Mesene gracielae Dolibaina, Dias, Mielke & Casagrande

Dolibaina, Diego Rodrigo, Dias, Fernando Maia Silva, Siewert, Ricardo Russo, Mielke, Olaf Hermann Hendrik & Casagrande, Mirna Martins, 2016, Mesene Doubleday (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae) from Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor, Acre, Brazil, with taxonomic notes and the description of a new species, Zootaxa 4175 (5), pp. 463-472 : 464-465

Mesene gracielae Dolibaina, Dias, Mielke & Casagrande sp. nov.

( Figs 1–2 , 33 )

Diagnosis. Mesene gracielae sp. nov. is distinguished from all species of Mesene , with the exception of M. bigemmis Stichel, 1925 , by its distinctly larger size. The new species can be distinguished from M. bigemmis by the pointed forewing apex, the presence of black scaling along the costal margin, an ellipsoidal black spot at the middle of the forewing upper side ( Fig. 1 ), and the abdomen ventrally creamy white, with a medial thin black line throughout all the abdomen length ( Fig. 2 ).

Description, male. Head: dorsally black, creamy white posteriad the chaetosema; frontoclypeus creamy white; antenna black, with a white ring at the base of all segments of the shaft; club black with orange tip; labial palpus mostly creamy white, third segment black.

Thorax: dorsally mostly orange, anterior third black, ventrally creamy white; patagia creamy white; tegula orange; legs mostly creamy white, black between femur and tibia.

Forewing upper side: length 17mm; costa slightly concave at the middle, convex in the distal third; apex pointed; outer margin convex, concave between CuA2–2A; tornus rounded; anal margin slightly convex; proximal half orange, covering almost all discal cell, CuA2–anal margin, and the basal third of CuA1–CuA2; distal half black, covering nearly all the costal margin, the distal third of the discal cell, the distal 2/3 of CuA1–CuA2, and the distal 1/ 5 of CuA2–anal margin; large ellipsoidal black spot at the middle of discal cell, with an additional proximal small black spot; two postdiscal white spots, the largest semicircular in M1–M3, larger at M2–M3, the smallest narrow and distal, almost submarginal, in M3–CuA1; in CuA2–2A, a narrow submarginal orange marking, distally whitish and proximally fused to the proximal orange half of the wing; fringes mostly black, white in R4–M1, M3–CuA1, CuA2– 2A.

Forewing underside: as upper side, except by the fainter orange markings; larger white spots, with an additional small and rounded white spot in R4–M1; proximal area orange, whitish at the end of discal cell; narrow submarginal whitish orange marking in CuA2–2A; and a creamy white ellipsoidal spot from CuA2–2A to anal margin, in the middle of the anal margin.

Hind wing upper side: costal margin convex; apex rounded; outer margin convex; tornus rounded; anal margin convex; ground color orange; costal area creamy white; submarginal area mostly black from the apex to the end of 3A; fainter orange markings close to the costal and anal margins in the submarginal area, the former larger and triangular, the latter reduced; three narrow submarginal orange markings, which are distally whitish, in Rs–M1, M3– CuA1 and CuA2–2A; fringes mostly black, white in M3–CuA1 and CuA2–2A.

Hind wing underside: as upper side, except by the fainter orange markings; three narrow submarginal whitish orange markings, wider than on upper side.

Abdomen: dorsally orange, last segment black; ventrally creamy white, with a medial thin black line throughout all the abdomen length. Presence of a single patch of CAS on the anterior margin of the tergites 4 to 6.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 33 ): tegumen subtriangular and more sclerotized laterally, with a rounded ventral projection; two distally wider membranous areas between uncus and tegumen; uncus rounded laterally, lateral margin convex, distal margin with a conspicuous distal bifid spine in the middle; gnathos C-shaped, dorsal projection rounded, ventral projection narrowing distally; ventral projection of tegumen narrow and sinuous, fused to the dorsal projection of saccus; dorsal projection of saccus narrow, with a small posterior callus; anterior projection of saccus long and wide; valva as long as the combined length of tegumen and uncus, narrow, medially deeply divided in two smooth, narrow, long and distally rounded projections, dorsal projection longer and narrower than ventral, distally wider and with a ventral indentation, ventral projection slightly wider distally; fultura inferior (=pedicel) narrow, projected posterior and dorsally from the proximal section of the valva, then curved anteriorly and covering most of the anterior half of aedeagus; aedeagus thick, longer than the valva, anteriorly wider, with a concavity at the ventral margin of its posterior half; ejaculatory bulb opening dorsally, near the anterior margin of aedeagus; cornutus as a single sclerotized plate covered by several conical spines.

Female: unknown.

Type material. Holotype male with the following labels: / HOLOTYPUS / 23–30-VIII-2014, Rio Moa , P [ar]Q[ue]. Nac [ional da]. Serra do Divisor (Sede), Mâncio Lima, Acre, Brasil, Mielke, Casagrande, Carneiro, Dias, Dolibaina, Siewert & Salik leg. 7º 26’ 52” S. 73º 39’ 55” [W.] / Gen. Prep. Dolibaina 2014 / DZ 30.924 / Holotypus Mesene gracielae Dolibaina, Dias, Mielke & Casagrande det. 2016 /. Deposited at DZUP .

Etymology. This species is dedicated to Dr. Graciela Ines Bolzon de Muniz, Coordenadora de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico da Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação da Universidade Federal do Paraná (Assistant Dean of Research and Technological Development of the Deans’ Office of Research and Graduate Studies of the Federal University of Paraná), in gratitude of her effort to greatly improve the facilities of the Father Jesus Santiago Moure Entomological Collection – DZUP.

Distribution. Mesene gracielae sp. nov. is currently only known from the type locality.

Behavior. The male holotype of M. gracielae sp. nov. was collected in 2014 on the hilltop in a sunlit patch about five meters above the ground around 16:00h. while defending territory with two males of M. paraena Bates, 1868 . No additional specimens were observed in the subsequent days.

Discussion. Mesene gracielae sp. nov. is the largest species of Mesene , a characteristic that easily distinguishes it from almost all species of the genus, except from M. bigemmis Stichel, 1925 . While M. bigemmis is allocated in the “ phareus ” species group ( Stichel 1910, 1930; Hall & Harvey 2002), the phylogenetic affinities of M. gracielae sp. nov. are uncertain. Hall & Harvey (2002) cited a specimen from eastern Ecuador intermediate between M. bigemmis and M. fissurata Stichel, 1929 to support the recognition of the latter as a junior synonym of the former. Although Hall & Harvey (2002) did not illustrate this specimen, the description of its color pattern match to some extent the color pattern of M. gracielae sp. nov. The morphology of the male genitalia of M. bigemmis was not studied by us, but three species also recognized by Hall & Harvey (2002) as belonging to the “ phareus ” species group collected at the PNSD were dissected: M. paraena ( Figs 15–20 ), M. epaphus ( Figs 21–28 ) and M. leucophrys ( Figs 29–32 ). The morphology of the uncus, saccus, fultura inferior, valva, aedeagus and cornuti is quite similar among these three species ( Figs 38, 39, 40 , respectively), and also with other species allocated in the “ phareus ” species group, such as M. ingrumaensis Callaghan & Salazar, 1999 ( Callaghan & Salazar 1999, fig. 5) and M. phareus (Cramer, 1777) ( Stichel 1910, fig. 55d). Considering this morphological homogeneity of the male genitalia of most of the species belonging to “ phareus ” species group, and that Hall & Harvey (2002) proposed their species groups chiefly based on the morphology of male genitalia and the distribution of CAS, the placement of M. bigemmis by Hall & Harvey (2002) in this group suggests that this species follows the same morphological pattern, which is completely different from the male genitalia of M. gracielae sp. nov. ( Fig. 33 ), although all those species have the same distribution of CAS. In addition, there are important differences in the coloration of the forewing and the presence of a medial thin black line throughout all the length of the abdomen of M. gracielae sp. nov. ( Fig. 2 ), absent in the type specimens of both M. bigemmis and its synonym M. fissurata ( Warren et al. 2016) .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 32. Mesene species from Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor, Acre, Brazil (unless otherwise indicated), in dorsal and ventral views. 1 – 2 M. gracielae sp. nov., male holotype. 3 – 4 M. monostigma monostigma, male from Santa Rosa do Purus, Acre, Brazil. 5 – 8 M. nepticula stigmosa, 5 – 6 male; 7 – 8 female. 9 – 12 M. eupteryx stat. rest., 9 – 10 male from Senador Guiomard, Acre, Brazil; 11 – 12 female. 13 – 14 M. nola, male from Alto Alegre, Roraima, Brazil. 15 – 20 M. paraena, 15 – 16 male from Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Brazil; 17 – 18 male; 19 – 20 female. 21 – 28 M. epaphus (23 – 28 upper side left, underside right), 21 – 22 M. epaphus pyrrha, male; 23 female from Porto Acre, Acre, Brazil; 24 female from Senador Guiomard, Acre, Brazil; 25 M. epaphus epaphus, male from Belém, Pará, Brazil; 26 M. epaphus pyrrha, male from São Paulo de Olivença, Amazonas, Brazil; 27 – 28, M. epaphus pyrrha, males from Senador Guiomard, Acre, Brazil. 29 – 32 M. leucophrys, 29 – 30 male from Santa Rosa do Purus, Acre, Brazil; 31 – 32 female. Scale bar 1 cm.

FIGURES 33 – 40. Male genitalia of Mesene species from Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor, Acre, Brazil (unless otherwise indicated), in lateral view. 33 M. gracielae sp. nov., holotype. 34 M. monostigma monostigma. 35 M. nepticula stigmosa. 36 M. eupteryx stat. rest. from Senador Guiomard, Acre, Brazil (DZ 36.494). 37 M. nola from Alto Alegre, Roraima, Brazil (DZ 36.794). 38 M. paraena. 39 M. epaphus pyrrha. 40 M. leucophrys. Scale bar 1 mm.