Corades yanacocha Pyrcz, Boyer & Petit, 2024

Pyrcz, Tomasz W., Boyer, Pierre, Petit, Jean-Claude, Garlacz, Rafał, Zając- Garlacz, Kamila S., Espeland, Marianne & Willmott, Keith R., 2024, Bedazzled: a new, striking species of Corades from the outskirts of Quito questions our knowledge of Andean cloud forest butterflies (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), Zootaxa 5453 (2), pp. 255-262 : 256-258

Corades yanacocha Pyrcz, Boyer & Petit sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:033A295A-B327-498B-AC05-0519F1560FE7

Diagnosis: This species is immediately recognized from all other congeners by the wide, brick-red transverse band of the upperside of both forewing and hindwing.

Description: MALE ( Figs. 1 , 2 ): Head: Eyes blackish brown, hairy, labial palpi two times length of head, covered dorsally with brown, ventrally with chestnut hairy scales. Antennae two-fifths length of costa, russet-brown, naked, club same colour but slightly darker. Thorax: dorsally black, mostly naked, sparsely hairy laterally; legs dark grey, sparsely covered with whitish scales and lighter-grey hair, silvery and denser on femur. Forewing (length: 33.6mm, n=3) triangular with a subacute apex and a straight outer margin. Forewing upperside chocolate-brown in basal area, gradually turning darker brown, becoming black in submarginal and marginal areas, lustrous, densely hairy in basal half of space CuA2-1A/2A, with an approximately 3–4 mm wide, slightly variable in width, wavy postdiscal to submarginal, brick-red band extending from subapical area where fading away and basally extending into a small, double yellowish costal patch, to anal margin. Fringes crimson red from apex to vein CuA1, sandy yellow from CuA1 to 1A/2A. Hindwing with a gently undulating outer margin with a long tail-like extension along vein CuA2. Hindwing upperside ground colour similar to forewing, chocolate-brown in basal area, gradually turning darker brown, black towards outer margin, densely hairy in median half and along anal margin, with a straight postdiscal-submarginal band, 4–5 mm wide at vein Rs, gradually narrowing, reaching 2 mm approaching anal margin. Fringes mostly sandy yellow from apex to vein M2, crimson red beyond. Forewing underside ground colour chocolate-brown, lighter along anal margin, veins dusted with orange, more intensely along discal vein, postdiscal-submarginal band shaped as on upperside but orange and not extending into subapical area beyond vein M2, except for costal patch, milky white with some orange dusting, larger than on upperside, entire subapical and apical area, and along outer margin as far as into space M3-CuA1 densely dusted with silver scales with an overlying pattern of brown ripples. Hindwing underside densely dusted with silver scaling over almost its entire surface, with an overlying pattern of brown ripples, except for two areas which are mostly free of it, forming a diffused dark brown median band, and a postdiscal band with diffused basal margin but a rather sharp, straight outer margin, area distally from it is lighter, lilac, forming a faint band roughly mirroring brick-red band on upperside with three minute white dots in spaces Rs-M1, M1-M2 and M2-M3, and a fourth one near tornus in CuA2-1A/2A. Abdomen: dorsally black, sparsely hairy, ventrally more densely covered with beige hair; Genitalia ( Fig. 3 ): Tegumen slender and elongated, with a flat dorsum, extending into a massive, slightly down-curved uncus, about same length as tegumen, and stout subunci, about two-thirds length of uncus, adhered to its base, pedunculus short and blunt, vinculum slightly arched in lateral view, extending into a short saccus flattened dorso-ventrally, valvae slender and elongated, slightly longer than tegumen+uncus, with a serrate dorsum; aedeagus tubular, one-fourth shorter than valva, gradually narrowing towards apex, with a smooth surface. FEMALE: unknown.

COI barcodes data ( Fig. 4 ) were obtained for two individuals of C. yanacocha sp. n. They cluster with C. dymantis Thieme, 1907 , but their branch support is low (below 70), and four other species of Corades , i.e. C. tripunctata Weymer, 1890 , C. chirone Hewitson, 1863 , C. cybele Butler, 1866 , and C. medeba Hewitson, 1850 , all of which forming a fully supported clade sister to C. chelonis Hewitson, 1863 .

Types: Holotype male: Ecuador, Pichincha, Reserva Yanacocha, West of Quito , S0°7’2” W78°35’11”, 3520m, 11.XI.2023, P. Boyer leg., PBF [to be deposited in INABIO]; Paratypes: 1 ♂: Pichincha, Reserva Yanacocha, West of Quito , S0°7’2” W78°35’11”, 3520m, 9.XI.2023, P. Boyer leg., PBF , [currently in PBF]; 1 ♂: same locality but 14.XI.2023, P. Boyer leg. [currently in PBF]; 2 ♂: same locality, 9.XI.2023, J-C Petit leg. [currently in JCP]; 1 ♂: same locality, 14.XI.2023, J-C Petit leg. [currently in JCP] .

Etymology: This species name is derived from that of the type locality, the Reserva Yanacocha, currently the only locality from where it is known.

Bionomics: During the visit to the site when the type series was collected, 9 th to 14 th of November 2023, the weather was favourable for cloud forest butterfly activity, at least in the morning, with long periods of sunshine between 8.00–11.30am. Later in the day clouds and fog covered the sun. All individuals of Corades yanacocha sp. n. were observed along the forested part of the main trail, which contours around the west side of Volcán Pichincha, none in open areas or on secondary trails where the vegetation was dense. The part of the trail where the species was observed was in the shade until 10:00 am, which allowed us to make observations and captures only between 09.30 am–12.00 pm. In contrast, from 8:00 am onwards we observed many other butterflies hill-topping on a tree, in a sunny area just before the beginning of the forested part of the trail, including Pedaliodes spp. , Daedalma inconspicua Butler, 1866 , Steremnia sp. , and especially Dione glycera (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1861) , Catasticta tricolor Butler, 1897 , and unidentified Lycaenidae . We also observed Corades chirone around the same tree. Males of C. yanacocha sp. n. were attracted to rotting fish bait, like all other large Pronophilina . We observed C. yanacocha sp. n. in several places along the main trail, but most individuals were in a small clearing at the beginning of the forested part, where we witnessed some territorial behaviour. One male in particular repeatedly returned to a single spot, usually a leaf or a twig at the tip of an isolated branch, where it would stay motionless until seeing another male or another butterfly flying by. Occasionally, males were observed flying down to the ground, but more often they flew and perched three or four meters above the ground. Males rested most of the time with their wings closed, which made them difficult to detect, but when the sun was shining they sometimes opened their wings, in a basking position, which is a frequent behaviour among cloud forest butterflies given low temperatures in the morning. Chusquea bamboo, which are the most likely host plants, considering that other Corades also feed on this genus ( Greeney et al. 2010; Montero & Ortiz, 2014), were scarce, hidden in the forest along secondary trails, not far away from the clearing where adults were observed flying. On the other hand, we observed abundant canes which we considered first as likely host plants, because we could not locate any Chusquea in the area where adults of C. yanacocha sp. n. were observed ( Fig. 5 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. ML COI based tree of Corades occurring in the northern Andes indicating the position of C. yanacocha sp. n. with bootstrap values on the nodes. Values less than 70 are not shown.

FIGURE 2. Corades yanacocha sp. n. male, left: dorsal, right: ventral.

FIGURE 3. Corades yanacocha sp. n. in the field (phot. Abigail de Pozo).

FIGURE 4. Corades yanacocha sp. n. male genitalia, A. in lateral view, B. aedeagus in lateral view, C. aedeagus in dorsal view.

FIGURE 5. Habitat of Corades yanacocha sp. n. at 3500 m s.s.l. in the Yanacocha Biological Reserve (phot. P. Boyer).