Andronymus fenestra Belcastro & Sáfián, 2019

Sáfián, Szabolcs, Belcastro, Claudio & Tropek, Robert, 2019, Two new species in the genus Andronymus Holland, 1896 (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae), Zootaxa 4624 (1), pp. 108-120 : 113-117

Andronymus fenestra Belcastro & Sáfián sp. nov.

FIGS.: 4A, C; 5A; 6A, B, E, F; 7A, C; 8

Holotype: ♂ IVORY COAST, Bloléquin , V.1991. Leg.: Paul Tahou, In coll: Belcastro, C. Approximate coordinates: 6°34’0.00”N, 8°0’0.00”W. Altitude: 250 m asl.

Paratypes: 1♀ IVORY COAST, Bloléquin , V.1991. Leg.: Paul Tahou, In coll: Belcastro, C . 1♀ IVORY COAST, Monts Nimba, Yealé , III.2009. Leg. and coll.: Belcastro, C. ; 1♀ LIBERIA, Nimba Mountains, Coldwater, East Nimba Nature Reserve and Blei Community Forest 16-31.XII.2013. Leg.: Sáfián, Sz., Horváth, Á. Coll.: ABRI ; 1♀ SIERRA LEONE, Gola Rainforest National Park corridor area, trekking from Tainihun to Waiama 24, 28.XI.2008. Leg.: Sáfián, Sz., Csontos, G., Vorgas, R, In coll: ANHRT ; 1♀ SIERRA LEONE, Gola Rainforest National Park, Nemahugoima, Gola South 15.XII.2012. Leg.: Belcastro, C .

Description of the holotype. Wingspan 30.5 mm. Forewing length: 16 mm. General appearance like other Andronymus . Ground colour dark brown, with 4 mm long, creamy-coloured, semi-hyaline triangular spot in space 2, starting from the base of space; outer end of spot indentate. Smaller triangular spot also present, separated by only vein 3 from tip of larger one. In sub-apex two small, more or less rectangular creamy spots encompass a small triangular spot, small creamy oval spot also present in discoidal cell. Hindwing with large oval creamy semi-hyaline spot that tapers down towards base, circled around completely with dark brown colour. Long, darker, creamy-yellow androconial hair-pencil present across the hyaline spot from coastal edge of cell (starts just beyond vein 6) to tip of cell. Creamy-yellow coloured streak with hairs along vein 7 present. Fringes on both wings creamy. Ground colour of underside forewing dark brown, with upperside’s spotting present, inner half of forewing overlaid by creamy scales extending to tip of large triangular spot between inner margin and spot and halfway towards tip of spot in cell. Creamy colour covers most of hindwing, leaving only 2 mm broad marginal band between apex and tip of vein 2. Small oval brown spot present between lower edge of semi-hyaline spot and vein 2. Body dark brown, on dorsal side, covered with whitish hairs on ventral side. Legs brown on the top, whitish below. Palpi creamy coloured below. Length of antenna two-thirds of forewing, dark brown on top with white rings below. Club long, lanceolate, brown on top, white below. Eyes bald, black.

Male genitalia. Uncus long, tapering down into narrow tounge-like tip, with thick hair-tuft dorsally. Tegumen hood-like, squat, in lateral view. Fultura inferior large, W-shaped. Valva broad and long, its tip’s inner edge curves up in right angle, outer edge evenly rounded. Aedeagus simple, broad, cylindrical.*

* The morphology of aedeagus of Andronymus was misunderstood by various authors including Miller ( Lindsey & Miller 1965) and also Larsen (2005). In their former publications, they illustrate an unusually long aedeagus basally very long and narrow. This is actually part of the unique structure of fultura inferior, which holds the rather short and cylindrical phallus so tightly that recognition and separation of the two is problematic. It is also unusual that the process of the fultura seems to be often longer than the actual phallus. This is the case also on the genitalia slide of A. fenestra produced by Larsen and Belcastro, where the fultura is still holding the phallus ( Fig. 5A be-low—dorsal view). This was revealed only later, during the dissection of further A. fenestrella specimens, and on one specimen the phallus could be removed without damaging the fultura ( Fig 5B ).

Description of female. General appearance of female very similar to male, but forewing’s central spots significantly shorter, not conjoined, trapezoid in shape, rather than triangular. Androconial hair-pencil on hindwing missing.

Female genitalia. Papillae analis small (0.6 mm in lateral view), squat, densely scattered with short hairs. Apophyses posterior missing. Von Siebold organ cylindrical. Lamellae antevaginalis weakly sclerotized, large (1 mm), tube like. Ductus bursae rather short (1 mm), broad, and of even width (0.5–0.6 mm). Bursa oval, almost twice as long as ductus.

Differential diagnosis. A. fenestra resembles most closely A. fenestrella , but the two species are clearly allopatric. A. fenestra males differ from those of A. fenestrella in the significantly longer forewing triangular spots in spaces 2 and 3. These spots in A. fenestra are virtually twice as long as in A. fenestrella in both sexes, making the two immediately distinguishable. Also, the creamy colour on the forewing underside is more extensive in A. fenestra , covering almost the entire cell, which is brown in A. fenestrella . In females the size differences in the forewing spotting is also present but not as outstanding as in the males. On their hindwing, the creamy centre spot is narrower, leaving the abdominal fold partly brown ( Fig 6 ). The extent of the hyaline spots of male A. fenestra is also unique and the species is unmistakable.

The male genitalia do not differ much between the two closely related species, but those of females show significant differences. The genitalia of A. fenestra look generally much more robust with much broader ductus and larger bursa copulatrix, with similar size of papillae analis in both species. However, they are very different in shape: almost squat in A. fenestra and axe-head shaped in A. fenestrella (in lateral view) ( Fig 7 ).

Etymology. The name of the new species refers to the close relationship to Andronymus fenestrella but also to the significantly larger semi-hyaline (window-like) spots on its forewing.

Discussion. A. fenestra is clearly very closely related to A. fenestrella , which is widely distributed in the Congolian forest zone between Central Cameroon and Gabon, in the west, DRC in the south (with disjunct populations in Rwanda, Tanzania, Northwest of Zambia and Malawi, probably also in the neighbouring Angola and the Katanga Region of the DRC), and probably the Kivu area of the DRC in the east. A. fenestra was recorded only in the Liberian sub-region, where it is very rare in wet and hyperwet lowland forests. This is also supported by the fact that after the first specimens collected in 1991, the species has not been re-found until 2008, despite Belcastro’s continuous field research in Sierra Leone. In his review on Sierra Leonean skippers ( Belcastro 1986) has hasn’t even listed the taxon related to A. fenestrella as expected to be found in the country. The species is probably genuinely endemic to the Liberian sub-region.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Male genitalia and separated aedeagus: A. fenestra (holotype)(slide and photo by Larsen and Belcastro)—A; and A. fenestrella (Cameroon)—B. Note that fultura inferior is still attached to the phallus of A. fenestra due to previous misconception of the genitalia morphology. The authors could not remove the phallus from the slide (see footnote above).

FIGURE 6. Females: Andronymus fenestra (paratype, Ivory Coast) A—upperside, C—underside; A. fenestra (paratype, Liberia) B—upperside, D—underside; A. fenestrella (Cameroon) E—upperside, G—underside; A. fenestrella (DRC) F—upperside, H—underside.

FIGURE 7. Female genitalia: A. fenestra (paratype)—A, C and A. fenestrella (DRC)—B, D.