Auca barrosi ( Silva, 1917 ) (Epinephele)

Matz, Jess & Brower, Andrew V. Z., 2016, The South Temperate Pronophilina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae): a phylogenetic hypothesis, redescriptions and revisionary notes, Zootaxa 4125 (1), pp. 1-108 : 21-22

Auca barrosi ( Silva, 1917) (Epinephele)

( Figs. 4 C; 13D–F; 23)

Lectotype: (male) MNHN, Santiago de Chile (Photo examined) Type locality: Curicó, Maule Province, Chile = Auca delessei Herrera, 1974

Type: no type

Type locality: Nilahue, toward Curicó, Maule Province, Chile

Distribution. Found in Chile from northern Coquimbo province to northern Araucania province from mid October to mid March at nearly sea level to 2500m ( Fig. 23).

Diagnosis. Most similar to Auca coctei , but more subdued in color and pattern, the dorsal side plain brown, and the postmedian band on the ventral side of the hindwing with the median edge smoothly sinuous instead of irregularly scalloped and bearing a small white spot between M3-CuA1 and CuA1-CuA2. Males have heavy androconia in rectangular patches from R5 to the inner margin. Foreleg tarsi are clublike and unsegmented. Male genitalia are slender in appearance as in coctei , but differ in the attenuated distal end and the pronounced rounded protuberance on the dorsal side of the distal one-third of the valvae.

Redescription. Head: Antennae 7–8 mm with white scales and a longitudinal stripe of chocolate scales that cover half of a spatulate club. Eyes oval and naked, length approximately 1.3 times width. Palps taupe and white with the terminal palp segment cylindrical and a little less than one-third the length of the second segment.

Thorax dark amber with iridescent black scales and covered in taupe and white piliform scales. Abdomen cream ventrally and chocolate brown dorsally. Foreleg tarsi with one clublike segment in the males. Females were unavailable for study. Midlegs and hindlegs with four rows of dark amber to black spines on the tibia and tarsus.

Forewing ( Fig. 4 C): Wingspan 20–26mm. Termen straight to slightly concave and the distal end of the discal cell widely V-shaped. Males with heavy androconia in rectangular patches in each cell between R5 and the inner margin. Dorsal side chocolate brown with the fringe scales in the same color. Ventral side taupe with a rust orange patch extending from discal cell to the median side of the postmedian band, which is edged on either side with a thin line of chocolate brown. Apical ocellus between M1-M3 is round, black, ringed in daffodil yellow, and bipupillate.

Hindwing ( Fig. 4 C): Wing trapezoidal, termen convex and barely scalloped, with an anal lobe. Dorsal side similar in color to the forewing with long piliform scales appearing at the base and over the discal cell, extending to the median and toward the inner margin. Ventral side taupe with chocolate brown striations in a ripple pattern over the entire wing. Postmedian band is slightly lighter than the rest of the wing with the median edge chocolate and sinuous and the subterminal edge, when visible, is chocolate and irregularly scalloped. A small white spot may appear in the postmedian band between M3-CuA1 and CuA1-CuA2.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 13 D–F): Uncus widest at the base, narrowing gradually to a blunt end, and measuring about the same length or a little longer than the tegumen. Gnathos acute and a little less than half the length of the uncus. Pedunculus U-shaped. Saccus widely U-shaped and more than two-thirds the length of the gnathos. Valvae widest at the proximal one-third, narrowing gradually toward an attenuated distal end that bears a rounded protuberance on the dorsal side of the distal one-third. Aedeagus nearly even in width throughout, narrower proximally, and terminating in a narrow U-shaped proximal end.

Remarks. Auca delessei was synonymized with A. barrosi by Lamas & Viloria (2004). The most notable character supporting this synonymy is a superior projection toward the distal end of the valvae, described by Herrera, that agrees with the morphology of A. barrosi and differentiates it from paler representatives of A. coctei .

Etymology. Named for Rafael Barros V., Chilean entomologist, who brought the first specimens of this taxon to the Museo Nacional. The synonymized A. delessei was named for Dr. Hubert de Lesse, French geneticist whose karyotypes suggested to Herrera (1974) the existence of a sibling species to A. coctei .

Specimens examined. Chile, Santiago Metropolitan Province, (OSU) 0 0 0 0 95050, (MTSU) CH 29A-4, CH 29C-2, CH 43-3; Chile, Maule province, (MTSU) CH 26-2, CH 26-4, CH 26-5.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Composite habitus images of Auca and Cosmosatyrus species. The left side of each specimen is the dorsal surface, the right side is the ventral surface. A, B: Auca coctei (Guérin-Méneville, [1838]) male (OSU # 93358) (A), female (OSU # 95049) (B); C: Auca barrosi (Silva, 1917) male (OSU # 95050); D-F: Cosmosatyrus leptoneuroides C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867 male (D), female (E), and aberrant male (F) (MZUJ); G, H: Cosmosatyrus dubii (Pyrcz, 2012) n. comb. male (BMNH # 808379) (G), female (BMNH # 808378) (H); I: Cosmosatyrus stelligera (Butler, 1881) n. comb. male (BMNH # 809772).

FIGURE 13. Male genitalia of Auca and Cosmosatyrus species. See Fig. 2 for labels of parts. All to the same scale. A – C: Auca coctei (Guérin-Méneville, [1838]) (OSU # 95107); D – F: Auca barrosi (Silva, 1917) (CH 29 C- 2); G – I: Cosmosatyrus leptoneuroides C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867 (CH 15 - 7); J – L: Cosmosatyrus dubii (Pyrcz, 2012) n. comb. (BMNH # 808379) (note that the uncus is broken); M – O: Cosmosatyrus stelligera (Butler, 1881) n. comb. (MZUJ); showing ornamentation on the aedeagus.