Prometheus zagraea salvina ( Westwood, 1877 )

García-Díaz, José De Jesús, Espinoza-Sanabria, Bernardo A., Worthy, Robert, González, Jorge M., Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2024, Synopsis of the Castniidae (Lepidoptera) of Costa Rica, Zootaxa 5481 (2), pp. 151-202 : 178-179

16. Prometheus zagraea salvina ( Westwood, 1877)

( Figs. 8C, 8D , 12F )

Castnia salvina Westwood, 1877 ; Westwood, 1877. Trans. Linn. Soc. Lon., Zoo. 2 (1), p. 190, pl. 32, fig. 1.

Gazera carilla Schaus, 1911 ; Schaus, 1911. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) 7 (38), p. 192.

Gazera carilla ; Houlbert, 1918. Étud. Lép. Comp. 15, pp. 66, 635, 704.

Gazera salvina ; Houlbert, 1918. Étud. Lép. Comp. 15, pp. 66, 636, 704, fig. 230.

Castnia (Doubledaya) columbina panamensis Talbot ; Talbot, 1929. Bull. Hill Mus. 3 (1), p70, pl. 1, fig. 4.

Zegara carilla ; Miller, 1995, in Heppner. Castnioidea: Castniidae : Castniinae , Checklist part 2, Atlas Neo. Lep. , p. 137.

Zegara columbina salvina ; Miller, 1995, in Heppner. Castnioidea: Castniidae : Castniinae , Checklist part 2, Atlas Neo. Lep. , p. 137.

Zegara zagraea salvina ; Lamas, 1995. Revta. Per. Ent. 37, p. 85.

General comments. Initially, the genus Zegara (currently a synonym of Prometheus ) included over 10 species, among which were Z. carilla , Z. columbina panamensis , Z. salvina and Z. zagraea , as Miller (1995) indicated in her list. However, Lamas (1995) synonymized the majority and only left two valid species with some subspecies. Lamas (1995) also considered salvina as a valid subspecies of Z. zagraea but considered Z. carilla and Z. columbina panamensis as synonyms of Z. z. salvina , distributed in Panama and Costa Rica. Van den Berghe et al. (2020) and Maes & González (2022) reported it from Nicaragua (Nueva Segovia, Cerro Jesús). It belongs to a mimetic ring that contains various “tiger pattern” species ( Miller 1986; González et al. 2010). As in the nominal subspecies, males are darker and smaller than females. The coloration of P. z. salvina tends to be darker than in the nominal subspecies ( González & Domagała 2019).

Ecology and behavior. Adults of Prometheus zagraea salvina are diurnal and fly on sunny days in sync with species of their mimetic ring. It has been found in Nicaragua flying together with Chetone angulosa ( Walker, 1854) ( Erebidae ), Lycorea halia atergatis Doubleday, 1847 , Mechanitis polymnia (Linnaeus, 1758) , Eueides isabella (Stoll, 1781) , Heliconius ismenius Latreille, [1817] and Consul fabius cecrops (Doubleday, [1849]) ( Nymphalidae ) ( Van den Berghe et al. 2020). According to the latter authors, the flight pattern of both sexes is similar to heliconids.

Distribution and biogeography. Prometheus zagraea salvina is known from Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama ( Miller 1986, 1995; Lamas 1995; Vinciguerra 2008; González et al. 2010, 2017; Van den Berghe et al. 2020; Maes & González 2022); however, Salazar et al. (2013) cited it for Colombia, but did not illustrate any of the specimens cited. The Colombian specimens should be regarded as P. z. zagraea ( Maes & González 2022) . The subspecies has been found in the following cantons in Costa Rica: Alajuela: Upala; Cartago: Turrialba; Guanacaste: La Cruz; Heredia: Sarapiquí; Limón: Pococí; Puntarenas: Golfito. Considering the biogeographic proposal of Morrone et al. (2022), in Costa Rica, this subspecies has been recorded in localities that belong to the Guatuso-Talamanca and Puntarenas-Chiriquí provinces of the Pacific dominion, and the Pacific Lowlands province of the Mesoamerican dominion, all in the Brazilian subregion.

Figures

FIGURE 8. A–B: Prometheus zagraea zagraea; A: ♂, Estación Santa Rosa, Prov. Guanacaste, 300m, Junio 1995, D. H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs, 313000, 359800, INBIOCRI002427675, MNCR-A2427675 (MNCR); B: ♀, Puntarenas, P. Nal. Corcovado, Est. Cirena, 13-V-86, R Canet, INBIOCRI001056100, MNCR-A1056100 (MNCR); C–D: Prometheus zagraea salvina; C: ♂, Estac. Pitilla, 700m, 9km S. Santa Cecilia, Guanac. Prov., Mar1989, GNP Biodiversity Survey, W 85 25 40, N 10 59 26, INBIOCRI001056099, MNCR-A1056099 (MNCR); D: ♀, Estac. Pitilla, 700m, 9km S Santa Cecilia, Guanacaste, Mar 1990, P. Ríos & R. Blanco, 330200, 380200, INBIOCRI00091782, MNCR-A191782 (MNCR). Scale bar = 2cm.

FIGURE 12. Distribution maps of the genera Amauta (A), Athis (B, C), Corybantes and Mirocastnia (D), Divana (E) and Prometheus (F) in Costa Rica.