Oenomaus gwenish Robbins & Faynel

Faynel, Christophe, Busby, Robert C. & Robbins, Robert K., 2012, Review of the species level taxonomy of the neotropical butterfly genus Oenomaus (Lycaenidae, Theclinae, Eumaeini), ZooKeys 222, pp. 11-45 : 16

Oenomaus gwenish Robbins & Faynel sp. n. Figs 3, 27, 46

Type-locality.

Panama: Darién, Serranía de Pirre, Cana, 7°55'57"N, 77°42'58"W, 1000 m. Serranía de Pirre at 1000 m was uncut wet lower montane forest in 1984. The only disturbance was a defunct gold mine camp and associated dirt runway at Cana.

Type-specimen.

Holotype ♀ (Fig. 3) labeled as "PANAMA: Darien: / Serrania de Pirre: / Cana: 1,000 m / 5 January 1984 / Leg. G.B. Small" [rectangular, white, printed and handwritten], "GENITALIA NO. / 2011: 406♀ / C. FAYNEL" [rectangular, green, printed] "Holotype ♀ / Oenomaus gwenish / Robbins & Faynel, 2012" [rectangular, red, printed]. Deposited in USNM.

Description, diagnosis and recognition as a distinct species.

Female FW length: 20 mm ( N = 1). Wing pattern (Fig. 3) and genitalia (Fig. 27) illustrated. The wing patterns of Oenomaus gwenish and Oenomaus mancha are distinguished from that of Oenomaus ortygnus by the black patch in the distal part of the VHW cell Sc+R1-Rs and by the absence of a black mark in VFW cell Costa-Sc. However, the ventral wing pattern of Oenomaus gwenish differs from that of Oenomaus mancha by (1) the lack of a black band crossing the VFW discal cell, (2) the absence of a black spot in VFW cell M3-Cu1, and (3) the presence of two black spots of equal size along VHW veins mdc and ldc instead of a single large black spot at vein mdc with no mark or a faint vestigial mark at vein ldc. Thefemalegenitalia of Oenomaus gwenish (Fig. 27) are similar to those of Oenomaus mancha .

We hesitated to describe this species because we cannot assess its intraspecific variation. However, the series of 10 females of Oenomaus mancha show little variation in the traits that distinguish them from the holotype of Oenomaus gwenish . For this reason, a hypothesis of specific distinctness is better supported than a hypothesis of geographical variation.

Etymology.

The holotype of Oenomaus gwenish is a unique and distinctive female, for which reason it gives us great pleasure to name this species for entomologist Dr. Jennifer (Gwen) Shlichta. The name is a feminine noun in apposition.

Habitat and distribution.

Oenomaus gwenish is probably a lower montane species, so far known only from wet forest at 1000 m elevation in Darién, Panama (Fig. 46). While Oenomaus gwenish and Oenomaus ortygnus are both known from Panama, we do not know if they are sympatric.