Zegara, OITICICA, 1955

Moraes, Simeão De Souza & Duarte, Marcelo, 2014, Phylogeny of Neotropical Castniinae (Lepidoptera: Cossoidea: Castniidae): testing the hypothesis of the mimics as a monophyletic group and implications for the arrangement of the genera, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 170 (2), pp. 362-399 : 393

ZEGARA OITICICA, 1955 SYN. NOV.

Type species

Papilio cochrus Fabricius, 1787

Included species

Prometheus cochrus ( Fabricius, 1787) , Prometheus heliconioides (Herrich-Schäffer, [1853]) , ( Gazera ) comb. nov., Prometheus personata (Walker, [1865]) (Zegara) comb. nov., Prometheus zagraea (R. Felder, 1874) (Zegara) comb. nov., Prometheus mimica (R. Felder, 1874) (Tosxampila) comb. nov., Prometheus simulans (Boisduval, [1875]) (Duboisvalia) comb. nov., Prometheus coconia ( Westwood, 1877) (Duboisvalia) comb. nov., Prometheus ecuadoria ( Westwood, 1877) (Duboisvalia) comb. nov., Prometheus annae (Bierdemann, 1935) (Tosxampila) comb. nov., and Prometheus polymorpha ( Miller, 2008) (Zegara) comb. nov.

Comments

This genus arrangement is supported by the eighth tergite, in females, divided on the posterior margin. Moreover, the absence of a discal band on the forewing, the posterior portion of the gnathos lacking an anterior extension, and the sensilla on the female eighth tergite are also diagnostic characters for this group.

This genus includes some of the most remarkable mimetic species of Heliconiinae (Nymphalidae) , except for P. cochrus ( Fig. 13), which resembles some species of the genus Mimoides (Papilionidae) . Although it is tempting to hypothesize that these patterns originated from a common ancestor, which is corroborated by other morphological characters, this supposition is not easy to defend because the patterns are so different ( Figs 9–12), and probably evolved several times in this lineage. Such diverse patterns led to the establishment of several subspecies for some species included in this genus. These were erected based only on the type locality and slight differences in the wing pattern, without any further investigations or compilation of geographical data in order to establish the true range of distribution for the different populations, which apparently have a very restricted niche.

The species of this group included in our analysis, except P. cochrus ( Fig. 124 ), have the inner surface of the bulla seminalis densely covered by micropapillae ( Fig. 126 ), which seems to be a diagnostic character. The morphology of the micropapillae shows significant differences. In P. cochrus these are smaller and flattened ( Fig. 124 ), and in the other species analysed they are larger and cylindrical (127).

Figures

Figures 123–127. Detail of the inner surface of bulla seminalis: 123, Castnia invaria Walker, 1854, without micropapillae; 124, Prometheus cochrus (Fabricius, 1787), small and flattened micropapillae present in low density; 125, Yagra fonscolombe (Godart, [1824]), micropapillae present in moderate density; 126, Prometheus heliconioides (Herrich-Schäffer, [1853]) comb. nov., cylindrical micropapillae present in high density; 127, Prometheus heliconioides (Herrich-Schäffer, [1853]) comb. nov., detail of the micropapillae.