Thereus orasus (Godman & Salvin, 1887)

Robbins, Robert K., Heredia, Maria Dolores & Busby, Robert C., 2015, Male secondary sexual structures and the systematics of the Thereusoppia species group (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Eumaeini), ZooKeys 520, pp. 109-130 : 114

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Lycaenidae

Thereus orasus (Godman & Salvin, 1887) Figs 1, 5, 9, 15, 19

Diagnosis.

Thereus orasus differs from other members of the Thereus oppia group by having a gray ventral ground color, not brown (Figs 1-4). The male is also unique in having no dorsal forewing brown border (except for some marginal black scales) and the gray part of the dorsal hindwing scent patch is restricted to the basal part of cell rs-M1 (Fig. 9).

Nomenclature.

Robbins (2004) synonymized Thecla echinita Schaus (Fig. 1, female type in USNM) with Thecla orasus (male holotype in BMNH) because they share a similar ventral wing pattern and occur in the same habitats and have the same distribution. We have examined both types.

Distribution and habitat.

Thereus orasus is an uncommon species that is recorded from montane habitats from central Mexico (Colima and Veracruz) to those of western Panama ( Chiriquí) at elevations from 1100 to 1800 m.

Caterpillar food plant.

Greg Ballmer collected a larva on 30 Aug 1988 at El Jabalí, 13 mi NE Comala, Colima, Mexico, at 1100-1200 m. The caterpillar was eating Struthanthus condensatus Kuijt ( Loranthaceae ). An eclosed adult female and its pupal case are deposited in UCRC. The mistletoe plant was growing on coffee and was identified by Kuijt.