Pheles obscura C. Mielke, Dolibaina & Dias

Dias, Fernando Maia Silva, Dolibaina, Diego Rodrigo, Mielke, Carlos Guilherme Costa, Mielke, Olaf Hermann Hendrik & Casagrande, Mirna Martins, 2015, Description of two new species of Pheles Herrich – Schäffer, [1853] and notes on the taxonomic position of two species hitherto included in the genus (Riodinidae: Riodininae), Zootaxa 3981 (2), pp. 275-283 : 279-280

Pheles obscura C. Mielke, Dolibaina & Dias sp. nov.

( Figs 13–14 , 27–28 , 39 )

Diagnosis, female. This new species is distinguished from all species belonging Pheles by the brown labial palpus; absence of a subapical band on the forewing; and by the presence of two orange spots in both wings, extending from the costal margin to the end of the discal cell.

Description, female. Head: frontoclypeus brown, with thin white lines bordering the compound eyes; vertex and postgena brown; compound eyes hairy; antenna brown with white spots at the base of each segment, slightly longer than half of the forewing length; club reddish, about one fourth the length of the antenna; labial palpus anteriorly projected, dorsally visible, mostly brown, with white scales laterally; first segment curved, half the size of the second, which is more or less straight and long, third thin, as long as 1/4 of the second.

Thorax: grayish; legs whitish posteriorly.

Forewing length: HT: 9mm.

Forewing, upperside: triangular; costal margin slightly concave from the base to the end of R1; apex rounded; external margin convex; tornus angular; inner margin straight; grayish brown ground color; dark brown on the veins; whitish gray lines radiating from the base of the wing between veins in all spaces; lines lighter after the discal cell; two orange spots, the first thin and short in C–Sc and the second larger on the superior half of the discal cell; fringe grayish.

Hindwing, upperside: rounded; costal margin slightly curved; apex slightly rounded; external margin convex; tornus rounded; inner margin slightly curved; grayish brown ground color; dark brown on the veins; gray whitish lines radiating from the base of the wings between veins in all spaces and in the discal cell, two lines in CuA2–2A; one orange spot from costal margin to superior half of the discal cell; fringe grayish.

Forewing, underside: similar to the upper side, color pattern lighter and with one large orange spot from C to the inferior half of the discal cell; fringe grayish.

Hindwing, underside: similar to the upper side, color pattern lighter and dull orange spot in 2A–3A aligned with the discal cell; fringe grayish.

Abdomen: grayish, ventrally with a longitudinal dark gray thick line at the center

Female genitalia: papila analis setose, “d” shaped, with an anterior sclerotized bar; sterigma with the left side narrower than the right side; ostium bursae in the right side, wider than in P. atricolor atricolor and P. plaumanni sp. nov.; bursa copulatrix membranous, thin from ostium to half of its length, then gradually widening to the end of the corpus bursae, with no clear distinction between the ductus and the corpus bursae; two ventral and aligned parallel signa in the second third of the bursa copulatrix, with two inwardly pointed conical sclerotizations.

Male: unknown.

Biological comments. No information about the behavior of this species is known. However, the female holotype was collected during a period with abundant food sources for adults, like Asteraceae flowers.

Distribution. This species is only known from the type locality, an area of Araucaria Forest with patches of natural grassland.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a reference to the unusual color pattern of this species compared to the other species of the genus.

Type material. Holotype female with the following labels: / HOLOTYPUS / BRASIL – P[A]R[ANÁ] Piên, 26.II.2011 Otoniel Rank leg. / Gen. Prep. Dolibaina 2014 / DZ 30.136 / HOLOTYPUS Pheles obscura C. Mielke, Dolibaina & Dias det. 2015 / DZUP.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 20. Species belonging to Pheles Herrich – Schäffer, [1853], Pachythone Bates, 1868 and Melanis Hübner, [1819], dorsal and ventral. 1 – 4. Pheles plaumanni sp. nov. 1 – 2. Male holotype, Nova Teutônia, Seara, Santa Catarina, Brazil (DZ 28.363). 3 – 4. Female allotype, Nova Teutônia, Seara, Santa Catarina, Brazil (DZ 28.344). 5 – 12. Pheles atricolor atricolor. 5 – 8. Typical phenotype pattern from Atlantic ombrophilous dense forest and Araucaria moist forest. 5 – 6. Male, Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil (DZ 28.294). 7 – 8. Female, Cedro, Antonina, Paraná, Brazil (DZ 28.312). 9 – 12. Phenotype pattern from Cerrado and Atlantic semideciduous forest. 9 – 10. Male, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil (DZ 26.412). 11 – 12. Female, Fazenda Água Limpa, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil (DZ 28.316). 13 – 14. Pheles obscura sp. nov. female holotype, Piên, Paraná, Brazil (DZ 30.136). 15 – 16. Pachythone bicolor comb. nov. male, Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil (DZ 28.362). 17 – 20. Melanis caatingensis comb. nov. 17 – 18. Male paratype, Brejo Santo, Ceará, Brazil (DZ 31.899). 19 – 20. Female paratype, Brejo Santo, Ceará, Brazil (DZ 31.938).

FIGURES 21 – 32. Male head of some species belonging to Pheles Herrich – Schäffer, [1853], Pachythone Bates, 1868 and Melanis Hübner, [1819], frontal and lateral. 21 – 22. Pheles plaumanni sp. nov. 23 – 26. Pheles atricolor atricolor. 23 – 24. Typical phenotype pattern from Atlantic ombrophilous dense forest and Araucaria moist forest. 25 – 26. Phenotype pattern from Cerrado and Atlantic semideciduous forest. 27 – 28. Pheles obscura sp. nov. 29 – 30. Pachythone bicolor comb. nov. 31 – 32. Melanis caatingensis comb. nov.

FIGURES 37 – 40. Female genitalia of some species belonging to Pheles Herrich – Schäffer, [1853] and Melanis Hübner, [1819]. 37. Pheles plaumanni sp. nov., paratype (DZ 21.017). 38. Pheles atricolor atricolor. 39. Pheles obscura sp. nov., holotype. 40. Melanis caatingensis comb. nov., paratype (DZ 28.358).