Penaincisalia ismaeli Busby & Hall

Hall, Jason P. W., Willmott, Keith R. & Busby, Robert C., 2005, Five new Penaincisalia species (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Eumaeini) from the Andes of southern Ecuador and northern Peru, Zootaxa 797, pp. 1-20 : 16-18

Penaincisalia ismaeli Busby & Hall , new species ( Figs. 1 G; 2E,F; 4A,B; 5)

Description.— Male: Forewing length of HT 13 mm (PTs 12–14 mm). Forewing costal margin approximately straight, and distal margin medially concave, creating a bulbous apex; hindwing anal margin convex, apex rounded, distal margin rounded and slightly scalloped, and tornus elongated to form a narrow, tailless lobe; venation typical for genus. Dorsal surface: Basal half of forewing dark iridescent bluish purple and distal half black, forewing androconial cluster appears to be a scent pad with very densely layered, elongate, smooth­tipped brown scales, scent pad an elongate oval centered across discal cell end ( Figs. 2 E,F); hindwing iridescent blue, except for a narrow black border at distal margin that broadens at apex and extends along costal margin, and a gray anal fold, tornal lobe reddish with a few gray scales in middle; forewing fringe black, hindwing checkered black and dirty white with a few red scales around tornus. Ventral surface: Ground color of both wings brown, becoming paler towards anal margin and darker towards base of forewing, scattered red scaling confined to apex of forewing but widespread across distal third and costal half of hindwing; discal cell ends marked by a narrow “V”­shaped line, brown on forewing and reddish on hindwing; similarly narrow reddish brown postdiscal bands generally have an ill­defined proximal edge and a distal edge crisply defined by a fine line of darker and then gray scaling, slightly jagged forewing band extends diagonally from costa to vein Cu2, very jagged hindwing band extends from costa to vein Cu2 and then turns sharply towards anal margin, dark gray brown area extends from hindwing postdiscal band below vein M3 to wing base and then along basal fifth of wing to costa; reddish brown submarginal spots prominent in apical half of forewing and slightly fainter between apex and tornus of hindwing, marginal band gray with dark brown spots within; forewing fringe brown, hindwing checkered reddish brown and dirty white.

Head: Labial palpi a speckled mixture of brown and gray setae, ventral setae very long; third segment short, pointed slightly downwards; eyes brown and densely setose, surrounded by gray scaling; frons with long, dense, brown and gray setae; antennae 60% length of forewing, segments brown with darker brown scaling around tip and white scaling at base (especially prominent ventrally and near clubs), spatulate clubs black dorsally and rufous brown ventrally.

Body: Thorax dull blue gray dorsally and brown ventrally; tegula dull blue gray; all legs grayish brown; abdomen brown with dull iridescent blue scaling dorsally, and orangebrown ventrally.

Genitalia ( Fig. 4 A,B): Uncus rectangular with a broad and shallow medial indentation dorsally; gnathos smoothly rounded at elbow, constricted in diameter before tip; tegumen enlarged into an elongate, rectangular, posterio­ventral projection four times width of lower portion of vinculum, which extends ventrally to overlap upper third of valvae, large and elongate saccus that is rectangular in ventral view extends at approximately 130° from vinculum; valvae in lateral view short and broadly triangular, with a straight dorsal margin, a smoothly convex ventral margin, and a pointed tip, valvae joined at anterio­dorsal margin by membranous tissue; aedeagus very long and narrow, with its anterior third slightly diagonal and the remainder horizontal except for an upturned tip, which is flared and angular, ductus ejaculatorius exits anterior region of aedeagus from a very elongate dorsal area immediately before rounded anterior aedeagal tip (caecum), two cornuti present in distal portion of aedeagus when vesica uneverted, first a narrow, slightly concave and serrate­tipped rod positioned dorsally in posterior tip of aedeagus, and second a very short, slightly bulbous­tipped and dorsally serrate spine positioned below posterior tip of first cornutus; eighth abdominal tergite a simple rectangle.

Female: Unknown.

Type material.— Holotype ɗ, ECUADOR: Loja, km. 10 Loja­Zamora rd., 3°59.10'S, 79°8.55'W, 2600 m, Nov (I. Aldas & R. C. Busby) ( USNM).

Paratypes: ECUADOR: Loja, 1ɗ, same data as holotype ( RCB); 1ɗ, km. 7 Loja­ Zamora rd., 3°59.25'S, 79°9.2'W, 2500 m, Oct (I. Aldas & R. C. Busby) ( RCB); Cerro Palma, km. 27 Loja­Cuenca rd., 3000 m, Nov (I. Aldas & R. C. Busby), 3ɗ ( RCB), 1ɗ ( MECN).

Etymology. — This species is named for our good friend Ismael Aldas Villafuerte, who collected the first known specimens.

Diagnosis.— Penaincisalia ismaeli appears to be the sister species to P. balzapamba Johnson, 1992 , as both species have an indistinguishable ventral wing pattern and a unique male genital valve shape within the genus ­ short and broadly triangular with only a tiny posterior projection at the tip. Both species also have more­or­less the longest aedeagi in the genus. It should be noted that Johnson’s (1992) adult (male and female) and male genitalia illustrations of Abloxurina amatista are actually referrable to male P. balzapamba . Penaincisalia ismaeli differs from P. balzapamba by being slightly larger (forewing length 12–14 mm instead of 11–13 mm), and by having a slightly larger forewing scent pad, bluish purple instead of purple dorsal forewing iridescence, lustrous blue instead of dull purple dorsal hindwing iridescence, a slightly broader black distal border in the subapex of the dorsal hindwing, and a few gray scales instead of numerous reddish brown scales in the middle of the tornus on the dorsal hindwing. Additionally, P. i s m a e l i consistently has a slightly scalloped distal hindwing margin with a checkered brown and white fringe, whereas this trait is prevalent only in southern Ecuadorian specimens of P. balzapamba , with those from further north possessing a straighter distal hindwing margin that is largely brown. The male genitalia of the two species do not differ significantly.

Biology.— This species inhabits elfin cloud forest from 2500 to 3000 m. Males were encountered in Ecuador perching as solitary individuals or in small groups on hilltops, on bushes 2–4 m above the ground during the afternoon.

Distribution.— Penaincisalia ismaeli currently is known only from extreme southern Ecuador (Loja), but almost certainly ranges into northern Peru (see Fig. 5 ). It is sympatric there with its sister species P. balzapamba , and both species can be found flying on the same hilltops.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Penaincisalia adults (dorsal surface on left, ventral surface on right) at x 1.6 life­size. A, paratype ɗ P. caeruleanota, Cerro Palma, S. Ecuador (JHKW). B, paratype Ψ P. caeruleanota, km. 11 Yangana­Cerro Toledo rd., S. Ecuador (RCB). C, paratype ɗ P. juliae, km. 34 Jimbura­San Andrés rd., S. Ecuador (JHKW). D, paratype Ψ P. juliae, La Playa, Huicungo, P. N. Río Abiseo, N. Peru (MUSM). E, holotype ɗ P. andreae, Río San Francisco, Zamora­Loja rd., S. Ecuador (USNM). F, holotype ɗ P. libertada, Cumpang, between Tayabamba and Ongón, N. Peru (MUSM). G, holotype ɗ P. i s m a e l i, km. 10 Loja­Zamora rd., S. Ecuador (USNM).

FIGURE 2. Male Penaincisalia dorsal forewing scent pads. A, P. caeruleanota. B, P. juliae. C, P. andreae. D, P. libertada. E, F (higher magnification view of E), P. is ma eli.

FIGURE 4. Penaincisalia ismaeli male genitalia in lateral (A) and ventral (B) views; the width of each boxed figure is 3.4 mm.

FIGURE 5. Topographic maps of the northern Andes, illustrating the known geographic ranges of the five new Penaincisalia species.