Pedaliodes haydoni Pyrcz & Viloria

Pyrcz, Tomasz W., Prieto, Carlos, Viloria, Angel L. & Andrade, Gonzalo, 2013, New species of high elevation cloud forest butterflies of the genus Pedaliodes Butler from the northern Colombian Andes (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), Zootaxa 3716 (4), pp. 528-538 : 529-530

Pedaliodes haydoni Pyrcz & Viloria , n. sp.

( Figs. 1 , 9 )

Material examined. HOLOTYPE (male): Colombia, Departamento Boyacá, Arcabuco, 5o44’58’’N, 73o25’47’’W, 2800 m, 02.II.2008, H. Warren-Gash leg., HWG, to be deposited in MHN-UN; PARATYPES (5 males): 3 males: same data as the holotype, 2 HWG, 1 MZUJ; 1 male: Boyacá, Villa de Leyva, SFF Iguaque, 5o38’37’’N, 73o29’20’’W, 2900 m, 27.VIII.2006, i421, C. Prieto leg., CPC; 1 male: Colombia, Depto. de Boyacá, west below Arcabuco, 5o46’05’’N, 73o28’27’’W, 2500–2550 m, 25.07.1977, “ Holotype ” of Pedaliodes cocuyana nomen nudum, designated by A. L. Viloria, 1991, BMNH.

Diagnosis. HWV pattern similar to several species of the Pedaliodes phaea (Hewitson) group, characterized by a wide postdiscal—submarginal lighter area, but with this area darker in P. haydoni because of a heavy russet and brown suffusion which overcasts most of the underlying sandy yellow, and with the inner edge distinctively irregular. In other species of the P. phaea group, in which this character is stable and species-specific, this band is nearly straight from vein M1 to anal margin, including in P. adrianae n. sp. and P. baccara , two other species of the P. phaea group with wings dorsally are all dark brown. The latter species is consistently smaller and occurs at lower elevations in the Central Cordillera. There are consistent genitalic differences between P. haydoni and P. adrianae . In P. haydoni the valvae are slender with the dorsal process blunt, situated closer to the tip, and the aedeagus with a prominent mid-dorsal hump and a thinner proximal opening.

Description. Male ( Fig. 1 ). Head: Antennae slender, reaching nearly half length of costa, naked, dorsally chestnut, then brown, ventrally orange brown, club formed gradually, slightly thicker than shaft, composed of 11 flagellomeres, dark brown. Eyes chestnut, lustrous, covered with dense, black hair. Labial palpi two times as long as head, covered with dark brown, black and golden yellow hairy scales, ventrally long, laterally and dorsally short. Frons with a tuft of long, black and golden yellow hair. Thorax: Dorsally black, patagium, tegulae and prothorax covered with long, brown and golden yellow hairy scales, otherwise mostly naked; ventrally black; legs brown, tibiae covered with black and golden yellow hair, femora and tarsi with chestnut scales, tarsi with numerous blackish, short spines. FW (length 26 mm) with a subacute apex and slightly concave outer margin, regular, impression of slight undulation is given by the intermittent dark brown and milky white fringes; FWD uniform glossy dark brown; scent patch of moderate size, roughly 3–4 mm wide, extending in median area from base of M1 to anal margin, marginally entering discal-cell. HW rounded, with undulating outer margin; fringes intermittently dark brown and milky white from apex to M3, HWD uniform dark brown from M3 to tornus; uniform dark brown, less glossy than the FW, slightly hairy in basal part and along anal margin. FWV dull medium brown, a shade lighter between postdiscal and submarginal line; outer margin auburn; a series of four minute white dots in subapical area from R4–R5 to M2–M3. HWV auburn; a lighter milky white area gradually turning orange yellow towards anal margin, heavily overcast with a russet ripple-like pattern, extending from postdiscal to submarginal area, with an irregular inner edge, distinctively curved basally along M2, and a zigzagging outer edge, roughly parallel to outer margin; a row of five minute, oval submarginal dots, two of which lilac, in Rs–M1, M1–M2 and M2–M3 slightly more prominent. Abdomen: Black, basal segments hairy, dorsally mostly naked and covered with brown scales, denser laterally, ventrally covered with chestnut scales. Male genitalia ( Fig. 9 ) with dorsum of tegumen flat, uncus slender, gently arched, approximately ¾ the length of tegumen dorsum, subunci long and slender, approximately 2/3 the length of uncus, pedunculus small, valvae roughly the length of tegumen+uncus, with a short, blunt dorsal process aligned with the blunt distal extremity; saccus wide and shallow, aedeagus as long as saccus+valve, massive, flattened dorso ventrally with a prominent hump in the middle and a sharp apical extremity, proximal opening 1/3 the length of the entire aedeagus, much narrower than the remaining part of it.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to Haydon Warren-Gash, British diplomat, High Commissioner to Colombia, Ivory Coast and Morocco, and a lepidopterist specializing in the taxonomy of Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae , with vast experience in African and Andean faunas, in recognition to his contributions to the knowledge of Colombian butterflies.

Comments. Morphological characters involving wing shape, underside color pattern and genitalia indicate that P. haydoni belongs to the large, possibly monophyletic P. phaea group of species (Pyrcz 2007). This group is found in high elevation cloud forests throughout the northern Andes but is particularly diverse in the Colombian Eastern Cordillera, where in addition to the polytypic P. phaea , P. phaeina Staudinger, P. fuscata (C. Felder & R. Felder), P. reyi Viloria & Pyrcz, P. valencia Pyrcz & Viloria and P. bernardi Adams also occur. In most localities, two or three related species distributed approximately parapatrically across an altitudinal gradient are found, usually with considerable overlap in elevational range. In the Sierra de El Tamá, the lowest flying representative of the group is P. fuscata parapatra Viloria & Pyrcz (2400–2800 m), the intermediate one is P. reyi (2800–3000 m), and the uppermost one P. valencia (~ 3200 m). In the Arcabuco area in Boyacá, the most common species is P. phaea phaea , usually occurring at 2600–2800 m. Most of the specimens of P. haydoni were collected between 2800–2900 m, which indicates it replaces P. phaea at higher elevations.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 8. Pedaliodes adults. 1, P. haydoni male (holotype); 2, P. porcia male; 3, P. adrianae male (holotype); 4, P. adrianae female (paratype); 5, P. rodriguezi male (holotype); 6, P. ro dr i gu e z i female (paratype); 7, P. philinae male (holotype); 8, P. philinae female (paratype).

FIGURES 9 – 12. Male genitalia. Pedaliodes haydoni (paratype): 9 A, genitalia in lateral view; 9 B, aedeagus in lateral view; 9 C, aedeagus in dorsal view; Pedaliodes adrianae (paratype): 10 A, genitalia in lateral view; 10 B, aedeagus in lateral view; 10 C, aedeagus in dorsal view; Pedaliodes philinae (paratype): 11 A, genitalia in lateral view; 11 B, aedeagus in lateral view; 11 C, aedeagus in dorsal view; Pedaliodes rodriguezi (paratype): 12 A, genitalia in lateral view; 12 B, aedeagus in lateral view; 12 C, aedeagus in dorsal view.