Telemiades belli Siewert, Mielke & Casagrande, 2020

Siewert, Ricardo Russo, Mielke, Olaf Hermann Hendrik & Casagrande, Mirna Martins, 2020, Taxonomic revision of the Neotropical genus Telemiades Hübner, [1819] (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Eudaminae), with descriptions of fourteen new species, Zootaxa 4721 (1), pp. 1-111 : 13-14

Telemiades belli Siewert, Mielke & Casagrande , sp. nov.

( Figs 6–9 , 143 , 181 , 206 )

Telemiades amphion (? Variant); Bell, 1949. Amer. Mus. Novit. 1385: 2–3, fig. 6 (male gen.)

Diagnosis. Telemiades belli Siewert, Mielke & Casagrande , sp. nov. closely resembles T. amphion and T. fides , but it can be distinguished all species of the “ amphion group” by the valva with hook–like distal process.

Description. Head: frons and vertex brown, with a few cream scales. Eyes surrounded by white scales. Labial palpi dark brown with sparse cream scales, third segment dark brown. Antennae dark brown, base of each segment cream, apical third ventrally cream; nudum of 19–20 segments.

Thorax: dorsally dark brown; ventrally dark brown and cream.

FW: length of males 15–17 mm (n=3) and females 17–19 mm (n=4). DFW ( Figs 6, 8 ): ground color dark brown; two costal hyaline spots squared and compacts; two cellular hyaline spots, the upper smaller in males and both of same size in females; two discal hyaline spots, triangular in M 3 –CuA 1 and squared with proximal margin excavated in CuA 1 –CuA 2; dark brown patch in CuA 2 –2A, more visible in females; three apical hyaline spots in R 3 –R 4, R 4 –R 5 and R 5 –M 1, the last smaller.

DHW ( Figs 6, 8 ): ground color dark brown; four dark brown rounded discal spots; submarginal dark brown spots as an irregular band.

VFW ( Figs 7, 9 ): as DFW; paler below CuA 2.

VHW ( Figs 7, 9 ): as DHW; discal and submarginal spots more visible.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 143 ): tegumen rounded, distal margin with two pairs of lateral apophysis with half size of uncus. Anterior projection of saccus rounded. Uncus shorter, about 1/3 the length of tegumen, distal margin with a pair of lateral, squared and short apophysis. Valva rectangular, two times as long as wide, costa rectangular, about 2/3 of valva size; distal process of valva rounded and serrated; sacculus rectangular, about 1/3 the length of valva. Fultura inferior distally bifid. Aedeagus cylindrical, sinuous on proximal half, insertion of manica in the middle of aedeagus, opening for ejaculatory bulb rounded; distal margin truncated; opening for vesica right and lateral, about 2/3 the length of aedeagus; cornuti as numerous spines, disposed in lines.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 181 ): tergum VIII rounded; papilla analis covered by scales on apical third; posterior apophysis two times the length of papilla. Lamella antevaginales rectangular, distal margin slightly concave. Lamella postvaginalis rectangular, 2/3 shorter than lamella antevaginalis, distal margin concave. Ductus bursae membranous, sclerotized proximally of ostium; corpus bursae membranous and globular, with same size of ductus, 2/3 of proximal region rough; signa absent.

Distribution. Telemiades belli sp. nov. is found in Central America and to the west of the Colombian Andes.

Etymology. This species is named to honor Ernest Layton Bell (1876–1964) for his extensive contribution to the study of the Neotropical skippers.

Taxonomic discussion. Bell (1949) illustrated the genitalia of a male specimen from “ British Honduras ” [ Belize] and treated it as a variation of T. amphion . Despite the differences in the morphology of the male genitalia of Telemiades belli sp. nov. and T. amphion, Bell (1941) opted for not describing a new species until he had sufficient material of it. After dissecting a series of specimens for this study, constant differences in the morphology of the male and female genitalia were found between T. amphion and T. belli sp. nov., sufficient to justify the description of a new species.

Type material. Holotype male deposited at DZUP–OM with the following labels : / HOLOTYPUS / COSTA

RICA: Lim Hitoy Cerere 100m 30.viii.2000 V.O. Becker Col/ OM 56.006/ Holotypus Telemiades belli Siewert, Mielke & Casagrande det. 2019/. Allotype female deposited at DZUP with the following labels: / ALLOTYPUS / 5–XII–1979 Gamboa, C.[anal] Z.[one] Panamá Robbins leg/ DZ 26.024/ Allotypus Telemiades belli Siewert, Mielke & Casagrande det. 2019/.

Paratypes. GUATEMALA: Zapote , 1 male, G. C. Champion leg., NHMUK 010242497 ( NHMUK) .

HONDURAS: no specific locality, 1 female, NHMUK 010242499 ( NHMUK); 1 male, Saunders leg., NHMUK 010242498 ( NHMUK) .

NICARÁGUA:no specific locality, 2 males, T. Belt leg., NHMUK010242500 , NHMUK 010242501 ( NHMUK); Chontales, no specific locality, 1 male, T. Belt leg., NHMUK 010242502 ( NHMUK) .

COSTA RICA: Cartago— Turrialba, 1–10–III–1971, 1 female, V. O. Becker leg., DZ 26.009 ( DZUP). San José— Esperanza , 1 male, NHMUK 010242504 * ( NHMUK); Limón, Reserva Biológica Hiltoy Cerere , 100 m, 30–VIII–2000, 1 female, V. O. Becker leg., OM 55.874 ( DZUP); Rio Estrella , 1916, 1 male, NHMUK 010242157 ( NHMUK); Heredia— Sarapiqui, La Selva, 50 m, 28–III–1972, 1 male, V. O. Becker leg., DZ 26.025 ( DZUP); 6–VI–1992, 1 male, Callaghan leg., OM 77.057 ( DZUP–OM) ;

PANAMA: Panamá— Panamá, Summit , 27–VI–1977, 1 male, DZ 26.027 ( DZUP) ; Chiriqui, 1 male ( ZMHU) ; 1 male, Ribbe leg. ( ZMHU) .

COLOMBIA: no specific locality, 1 male, NHMUK 010242503 * ( NHMUK); Caldas— Victoria, 6–I–1971, 1 female, Schumann leg., DZ 26.026 ( DZUP); Choco— no specific locality, 1 female ( ZMHU) .

Figures

FIGURE 206. Geographical distribution of Telemiades from the “amphion group”.

FIGURES 2–23. Species of Telemiades from the ‘amphion group’, dorsal (left) and ventral (right) views. 2–5. Telemiades amphion (Geyer, 1832). 2–3. Neotype male from Imperatriz, Maranhão, Brazil (DZ 25.955—DZUP). 4–5. Female from Benevides, Pará, Brazil (OM 32.475—OM). 6–9. Telemiades belli Siewert, Mielke & Casagrande, sp. nov. 6–7. Holotype male from Reserva Biológica Hiltoy–Cerere, Cahuita, Costa Rica (OM 56.006—DZUP). 8–9. Allotype female from Gamboa, Panama (DZ 26.024—DZUP). 10–13. Telemiades fides Bell, 1949. 10–11. Male from Candelaria Loxicha, Oaxaca, Mexico (DZ 26.019— DZUP). 12–13. Female from Candelaria Loxicha, Oaxaca, Mexico (DZ 26.037—DZUP). 14–17. Telemiades marpesus (Hewitson, 1876), stat. rest. 14–15. Male from Reserva Yacutinga, Almirante Brown, General Belgrano, Misiones, Argentina (DZ 26.092—DZUP). 16–17. Female from Rio Natal, São Bento do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil (OM 49.589—OM). 18–19. Telemiades misitheus Mabille, 1888, stat. rest. Male from Chulumani, Bolivia (DZ 26.042—DZUP). 20–23. Telemiades pekahia (Hewitson, 1868), stat. rest. 20–21. Male from San Esteban, Venezuela (NHMUK 010242392—NHMUK). 22–23. Holotype female from Venezuela (BMNH(E) 1236491—NHMUK).

FIGURES 142–147. Male genitalia of Telemiades from the “amphion group”. A. Lateral view of uncus, tegumen, saccus and gnatho. B. Left valva, externa view. C. Right valva, internal view. D. Dorsal view of uncus and tegumen. E. Ventral view of uncus, tegumen and gnatho. F. Ventral view of saccus. G. Posterior view of fultura inferior. H. Dorsal view of aedeagus. I. Right view of aedeagus. J. Ventral view of aedeagus. K. Left view of aedeagus. 142. Telemiades amphion (Geyer, 1832) (DZ 25.957—DZUP). 143. Telemiades belli Siewert, Mielke & Casagrande, sp. nov. (DZ 26.025—DZUP). 144. Telemiades fides Bell, 1949 (DZ 26.021—DZUP). 145. Telemiades marpesus (Hewitson, 1876), stat. rest. (DZ 26.069—DZUP). 146. Telemiades misitheus Mabille, 1888, stat. rest. (DZ 26.041—DZUP). 147. Telemiades pekahia (Hewitson, 1868), stat. rest. (NHMUK 010242392—NHMUK).

FIGURES 180–184. Female genitalia of Telemiades from the “amphion group”. A. Lateral view of sterigma. B. Ventral view. 180. Telemiades amphion (Geyer, 1832) (DZ 25.960—DZUP). 181. Telemiades belli Siewert, Mielke & Casagrande, sp. nov. (OM 55.874—OM). 182. Telemiades fides Bell, 1949 (DZ 26.017—DZUP). 183. Telemiades marpesus (Hewitson, 1876), stat. rest. (OM 52.168—OM). 184. Telemiades pekahia (Hewitson, 1868), stat. rest. (NHMUK 010242391—NHMUK).