Coa Grishin, new subgenus

http://zoobank.org/ CD8143FC-839D-408E-A114-3FFEEA7AE349

Type species. Hesperia baracoa Lucas, 1857 .

Definition. A sister to subgenus Yvretta Hemming, 1935 (type species Pamphila citrus Mabille, 1889, which is treated as a junior subjective synonym Hesperia subreticulata Plötz, 1883), Hesperia baracoa Lucas, 1857 prominently stands out from other Polites (Fig. 14). Therefore, this lineage is given a subgenus status and a name. This new subgenus keys to M. 13.4 in Evans (1955). Distinguished from its relatives within Polites by the combination of the following characters: presence of apiculus (longer than 1 segment); diagnostic shape of stigma: rather short, relatively straight and narrower than in other species with defined apiculus; the lack of spot before the end of discal cell on plain gray-brown ventral hindwing without dark spots (but sometimes with a row of pale discal spots) combined with orange area by the forewing costa below, stemming from the wing base and reaching apical spots.

Etymology. The name is a feminine noun in the nominative singular, the ending of the type species name.

Species included. Only the type species.

Parent taxon. Genus Polites Scudder, 1872 .

Assignment of species to subgenera. With the description of Coa subgen. n., we consider that Polites consists of 3 subgenera (Fig. 14). Subgenus Yvretta consists of P. subreticulata (Plötz, 1883), P. carus (W. H. Edwards, 1883), and P. rhesus (W. H. Edwards, 1878) . Other Polites species (Mielke 2005; Pelham 2008) not mentioned in this work belong to the nominal subgenus. Interestingly, Wallengrenia Berg, 1897 (type species Hesperia premnas Wallengren, 1860) is not prominently distinct genetically from Polites (green branch in Fig. 14) and may therefore be included in Polites as the 4th subgenus, depending on researcher's taste.