Pyrgus albescens (Calhoun, 2002)

Miller, Jacqueline Y., Matthews, Deborah L. & Warren, Andrew D., 2018, A checkered history: distribution of Pyrgus Hübner species in The Bahamas, including the first Caribbean records of Pyrgus albescens Plötz (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), Insecta Mundi 635, pp. 1-9 : 3-4

Specimens Examined— Pyrgus albescens

BAHAMAS: North Abaco: 1.8 mi. SE of Cooperstown , 26.850533°, –77.486085°, 6 Jun 2016, J. Miller, M. Simon, G. Goss, D. Matthews, MGCL Acc. No. 2016-9 (3 F, MGCL 247037 , 247045 , 247046 ) ; same data except 7 Jun 2016 (2 M, MGCL 247058 , 247454 ) ; Grand Bahama Island: Freeport, area SE of Britannia Blvd. & Sunset Hwy. , 26.513233°, –78.679429°, 25 Oct 2014, J.Y. Miller & D. Matthews, MGCL Acc. No. 2014-31 (1 F, MGCL 243480 ) .

We observed many differences in wing pattern between Pyrgus oileus ( Fig. 1–4 ) and P. albescens ( Fig. 5–8 ) from The Bahamas, which have been summarized by other authors from North America (e.g., MacNeill 1975). In nature, checkered skippers generally land with their wings held open, exposing the dorsal wing pattern; ventral surfaces are rarely exposed during daily activity, although adults perch with their wings tightly closed during the night and periods of poor weather, exposing the more cryptically colored ventral wing pattern. Thus, most observations of checkered skippers will be of the upperside only. We have found that the most convenient dorsal wing character to separate the species is the presence (in P. oileus , Fig. 1,3) or absence (in P. albescens , as well as in P. communis ) of the small white spot at the distal end of the forewing discal cell ( Fig. 3 arrow). While the size of this spot on P. oileus is variable, and a trace of the spot is very rarely discernable on unusual specimens of P. albescens or P. communis , this is generally a very reliable feature to separate the two taxa. If only the ventral surface of a checkered skipper in The Bahamas is observed, the presence (in P. oileus ) of a dark streak along the ventral hindwing costa (absent in P. albescens ), at about mid-wing ( Fig. 4 arrow), will separate the two species. This same feature also separates P. oileus from the very closely related P. orcus (Stoll, 1780) (which lacks this dark macule), a taxon distributed further east in the Caribbean and in Central and South America ( Evans 1953, Austin and Warren 2001).

Valvae of P. oileus from The Bahamas (n = 1 from Great Inagua, 3 from Grand Bahama) were similar to those from south Florida (n = 3), Cuba (n = 3) and Hispaniola (n = 3). Valvae of both male P. albescens specimens from North Abaco were examined; these likewise exhibited no differences compared to recently collected male P. albescens from north Florida (n = 1 from Bay County, 1 from Clay County, 4 from Marion County).

Figures

Figures 1–8. Pyrgus adults from The Bahamas. 1) P. oileus male, dorsal view, Grand Bahama Island, MGCL 244928. 2) Same specimen, ventral. 3) P. oileus female, dorsal, Grand Bahama Island, MGCL 244926, arrow indicates diagnostic white spot at the distal end of the forewing discal cell. 4) Same specimen, ventral, arrow indicates diagnostic dark streak along ventral hindwing costa. 5) P. albescens male, dorsal, North Abaco, MGCL 247454. 6) Same specimen, ventral. 7) P. albescens female, dorsal, North Abaco, MGCL 247046. 8) Same specimen, ventral; See material examined for full label data.