Zischkaia josti Nakahara & Kleckner, 2019

Nakahara, Shinichi, Zacca, Thamara, Dias, Fernando M. S., Dolibaina, Diego R., Xiao, Lei, Espeland, Marianne, Casagrande, Mirna M., Mielke, Olaf H. H., Lamas, Gerardo, Huertas, Blanca, Kleckner, Kaylin & Willmott, Keith R., 2019, Revision of the poorly known Neotropical butterfly genus Zischkaia Forster, 1964 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), with descriptions of nine new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 551, pp. 1-67 : 49-51

Zischkaia josti Nakahara & Kleckner , sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:572C5B5F-D4A5-45BB-A8DE-3B3C3DED5575

Figs 1 , 3 E–H, 7 C–D, 14 , 16 A–B

Diagnosis

Zischkaia josti sp. nov. is closest (see discussion below) and similar to Z. mielkeorum sp. nov., but female specimens of these two taxa are distinguishable by the rather elongated, ‘egg’-shaped VHW ocelli of Z. josti sp. nov., whereas the VHW ocelli are smaller and more rounded rather than elongated in Z. mielkeorum sp. nov. These two species can also be separated by the presence of small sclerotized region at approximately one-third distance from ostium bursae to corpus bursae, whereas this sclerotization is apparently absent in Z. mielkeorum sp. nov. The range of these two taxa can also be informative regarding identification, namely Z. josti sp. nov. known from Guianas, whereas Z. mielkeorum sp. nov. occuring in Southeastern Brazil. See also relevant sections for Z. saundersii and Z. warreni sp. nov.

Etymology

This specific epithet is dedicated to Bernhard Jost, a lepidopterist from Switzerland who collected the holotype and kindly allowed us to examine this specimen. The specific epithet is regarded as a Latinized masculine noun in the genitive case.

Type material examined

Holotype

VENEZUELA • ♀; “ // Venezuela Bolivar Chivaton, Strasse nach [route to] Kavanayen 1360m N05°37’55” / W061°41’40” 08.Oktober 2007 B. Jost // DNA–voucher 68763 //”; BEJO, to be deposited in NMBE.

Paratype

GUYANA • 1 ♀; “//GUYANA: Acarai Mts. /ridge Sipu R. 2500-3000” 31.X.-10.XI.2000 1°22.2” N 58 57.9”W Leg. S. Fratello et al// USNM ENT 00233844 // DNA voucher LEP-18704 // Genitalia dissection 2018-002 D.J.Harvey //”; USNM.

Description

Male

Unknown or unrecognized

Female

FOREWING LENGTH. 25–26 mm (n = 2).

HEAD. Eyes naked, with greyish scales at base; frons dark brown, with creamy-white scales and lightly colored long hair-like scales; labial palpi first segment with whitish long hair-like scales and whitish scales, second segment length almost twice as great as eye depth and covered with brownish scales laterally, with partially whitish scales, dorsally with brownish long hair-like scales, ventrally with blackish long hair-like scales and whitish long hair-like scales, about 3–4 times as long as segment width; third segment slightly shorter than half of second segment in length and covered with blackish scales, antennae cannot be examined.

THORAX. Dorsally light brown with lightly colored scales and long hair-like scales; ventrally brownish, with greyish scales lightly colored long hair-like scales.

LEGS. Foretarsus divided into five distinct subsegments; midleg and hindleg tibia and tarsus grayish dorsally, whitish ventrally, tarsus and tibia spined ventrally, and pair of tibial spurs present at distal end of tibia.

ABDOMEN. Eighth tergite uniformly sclerotized.

WING VENATION. Basal half of forewing Subcosta swollen; base of Cubitus swollen; forewing recurrent vein absent; origin of M 2 towards M 1 than M 3; hindwing humeral developed.

WING SHAPE. Forewing subtriangular and elongated, apex angular, costal margin convex, outer margin slightly concave, inner margin straight, but rounded towards thorax near base. Hindwing slightly elongate, rounded, costal margin almost straight, angled towards thorax near base, outer margin undulating, inner margin slightly concave near tornus, anal lobe convex, slightly round.

DORSAL FOREWING. Ground color light brownish, apex and distal area slightly darker.

DORSAL HINDWING. Ground color similar to forewing, trace of posterior half of submarginal line visible.

VENTRAL FOREWING. Ground color greyish brown; dark brown narrow median line, almost straight, extends from near costa to origin of Cu 2, terminates after crossing origin of Cu 2; concolorous submedian line, wider than median line, somewhat sinuous, extending from near costa to 2A, traversing in outward direction below M 3; concolorous submarginal line, similar to submedian line in width, slightly undulating, traversing from apex towards tornus, terminating around 2A, somewhat undulating; concolorous marginal line, narrower than submarginal line, extending from apex towards tornus; fringe grayish.

VENTRAL HINDWING. Ground color similar to forewing; median line, concolorous with VFW median line, almost straight, extending from costal margin to inner margin, apparently bent inwards near inner margin; concolorous submedian line almost parallel to median line, appear slightly wider, passing origin of M 3, posterior end bent inwards in 2A-3A; undulating submarginal line extending from apex towards tornus, anterior end apparently fused with submedian line near costa, posterior end not fused to submedian line, terminates in 2A-3A; concolorous marginal line, slightly undulating along outer margin, appear wider than submarginal line; submarginal ocelli from M 1 to 2A, oval, pupil appear as scattered silverish scales placed distally, black central spot ringed with orangish ring then with thin dark brownish indistinct ring; fringe grayish.

FEMALE GENITALIA ( Fig. 7 C–D). Inter-segmental membrane between seventh and eighth tergite not pleated, but expanded with posterior edge forming a smooth, curving sclerotized band anterior to ostium bursae that seamlessly borders the broad, sclerotized plate of lamella antevaginalis, which narrows ventally to encircle ostium bursae and is indented throughout with the edges forming raised lip; lamella antevaginalis fused to lateral sclerotized plate of eighth abdominal segment; ductus bursae membranous, small sclerotized region present at one-third distance from ostium bursae to corpus bursae; origin of ductus seminalis located between sclerotized plate and ostium bursae; corpus bursae roughly oval in dorsal view, with two signa located in middle, parallel to each other.

Variation

The paratype possesses an ocellus in the VHW cell Rs-M 1, whereas the ocellus is absent in this cell in the holotype female.

Distribution ( Fig. 14 )

This species is known from the type locality in Bolívar state, Venezuela and a single site in the Acarai Mountains, in southern Guyana.

Remarks

Despite our initial hypothesis of the holotype and paratype being two different species, the small genetic distance (0.3%) based on DNA ‘barcodes’ between the holotype (MUSM-LEP-68763) and paratype (MUSM-LEP-18704) do not support this hypothesis. The distance between these two Guianan specimens and three barcoded individuals of Z. mielkeorum sp. nov. (BC-DZ-225, 248, 249) fall within 0.9–1.6 %, which is in accordance with rather low inter-specific genetic distance of two other taxa of Zischkaia regarded as species ( Z. chullachaki sp. nov. and Z. arenisca sp. nov.; see Table 4 ) compared to many other euptychiine butterflies (pers. obs.). The wing pattern differences between the two Guianan females documented above, combined with their geographical isolation, might merit subspecific status. However, due to the fact that only a single specimen is known from each site, we feel it is premature to draw any conclusion as to the importance of this geographic variation. We thus regard the observed phenotypic difference between these two Guianan females to represent intra-specific variation and treat these specimens as a single taxon. See also corresponding section of Z. mielkeorum sp. nov. for relevant discussion for these two species.

Figures

Fig. 1. Likelihood tree with the best log-likelihood score (-LnL = -2536.1613) given our data based on DNA ‘barcodes’, depicting Zischkaia as a well-supported clade. Support values are represented by SHaLRT/UF Bootstrap. Abbreviations: HT = Holotype; NT = Neotype.

Fig. 3. Zischkaia “saundersii clade”, wing plate. A–B. Z. saundersii (Butler, 1867), ♂ (DZ 37. 029), dorsal and ventral views. C–D. Z. saundersii, ♀ (DZ 36. 969), dorsal and ventral views. E–F. Z. josti Nakahara & Kleckner, sp. nov., holotype, ♀, dorsal and ventral views. G–H. Z. josti sp. nov., paratype, ♀ (USNM ENT 00233844), dorsal and ventral views. I–J. Z. mielkeorum Dolibaina, Dias & Zacca, sp. nov., holotype, ♂, dorsal and ventral views. K–L. Z. mielkeorum sp. nov., paratype, ♀ (DZ 36. 618), dorsal and ventral views. M–N. Z. warreni Dias, Zacca & Dolibaina, sp. nov., holotype, ♂, dorsal and ventral views. O–P. Z. warreni sp. nov., paratype, ♀ (DZ 36. 508), dorsal and ventral views. Scale bar: 1 cm.

Fig. 7. Zischkaia “saundersii clade”, female genitalia. A–B. Z. saundersii (Butler, 1867), ♀, lateral and ventral views (Genitalic vial: DZ 36. 969). C–D. Z. josti Nakahara & Kleckner, sp. nov., ♀, lateral and ventral views (Genitalic vial: 2018-002, D.J. Harvey). E–F. Z. mielkeorum Dolibaina, Dias & Zacca, sp. nov., ♀, lateral and ventral views (Genitalic vial: DZ 36. 688). G–H. Z. warreni Dias, Zacca & Dolibaina, sp. nov., ♀, lateral and ventral views (Genitalic vial: DZ 36. 731).

Fig. 14. Distribution maps for taxa of Zischkaia Forster, 1964.

Fig. 16. Habitats of species of Zischkaia Forster, 1964. A. Habitat at the type locality of Z. josti Nakahara & Kleckner, sp. nov., Kavanayen, Venezuela (photo by Bernhard Jost). B. Adult in situ at Serra da Esperança, Guarapuava, Paraná, Brazil (photo by Andrew Warren). C. Habitat of Z. warreni Dias, Zacca & Dolibaina, sp. nov., Serra da Esperança, Guarapuava, Paraná, Brazil (photo by Andrew Warren).