Aurivittia Grishin, 2019

Cong, Qian, Zhang, Jing, Shen, Jinhui & Grishin, Nick V., 2019, Fifty new genera of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera), Insecta Mundi 731 (731), pp. 1-56 : 8-9

Aurivittia Grishin , new genus

http://zoobank.org/ C2C0299C-67C8-4F0E-ACB8-29A7292E10BD

Type species. Plesioneura aurivittata Moore, 1878 .

Definition. Surprisingly, a possible sister genus to Alenia Evans, 1935 (type species: Pyrgus sandaster Trimen, 1868 ), and in the same clade with Apallaga Strand, 1911 (type species Apallaga separata Strand, 1911 ), but genetically far removed from these and all other taxa ( Fig. 3 ). Species in this genus were formerly placed in Celaenorrhinus Hübner, [1819] (type species Papilio eligius Stoll, [1781] ;) and key to B. 6.30 in Evans (1949), notably lacking hair pencil on hind tibiae, which other Celaenorrhinus -like taxa possess. Morphologically, distinguished from Celaenorrhinus (sensu stricto) by essentially undivided uncus, sometimes with small knobs (not processes) as arms and the lack of hair pencil on hind tibiae; and from Alenia (a genus with undivided uncus) by the shape of valva that is not terminally split like a crab claw, and the presence of yellow band across the forewing. In male genitalia most similar to Apallaga , a genus with many species characterized by undivided uncus, but differs in longer gnathos (not less than half of the uncus length), thicker penis, valva with more robust and broad harpe that is gradually curved dorsad (not ventrad), does not carry any processes and is not forked, but narrows to a single point, and ampulla with a long process (style) along the harpe. In wing patterns, hindwing is not prominently variegated dorsally and is mostly unmarked, forewing with a compact yellow discal band with regular edges that does not extend into the discal cell and frequently with a triplet of apical yellow spots. In DNA, a combination of the following base pairs is diagnostic: aly 2532.2.1:T488A, aly997.12.1:C310A, aly527.19.4:T178A, aly822.15.1:C589A, aly235.8.18:G1178A.

Etymology. The name is a feminine noun in the nominative singular, formed to reflect the golden stripe on the forewing, similar to the name of the type species.

Species included. The type species, Plesioneura cameroni Distant, 1882 , and Celaenorrhinus vietnamicus Devyatkin, 1998 .

Parent taxon. Tribe Celaenorrhinini Swinhoe, 1912 .

Comments. These south Asian butterflies are not so prominently distinct from the striped species of Celaenorrhinus . Therefore, their uniqueness was not apparent prior to our genomic study, although genitalic features revealed a posteriori can diagnose the genus morphologically. Phylogenetic placement of this Asian genus in the African clade of Celaenorrhinini Swinhoe, 1912 is interesting.

Figures

Figure 3. Genomic trees of Tagiadinae. See Fig. 2 legend for notations.