Psychonotis caelius dissimilis ( Joicey & Talbot, 1916 ) Schröder, 2019

Schröder, Stefan, 2019, Notes on the genus Psychonotis (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Western New Guinea (Papua and Papua Barat), with description of a new subspecies of P. melane (Joicey & Talbot, 1916), Sugapa Digital 11 (2), pp. 79-86 : 82-83

Psychonotis caelius dissimilis ( Joicey & Talbot, 1916) stat. nov. (Figs 23-24)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D2DA16BA-3199-4A40-80DA-F2F7A39DF910

Thysonotis dissimilis Joicey & Talbot, 1916b: 76 , pl. 3 figs 7-8.

The Schouten Islands (Numfor, Biak, Supiori) race of Psychonotis caelius was described as Thysonotis dissimilis ( Joicey & Talbot, 1916) , but this taxon was generally overlooked and questionably included in Danis Fabricius, 1807 .

P. caelius dissimilis is a small subspecies, with a wing length of 16-18mm, indicating at first sight that it rather belongs to Psychonotis than to Danis , because species of the latter genus are much larger than Psychonotis . In the original description, dissimilis was compared with hebes Druce, 1904 and eudocia Druce & Bethune-Baker, 1893 , both assigned to Psychonotis . The short yellow streak along the forewing costa at the wing base (present in P.eudocia , Figs 25-26) is missing. Psychonotis caelius dissimilis is an island race, differing from mainland caelius in having the white band on the hindwing much broader and more curved, following the wing shape. The blue costal streak on the forewing is reduced and the greenish-blue lunules on the hindwing are narrowed. Males from Biak and Supiori show the hindwing underside white bands clearly broader than in nominate caelius , but male genitalia do not significantly differ from those of caelius and therefore dissimilis is regarded here as a subspecies.

Distribution: Confined to the islands Biak and Supiori, Papua, Indonesia.