Xylophanes lolita Vaglia & Haxaire

Vaglia, Thierry, Haxaire, Jean, Kitching, Ian J., Meusnier, Isabelle & Rougerie, Rodolphe, 2008, Morphology and DNA barcoding reveal three cryptic species within the Xylophanes neoptolemus and loelia species-groups (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae), Zootaxa 1923, pp. 18-36 : 26-28

Xylophanes lolita Vaglia & Haxaire n. sp.

( Figs. 5 a, 5b, 9a–c)

Type material: Holotype ( Figs. 5 a, 5b; in coll. TV, to be deposited in the Insectarium of Montréal, genital prep. # 271104 a, VAG-375/ SPTVA 739-07): ɗ, Brazil, Minas Gerais, Pote, 540 m., 30.xi.2004, leg. Roney Alves dos Santos. Paratype (BC-Hax0781/ SOWA 788-06): 1 ɗ, same data as holotype but 16.xi.2004.

Description: This species is described on the basis of combined evidence derived from morphology and genetic data ( Fig. 13 , clade #1; Table 2 ). Overall, it is very similar to X. loelia but is immediately distinguishable by its larger size, wing shape, and constant genital differences.

Male ( Figs. 5 a, 5b). Head and body: Upperside of head, base of thorax and tegulae pale brown. Dorsal part of thorax and abdomen greyish-beige, with 11 longitudinal lines of unequal width; median thoracic line dark brown, thin, extending onto all abdominal segments, where it is bordered by a pair of thicker grey-brown lines, only slightly contrasting with the dorsal abdominal ground color. A pair of barely visible, black dots present immediately after these lines at the junction of each abdominal segment. Abdomen laterally with two pairs of alternately pale grey and brown lines; latero-ventrally orange-beige, with a pair of black dots on each segment; ventrally with five longitudinal lines, three cream coloured, interspaced with two pale brown lines. Thorax laterally orange-beige; ventrally pale brown, as are the legs and labial palpi. Forewing upperside: General coloration pale brown and beige. The wing is divided into four distinct areas. Basally pale brown, slightly greyish; costal margin, especially along the discal cell, deep brown. Median area pale beige, its distal part becoming brown when approaching the costa, though less contrasted than the latter. Discal spot round and black. Full complement of six oblique postmedian and two submarginal lines present. First postmedian line brown, arising above the inner margin, a few millimeters from the wing base, straight, clearly defined, curving slightly toward the apex, but not reaching it (unlike the next three). Second postmedian line more diffuse and less contrasted. Third postmedian line almost as dark as the first, whereas the fourth is identical to the second, though thinner. These four lines parallel and evenly spaced. Fifth postmedian line wider and darker than others, followed by a somewhat similar, though narrower, sixth line. Between the fifth and sixth postmedian lines, the wing background color is slightly orange, especially close to the inner margin of the wing. First submarginal line diffuse and poorly defined; second submarginal line evanescent, only clearly visible near tornus. Fifth and sixth postmedian lines and both submarginal lines reach the apex. Hindwing upperside: Basal area dark brown, almost black. Median band wide, beige reaching the apex, with an irregular anterior margin and a smooth, clearly defined, posterior margin; Submarginal band dark brown (though less dark that the basal area) extending from tornus to apex. Forewing underside: Like the upperside, divided in four distinct areas: from base to median area, pale brown to grey-brown; median area orange brown; apical part beige; submarginal part of outer margin grey-brown. Postmedian and submarginal oblique lines, as described for the upperside, are apparent. First postmedian line dark brown, thick basally and narrowing toward costal margin, where it is reduced to a very thin trace. The next three postmedian lines grey-brown, contrasting little with the orange brown colour of this part of the wing; third postmedian line with a large black somewhat triangular spot between veins Rs3 and Rs4; fourth postmedian line with a small black vein dot on M1. Fifth postmedian line also grey-brown but wider that the preceding and bearing a row of distinct black vein dots on M2 to CuA2. Sixth postmedian line mostly visible between apex and vein M3; shortly beyond this vein, it disappears into the orange-beige ground coloration of the wing. First submarginal line clearly visible, almost as contrasted as the first postmedian line; the second submarginal line reduced to a suffusion of brown scales. Hindwing underside: Basally grey-beige, progressively becoming pinkish-orange towards the postmedian area. Median area crossed by two longitudinal pale brown lines, distal of which is an interrupted line with black vein dots. Submarginal band, from tornus to apex, dark brown though paler on the veins and towards the apex.

Female and pre-imaginal stages. Unknown.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 9 a–c). Overall, very similar to the other species of the complex. Uncus ( Fig. 9 a) relatively short, with well developed and setose lateral setigerous lobes; posterior third narrowed and downcurved, apex curved and spatulate. Harpe ( Fig. 9 b) short, basally very wide, bending and narrowing medially and becoming narrow and thinly upcurved apically; ventral part, especially basally, irregular and setose. Aedeagus ( Fig. 9 c), as in most Xylophanes species, with a transverse apical process bearing two distinct lobes; right lobe short, recurved, of even width only tapering at the apex, with about 20 tiny even teeth along its ventral and lateral margins; left lobe poorly developed, reduced to a plate following the left lateral margin of the aedeagus, thinly serrate with only few short scattered teeth from medially to the apex, where the serrations are slightly longer.

Distribution: This species is so far only known from Pote in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It is likely to be restricted to this part of southeastern Brazil, which is known for its high level of endemism.

Genetic variation: The COI sequences for the two available specimens are identical.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Strict consensus of the nine equally most-parsimonious cladograms (length = 133, CI = 0.78, RI = 0.94) resulting from the phylogenetic analysis of the complete dataset of DNA barcode sequences for 38 specimens belonging to the Xylophanes neoptolemus (yellow) and X. loelia (blue) species complexes (X. cyrene, X. aglaor and X. libya are outgroup taxa). Each specimen is identified by its SampleID code (see Table 1), and the two specimens with short sequences are highlighted in boxes. The branch lengths are proportional to the number of changes (indicated on branches, optimized under FAST optimization); Bremer support and rescaled Bremer support values are given above the branches for each node, and bootstrap support values are indicated below. Clades within the X. neoptolemus complex are named after groups 1, 2 and 3 as described in the text.

FIGURES 5 – 7. 5 a and 5 b. Xylophanes lolita n. sp., Holotype, ♂, Brazil, Minas Gerais; 6 a and 6 b. Chaerocampa loelia Druce, 1878, Lectotype, ♂, Panama, Chiriquí; 7 a. Xylophanes heinrichi Closs, 1917, Holotype, ♂ “ Amazonas ”. (5 a, 6 a, 7 a: dorsal view; 5 b, 6 b: ventral view).

FIGURES 8 – 12. Drawings of diagnostic details of the male genitalia of Xylophanes loelia (Figs. 8 a – c), X. lolita n. sp. (Figs. 9 a – c), X. neoptolemus (Figs. 10 a – c), X. balcazari n. sp. (Figs. 11 a – c), and X. cthulhu n. sp. (Figs. 12 a – c); a. uncus in lateral view, b. harpe, c. posterior end of the aedeagus.