Oenomaus lea Faynel & Robbins

Faynel, Christophe, Busby, Robert C. & Robbins, Robert K., 2012, Review of the species level taxonomy of the neotropical butterfly genus Oenomaus (Lycaenidae, Theclinae, Eumaeini), ZooKeys 222, pp. 11-45 : 16-17

Oenomaus lea Faynel & Robbins sp. n. Figs 4, 21, 39, 47

Type-locality.

Ecuador: Napo, Misahuallí Rd, Latas Grande, 7.7 km E Puerto Napo, 1°02.0'S, 77°44.1'W, 470 m. The holotype was collected along the road from Tena to Misahuallí, which in 1991 was a patchwork of “fincas” and remnant second growth forest.

Type-specimen.

Holotype ♂ (Fig. 4) labeled as "ECUADOR Napo / Misahualli Rd. 470m / Latas Grande / 9 Nov.' 91 / S. S. Nicolay" [rectangular, white, printed and handwritten], "USNM ENT 00180040" [rectangular, white, printed], "GENITALIA NO. / 2011: 408♂ / C. FAYNEL" [rectangular, green, printed] "Holotype ♂ / Oenomaus lea / Faynel & Robbins, 2012" [rectangular, red, printed]. Deposited in USNM.

Paratypes: Ecuador.1 ♂: La Merced on Río Pastaza below Baños, Alt. 4000 ft. [= 1220 m], W. J. Coxey, III.1930, A.N.S. Lot 217, genitalia NO. 1992: 12 ♂ R.K. Robbins (ANSP). Peru. 3 ♂: UC, Pucallpa, 200 m, X.2007, Michael Büche leg. (CF); LO, Contamana, Río Ucayali, 300 m, 7°19'S, 74°48'W, IX.2010, leg J. Ramírez (LYD); SM, Juanjui, upper Huallaga River, IX. 1934, collector G. Klug, collection E.I. Huntington NO. 1055 (AMNH).

Description, diagnosis and recognition as a distinct species.

Male FW length: 18.2 mm (SD = 0.8, N = 4). Wing pattern (Fig. 4) and genitalia (Fig. 21) illustrated. Oenomaus lea and Oenomaus atesa (Hewitson, 1867)are the only two Eumaeini sharing the striking underside wing pattern with two transverse brown bands on the VHW. However, males of Oenomaus lea differ from males of Oenomaus atesa (Figs 5, 6 in Faynel 2006) by (1) a greater expanse of the DFW blue, especially in the area from vein R3 to vein Cu1, (2) two brown patches on the VFW instead of a single median brown band; one patch is located along the costa, and the other is triangular and situated in the basal part of cell Cu1-Cu2, and (3) a lighter dorsal blue color with a different hue of blue along the HW veins M2, M3, Cu1 and Cu2. Moreover, the black spot in VHW cell Cu1-Cu2 is usually more apparent in Oenomaus atesa than in Oenomaus lea . Males of Oenomaus lea alsodiffer genitalically from those of Oenomaus atesa (Fig. 26 in Faynel 2006) by (1) a longer and wider saccus, (2) the dorsal part of the valvae in lateral aspect shorter than the ventral part, and not pointed at the posterior end, (3) a straight penis in lateral view, and (4) no tooth at the end of the penis. The eighth tergum shows no difference from that of Oenomaus atesa . Lastly, the divergence of “barcode” DNA sequence data between Oenomaus lea (CF-LYC-005) and Oenomaus atesa (CF-LYC-003) is more than 6% (Table 1). The female of Oenomaus lea is unknown.

Etymology.

This species is named for Léa Faynel, daughter of Christophe Faynel. The name is a feminine noun in apposition.

Habitat and distribution.

Oenomaus lea occurs in wet lowland forest up to 1200 m elevation in eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru (Fig. 47).