Euptychia sophiae Zacca, Nakahara, Dolibaina & Dias

Neild, Andrew F. E., Nakahara, Shinichi, Zacca, Thamara, Fratello, Steven, Lamas, Gerardo, Le Crom, Jean-Francois, Dolibaina, Diego R., Dias, Fernando M. S., Casagrande, Mirna M., Mielke, Olaf H. H. & Espeland, Marianne, 2015, Two new species of Euptychia Huebner, 1818 from the upper Amazon basin (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), ZooKeys 541, pp. 87-108 : 96-101

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Nymphalidae

Euptychia sophiae Zacca, Nakahara, Dolibaina & Dias sp. n. Figs 7, 8; Map 1

Type material.

Holotype male with the following labels (separated by transverse bars): /Holotypus/ Brasil, Acre, Mâncio Lima, P[ar]q[ue] Nac[ional] Serra Do Divisor, Porção Norte, 7°26'50"S 73°39'52"W 200-400 m 10-21-IX-2011, D. Dolibaina & D. Moura Leg. / DZ 29.579/ (DZUP).

Paratype.

1 male, same data as holotype, except: DZ 29.578 (DZUP); PERU - Loreto: 1 male, 45 km. E. de Monte Alegre, Rio Trapiche [rec. Tapiche], 73°47'39.51"S 6°22'58.43"W [sic - W and S are transposed], 19-20.ii.2009, 183m, A. Garcia leg. (MUSM).

Diagnosis.

See relevant section for Euptychia attenboroughi .

Description.

MALE (Fig. 7):

Forewing length 18-19 mm (n = 3) (holotype = 18 mm).

Head. Brown. Postgenae with creamy-grey scales.

Antennae. Naked, brown, darker dorsally, clubs browner with orange tip.

Eyes. Dark brown, sparsely hairy. Creamy-grey scales dorsally and laterally along posterior edge of eyes.

Palpi. Covered by long creamy-grey hair-like modified scales dorso-laterally, ventrally with long fine hair-like modified scales projecting like a Mohican, mostly black along outer margin, but interior wall of modified scales creamy-grey. Mohican highest in centre, gradually reducing anteriorly and posteriorly, and anteriorly reduced to a pointed tuft. First segment covered with brown scales dorsally, black and creamy hair-like modified scales ventrally, second segment covered with short creamy hair-like modified scales and light brown scales laterally, brown scales distal one-third of dorsal surface, ventrally adorned with long black and creamy hair-like modified scales 3-4 times as long as segment width, second segment slightly longer than eye diameter, third segment covered with brown scales dorsally and black scales ventrally, creamy hair-like scales laterally, about one-seventh of second segment in length.

Thorax. Uniformly covered by dark grey-brown hair-like scales.

Legs. Greyish. Foreleg tarsus more than half-length of tibia, femur about 2/3 of tibia in length; tibial spurs absent on midleg and hindleg.

Abdomen. Eighth tergite and sternite well developed, apparently as equally sclerotized as other tergites and sternites, but weakly sclerotized towards posterior end.

Androconial patches. Two small (<1.0 mm) pale grey androconial patches on DHW, barely separated by 2A, located at its distal one third; patch in cell 2 A– 3A prominent; patch in cell Cu1-Cu2 restricted to width of median band and located at juncture of this band with 2A. A black and short (approximately 1.5-2.0 mm) androconial patch at the distal third of 2A on the VHW.

Wing shape. FW triangular, costal margin convex, apex rounded, outer margin gently convex from apex to Cu1, tornus rounded, anal margin straight. VW costa slightly convex, apex rounded, outer margin crenulated, anal margin concave near tornus, remaining convex.

DFW. Greyish brown, darker along the costal and outer margins with a narrow ochre area on the first fourth of the costal margin length. Four dark brown to rufous bands, the former basal, dark brown (approximately 0.1 mm width) following the radial vein on its distal edge, the second submedian, dark rufous brown, from near the origin of R1 to 2A, crossing the discal cell near the middle, the third median, rufous and slightly concave, crossing the cell end from the origin of R3 across the base of Cu1 to 2A, curving distally near the inner margin, and the final band submarginal, dark brown, narrower and slightly crenulated from R4 to M3, rufous and posteriorly enlarged from M3 to 2A. Ocellus of the VFW observable through transparency.

DHW. Greyish brown. Four dark brown to rufous straight bands, the first basal, dark brown, short and tapered, the second submedian, dark rufous brown, from costal margin to anal margin, crossing the discal cell near the centre, the third median, rufous brown, from costal margin to anal margin, crossing the discal cell in its distal quarter, the final band submarginal, rufous and crenulated in each cell from Rs to anal margin, except Cu1-Cu2, following the contour of the outer margin, but widened and curved inwards in M2-M3 and to a lesser degree in M3-Cu1, wide and reddish orange from Cu1 to 2A, thinned from 2A to anal margin where it nearly reaches the median rufous band. Ocelli of the VHW observable through transparency.

VFW. Light greyish brown, bands similar to DFW. One developed black ocellus from M1 to anterior sixth in M2-M3, with a white pupil at the centre and a broad and yellow external ring, surrounded by a greyish brown area that extends posteriorly to the posterior half of M3-Cu1. Submarginal line dark brown, from R4 to anal margin, crenulated in R4-M3, remainder and straight, distally surrounded by a thin yellow line. Fringes dark brown.

VHW. Light greyish brown, bands similar to DHW. Three postmedian black ocelli, the anterior the smallest in Rs-M1, the second twice as wide as the first, from M1 to anterior third of M2-M3, and the posterior bigger, about three times wider than the second, ovoid, from the posterior third in M3-Cu1 to the edge of Cu2, all three with a white pupil at the centre and a broad and yellow external ring. A fourth minute black ocellus, with a yellow outer ring but with no pupil, located on the anal margin at the base of the postmedian brown band. Marginal dark brown, thin, and crenulated line from Sc+R1 to 3A. Fringes dark brown.

Male genitalia (Fig. 8). Tegumen dorsally flattened, trapezoidal, lateral posterior margin projecting ventrad as a short gnathos fused to the tegumen, subtriangular, nearly at right angle to uncus; uncus basally hairy, almost 10 times longer than wide, laterally apex curved downward; ventral arms of tegumen fused to anterior margin of tegumen; appendices angulares absent; anterior projection of saccus almost same length as uncus, dorsal arms of saccus combined with ventral arms from tegumen; valva sparsely hairy, basal two-thirds shaped vaguely as an elongated semi-circle, distal one-third rather narrow then widening to form a spatulate apex, distal half of valva in dorso-ventral view resembles propodus of a lobster ( Decapoda : Nephropidae ), but without the dactylus; aedeagus strongly curved upwards in lateral view, almost same length as valva, posterior portion opens latero-ventrally; cornuti absent.

FEMALE: Unknown.

Etymology.

The specific epithet honours T. Zacca’s niece, Laura Sophia. To prevent any future ambiguity, the name sophiae is considered to be a Latinised modern female noun in the genitive case.

Distribution and habitat.

This species is only known from the type locality in Serra do Divisor National Park (SDNP), Acre, in the extreme west of Brazil, and from across the border in the neighbouring department of Loreto, in north-eastern Peru. The Brazilian specimens of Euptychia sophiae were collected in forest characterized as submontane dense ombrophilous forest in a landscape of "terra firme" forest with patches of seasonally inundated areas with a predominance of palms in the genus Mauritia Linnaeus f. ( Arecaceae ) at about 200 m a.s.l. (see Figs 9, 10). A small north-south mountain range surrounds the low area in the western portion of the SDNP, with some hills as high as 600 m a.s.l. Only one hilltop was sampled (visible in Fig. 9) but no specimen of Euptychia sophiae was collected there, although other species of Euptychia were observed. Despite subsequent expeditions in June 2013 and August 2014 to the same area of the SDNP, with five and seven collectors respectively, we were unable to find additional specimens of Euptychia sophiae . Unfortunately, no behavioural notes were taken for this new species, but the three specimens known to us indicate a correlation with periods of average to below average rainfall, an observation similar to that made for Euptychia attenboroughi . Only future sampling will indicate whether these two species show a distinct preference for avoiding the months of highest annual precipitation.

Host plant.

Unknown.