfer (1914), and treat celtis and lepita as separate species. Two autapomorphies distinguish L. lepita from L. celtis : the hindwing anterior margin is weakly lobed near the fusion of the costa and Sc + R 1, and the proximal margin of the forewing dorsal orange mark between M 3 and CuA 2 projects proximally along CuA 1, forming a curved or angled margin. Furthermore, an orange mark in the dorsal surface of forewing cell CuA 2 and hindwing cell Rs is almost always present in L. celtis but nearly always absent in L. lepita . A lepita adult collected from a natural population can also typically be distinguished by its larger wing size (usually 1–2 mm larger than L. celtis ). The original description is attributed to Moore (1858). While Moore’s A catalogue of the Lepidopterous insects in the museum of the Hon. East-India Company has a publication date of 1857 on the front page, the actual publication date was 1858, according to Cowan (1975).

Key to subspecies of Libythea lepita

1. Small forewing orange mark between M 3 and CuA 2 disconnected or just slightly touching orange marks in discal cell ( Fig. 119 ); Taiwan..................................................................... Libythea lepita formosana

– Large forewing orange mark between M 3 and CuA 2 clearly fused with orange mark in discal cell ( Figs. 121, 123, 125, 127 ); mainland Asia and Japan................................................................................ 2

2(1). Outer margin of orange discal cell mark fused with orange mark between M 3 and CuA 2 by at least 2 mm at narrowest point ( Figs. 121, 123 ); Amamioshima, Ogasawara Islands and Okinawa ........................... Libythea lepita amamiana

– Outer margin of orange discal cell mark separated from orange mark in M 3 to CuA 2 or if fused, by less than 2 mm ( Figs. 125, 127 ); mainland Asia and Japan, excluding Ogasawara islands and Okinawa ....................... Libythea lepita lepita

Figures

FIGURES 2−13. Lateral view of the male eighth abdominal tergum of Libythea and Libytheana with scales and hairs removed. 2. Libythea celtis; 3. Libythea collenettei; 4. Libythea geoffroyi; 5. Libythea labdaca; 6. Libythea laius; 7. Libythea lepita; 8. Libythea myrrha; 9. Libythea narina; 10. Libytheana carinenta; 11. Libytheana fulvescens; 12. Libytheana motya; 13. Libytheana terena.

FIGURES 117−132. Right dorsal and ventral wing surfaces of Libythea. The second image of each specimen shows the ventral surface of the wings. 117, 118. Libythea laius lepitoides Moore: ♂, India, Nilgiris, Conoor (BMNH); 119, 120. Libythea lepita formosana Fruhstorfer: Holotype ♂, Taiwan (BMNH); 121, 122. Libythea lepita amamiana Shirôzu: ♂, Japan, Okinawa, Nago (MTC); 123, 124. Libythea lepita amamiana Shirôzu: ♀, Japan, Okinawa, Shimajiri, Kitadaito−mura (TFC); 125, 126. Libythea lepita lepita Moore: ♂, Japan, Yamanashi, Hinoharu (AYK); 127, 128. Libythea lepita lepita Moore: ♀, Japan (BMNH); 129, 130. Libythea myrrha myrrha Godart: ♂, Indonesia, Java (BMNH); 131, 132. Libythea myrrha myrrha Godart: ♀, Indonesia, West Java (BMNH).