Athyma inara inara

Kunte, Krushnamegh & Basu, Dipendra Nath, 2024, Two new taxa of brush-footed butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, southern India, Zootaxa 5543 (3), pp. 343-367 : 345

12. Athyma inara inara :

This includes the following synonyms: (a) Athyma inarina ( Evans 1932) , and (b) Pantoporia mera Swinhoe, 1917 (see below for a note on synonymy of this taxon).

♂: BMNH(E) #933444 (Holotype of inara . Silhet, Bangladesh. Fig. 9–10 ), BMNH(E) #933429 (Holotype of inarina . “Assam” as per a specimen label; border of Assam and Manipur, NE India, as per original description. Fig. 9 ), BMNH(E) #933424 (Holotype of mera . “Borneo”, in error, collected almost certainly from either NE India or N Myanmar based on the phenotype. Fig. 9 ), BMNH(E) #933502 (Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. 1894), BMNH(E) #933423 (Sikkim. 1893), BMNH(E) #933496 (Sikkim. 1893), BMNH(E) #933472 (Kurseong, near Darjeeling), BMNH(E) #933481 (Darjeeling. 1894). ♀: BMNH(E) #933428 (Darjeeling. 1894), BMNH(E) #933461 (Darjeeling. 1909), BMNH(E) #933418 (‘ Sikkim, Singlah’, likely from Darjeeling/ Singalila area. 1894), BMNH(E) #933425 (‘ Sikkim, Teesta’. 1927), BMNH(E) #933400 (Silhet, Bangladesh. 1909). All specimens in NHMUK .

Figures

FIGURE 9. Comparison of Athyma inara sahyadriensis ssp. nov. with other similar Athyma (see Materials and Methods for specimen details). A millimetre scale is at the bottom. Photographs: Krushnamegh Kunte.

FIGURE 10. Diagnostic characters of Athyma inara sahyadriensis ssp. nov., marked on digitally enhanced images from which wing-wear has been removed to illustrate the distinctive phenotype of the subspecies. Male of A. i. sahyadriensis ssp. nov. is compared with males of A. i. inara and two subspecies of A. nefte. Numbers point to distinctive characters: 1: FW subapical markings, 2: FW submarginal markings, 3: FW spot in interspace 3, 4: FW markings in the discal cell, 5: HW post-discal band, 6: UNF markings in the discal cell, 7: UN base colour of the wings, 8: UNF submarginal markings, 9: large white spot in interspace 2, 10: UNH post-discal band (further details in the text). Images are not to scale. Photographs: Krushnamegh Kunte.