Hesperia cinica Plötz, 1882

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui & Grishin, Nick V., 2022, Taxonomic changes suggested by the genomic analysis of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera), Insecta Mundi 2022 (921), pp. 1-135 : 93-94

Hesperia cinica Plötz, 1882 is a junior subjective synonym of Dubiella dubius (Stoll, 1781)

Suggested to belong to Tirynthia Godman, 1900 (type species Goniloba conflua Herrich-Schäffer, 1869 ) by Godman (1907) and kept there since as a valid species, Hesperia cinica Plötz, 1882 (type locality Brazil: Para) remains a mystery with no specimens known. Inspection of a Godman’s copy of the H. cinica Plötz’s illustration in BMNH, an inferior copy of which (too green instead of cedar-brown, dorsal hindwing spot without a long smudge present in the original copy) was apparently published by Draudt (1921 –1924), reveals that it uniquely matches females of Dubiella dubius (Stoll, 1781) (type locality Suriname). More specifically, forewing is with single elongated discal cell spot along cubitus, white spots nearly in a row in cells CuA 2 -1A+2A, CuA 1 -CuA 2, M 3 -CuA 1, and M 2 -M 3, a missing spot in cell M 1 -M 2, three adjoining apical spots in a straight line, and yellow mark mid-costa below; hindwing is with a diffuse central pale mark dorsally, not expressed into a complete band as in some D. dubius specimens, ventrally mahogany-red-colored with discal white band from costa to anal margin, broken in cell 1A+2A-3A. Therefore, we place Hesperia cinica Plötz, 1882 as a junior subjective synonym of Dubiella dubius (Stoll, 1781) .

Cobalus disjuncta Herrich-Schäffer, 1869 is a junior subjective synonym of Dubiella dubius (Stoll, 1781)

Cobalus disjuncta Herrich-Schäffer, 1869 (type locality not specified) placed in synonymy with Vettius lafrenaye (Latreille, [1824]) (type locality Brazil) by Evans (1955) and kept there since, is not that species according to its original description ( Herrich-Schäffer 1869). Notably, the description states that “underside of the hindwing rusty-red colored with continuous sharp white horizontal band through the middle” in C. disjuncta , completely different from that of V. lafrenaye , whose hindwing is with a broad white triangular area as described for Vettius lafrenaye pica ( Herrich-Schäffer, 1869) (type locality not specified), named in the same publication that proposed the name C. disjuncta . Moreover, Herrich-Schäffer listed Zenis minos (Latreille, [1824]) (type locality Brazil) as a synonym of his C. disjuncta , therefore the two species are expected to be similar. Herrich-Schäffer either misidentifed Z. minos or considered the differences between C. disjuncta and Z. minos to be intraspecific variation, because Z. minos lacks forewing pale spots in cells 1 (1A+2A and CuA 2 -1A+2A) and 5 (M 1 -M 2), but has a welldeveloped spot in cell 8 (R 3 -R 4). According to the original description, C. disjuncta is characterized by “FW cells 1–7 with spots” ( Herrich-Schäffer 1869), not matching the characters of Z. minos . However, females of Dubiella dubius (Stoll, 1781) (type locality Suriname) are superficially similar to Z. minos in having mahogany-colored hindwing with a continuous white discal band, and they also have a spot in cell 1b (CuA 2 -1A+2A). Moreover, some D. dubius females have a dot in cell 5 (M 1 -M 2, erroneously given as “space 4” by Evans (1955)), but may lack a spot in cell 8 (R 3 -R 4, place of a 3rd apical spot; D. dubius females are identified by having “always 2 or 3 apical spots” per Evans (1955)). Thus, such females fully agree with the original description of C. disjuncta being spotted in forewing cells 1–7 and also differing from Dubiella fiscella ( Hewitson, 1877) (type locality Brazil: Para; no spots in cells 5 and 7 (M 1 -M 2 and R 4 -R 5) per Evans (1955)). Therefore, we tentatively place Cobalus disjuncta Herrich- Schäffer, 1869 as a junior subjective synonym of Dubiella dubius (Stoll, 1781) . We consider this placement tentative due to possible variation in the number of white spots, and acknowledge that it is conceivable for some females of D. fiscella ( Hewitson, 1877) (type locality Brazil: Para) to have at least very small white dots in forewing cells 5 and 7 (M 1 -M 2 and R 4 -R 5) in addition to a larger round spot in cell 6 (R 5 -M 1), thus agreeing with the original description of C. disjuncta . A search for C. disjuncta syntypes and, if necessary, neotype designation will settle this issue.