Thereus praxioides Faynel & Fåhraeus, 2025

Faynel, Christophe, Huertas, Blanca, Crom, Jean-François Le, O’Brien, Richard & Fåhraeus, Christer, 2025, Diagnostic male secondary sexual structures and wing patterns in the Thereus genena species group (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) with the description of nine new species from Colombia, Peru, Brazil and French Guiana, Zootaxa 5728 (2), pp. 201-246 : 233-236

Thereus praxioides Faynel & Fåhraeus sp. nov.

LSIDurn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 43D0108A-9D02-49C6-A168-A3CA8FF483E5

Figures 27, 28 , 46 , 62 , 75 , 79 , 81 , 86

Type material. Holotype male ( Fig. 27 ), FW: 17.65 mm, labelled as “ GUYANE // RN2—PK 45 ( Cordia ) // 4°36’N — 52°22’ O // 16. I. 2021 // E. Poirier leg.” (white rectangular label, black printed); “CF-LYC-1898” (orange rectangular label, black printed); “ Holotype ♂ // Thereus praxioides // Faynel & Fåhraeus, 2025 ” (red rectangular label, black printed). Currently in RCCF, the holotype will be deposited in MNHN.

Paratypes ( 17♂, 4♀). MEXICO . 1♂, Veracruz, San Andrés Tuxtla , 700 m, ix.2015, B. López leg., CF-LYC-827*, gen. prep. K. Florczyk CFCF215 ( RCCF) ; 5♂, same locality ( RCCF) . COSTA RICA. 1♂, OP431090 *, GBAAZ30154-24 ( GenBank data from Valencia-Montoya et al. 2021) . TRINIDAD. 1♂, Ex. Grose Smith , 1910, J.J. Joicey Coll. B.M. 1929-435, NHMUK015203811* ( NHMUK) ; 1♂, Rio Claro, Guayaguayare Road , x.1995, S. Alston-Smith leg. ( Collection Scott Alston-Smith, Trinidad and Tobago). FRENCH GUIANA . 1♂, Patawa , 3.xii.2000, J. Cerda leg., Coll. C. Faynel n° 1033 ( RCCF) ; 1♂, Roura, Cacao , iv.2006 ( RCCF) ; 1♂, Roura, Cacao , 4°33'35" N, 52°27'29" W, 2.ix.2015, Bonin leg., CF-LYC-667*, gen. prep. K. Florczyk CFCF044 ( RCCF) ; 1♂, Roura, Route de Kaw , xii.2006 ( RCCF) ; 1♂, Sinnamary, Crique Malmanoury , 5°17'13" N, 52°49'38" W, 31.xii.2022 - 10.i.2023, C. Faynel leg. ( RCCF) ; 1♀, Route de Kaw PK 7, 21.xi.2013, ex-coll. Christian Castelain, CF-LYC-1061*, gen. prep. K. Florczyk CFCF045 ( RCCF, illustrated on Fig. 28 ) ; 1♂, Sinnamary, Malmanoury (barrière), 3.i.2023, L1495, NPML_lyc97 (coll. Nino Page & Maeva Leroy) ; 1♂, Sinnamary , barrage de Petit Saut, sur Cordia , 28.i.2024, L1953, NPML_lyc422 (coll. Nino Page & Maeva Leroy) ; 1♀, Régina, ZNIEFF Mapaou Athanaze, Camp Mathias ( Mapaou ), 31.vii.2024, L2297, NPML_lyc494 (coll. Nino Page & Maeva Leroy) ; 1♀, Sinnamary, Route de Petit Saut , 5°04'03.9'' N, 53°02'48.2"W, 12.i.2025, L2372 (coll. Nino Page & Maeva Leroy) . PERU. Huánuco. 1♂, Tingo María , 26.ix.2015, 9°17'58"S, 76°00'58"W, 750m, CFCD01305*, gen. prep. K. Florczyk ( FILS) . BRAZIL. Pará . 1♀, B.M. Type NoRH. 720, NHMUK015200801* ( NHMUK) .

Paratypes have the following labels “ Paratype ♂ [or ♀] // Thereus praxioides // Faynel & Fåhraeus, 2025 ” (blue rectangular label, black printed).

iNaturalist data. GUYANA. 1♀, Orealla, 6.i.2023 .

Diagnosis and description. Thereus praxioides sp. nov. and Thereus praxis are sister species in the ML tree ( Fig. 1 ). Thereus praxioides sp. nov. can be distinguished from T. praxis by: (1) narrower DFW black margins on males ( Figs 46, 47 ); (2) different shapes of male scent patch, respectively oval in the first and flattened oval in the latter; (3) 5.31 % mean genetic divergence ( Table 3). Male ( Fig. 27 ). FW length: 15.39 mm (n = 1). Wing. DFW dark blue covering a large part of the wing. VW brown with same pattern as usual in this group. Male genitalia ( Fig. 62 ). Four males dissected. Similar to Thereus praxis but with longer dorsal pair of brush organs, genital ring less wide in ventral view. Eighth tergite long with W-shaped anterior border and concave posterior one. Female ( Fig. 28 ). FW length: 13.9 mm (n = 2). Wings. brown dorsally, beige-brown ventrally but lighter than male, same ventral patterns. Female genitalia ( Fig. 75 ). Two females dissected. Similar to T. praxis but with deeper ostium bursae. Small signa present in the corpus bursae on the female from Pará, not the other one from French Guiana but its bursa was wrinkled and it is possible, regarding their small size, that the signa were not detected. Papillae anales also with two sclerotized half capsules facing each other attached to ventro-lateral sides of them. Eighth tergite subrectangular.

Ethology. Adults have been observed feeding on Cordia schomburgkii A. DC. ( Boraginaceae ) in French Guiana primary forest (Cacao, Kaw mountain).

Sympatry. According to the known distribution ( Fig. 86 ), Thereus praxioides sp. nov. is sympatric with T. confusus sp. nov. in Brazil (Pará) and Peru ( Huánuco). T. praxioides sp. nov. and T. praxis are sympatric at least in Mexico and Costa Rica.

Known distribution ( Fig. 86 ). Mexico. Costa Rica. Trinidad. Guyana. French Guiana. Peru (HUC). Brazil (PA).

Etymology. This name comes from the combination of praxis and the suffix -oides, that means "looks like " praxis , to form a masculine Latinized name, with a wink at T. ortalus / T. ortaloides stat. rev.

Remarks. A witness of the confusion that previously occurred in this group, this new species was listed as T. praxis ( Faynel 2010) in French Guiana; listed as T. ortalus and cited as a new island record for Trinidad (Cock & Robbins 2016). These authors also mentioned two females near Thereus tiasa ( ♀, Sangre Grande, S. Alston-Smith leg., ix.1980 and ♀, Inniss Field, M.J.W. Cock leg., x.1994). Thereus tiasa , as defined in this paper, does not occur in Trinidad. We consider these two females as also belonging to Thereus praxioides sp. nov.

The Brazilian paratype of Thereus praxioides sp. nov. (NHMUK015200801) has a label indicating “Formerly designated as TYPE [of T. tiasa ]. Does not match original description, B. Huertas, R. O’Brien” (see under T. tiasa paragraph).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Thereus genena species group, phylogenetic tree generated with IQ-Tree using 83 COI sequences. Each specimen has the following information (if available): scientific name, process ID, country, department. Type material in red. Method of construction of the tree: Maximum-Likelihood.

FIGURES 23–33. Adults of Thereus. 23. ♂ Thereus ortaloides stat. rev. (HT, Brazil, MNHN). 24. ♀ Thereus ortaloides stat. rev. (Brazil, DZUP). 25. ♂ T. confusus sp. nov. (HT, Brazil, MPEG). 26. ♀ T. confusus sp. nov. (PT, Brazil, RCCF). 27. ♂ T. praxioides sp. nov. (HT, French Guiana, MNHN). 28. ♀ T. praxioides sp. nov. (PT, French Guiana, RCCF). 29. ♂ Thereus praxis (ST, Colombia, NHMUK). 30. ♀ Thereus praxis (Colombia, Collection Gregory Nielsen). 31. ♂ Thereus ortalus (ST, Mexico, NHMUK). 32. ♀ Thereus ortalus (ST, Mexico, NHMUK). 33. ♂ T. aguacatal sp. nov. (HT, Colombia, ICN-MHN).

FIGURES 34–49. Male forewing androconia. 34. ♂ Thereus endera. 35. ♂ T. geminus sp. nov. 36. ♂ T. cacao sp. nov. 37. ♂ T. antecum sp. nov. 38. ♂ Thereus genena. ♂ 39. ♂ Thereus tiasa. 40. ♂ Thereus angulus stat. rev. 41. ♂ T. borbaensis sp. nov. 42. ♂ T. chontachaca sp. nov. 43. ♂ T. ramirezi sp. nov. 44. Thereus ortaloides stat. rev. 45. ♂ T. confusus sp. nov. 46. ♂ T. praxioides sp. nov. 47. ♂ Thereus praxis. 48. ♂ Thereus ortalus. 49. ♂ T. aguacatal sp. nov. Wings not at same scale for comparison purpose.

FIGURES 60–65. Male genitalia. From left to right: left lateral view with penis in place, left lateral view with penis and brush organs removed (at least one), ventral view and penis in lateral view above. Black arrows show diagnostic characters (see in the text). 60. Thereus ortaloides stat. rev. 61. Thereus confusus sp. nov. 62. Thereus praxioides sp. nov. 63. Thereus praxis. 64. Thereus ortalus. 65. ♂ T. aguacatal sp. nov. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURES 66–77. Female genitalia. Left lateral view (at left), ventral view. 66. Thereus endera. 67. Thereus geminus sp. nov. 68. Thereus cacao sp. nov. 69. Thereus antecum sp. nov. 70. Thereus genena. 71. Thereus tiasa. 72. Thereus chontachaca sp. nov. 73. Thereus ortaloides stat. rev. 74. Thereus confusus sp. nov. 75. Thereus praxioides sp. nov. 76. Thereus praxis. 77. Thereus ortalus. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIGURES 78–80. Illustration of some diagnostic elements and differences between species. 78. Male genitalia of syntypes T. endera (left) and T. ortalus (right) in dorsal view. Arrows show differences in brush organs length and position: black arrow for dorsal brush organs, red for ventral ones. 79. Different shapes of male eighth tergite in ventral view of T. endera (subrectangular, at left) and T. praxioides sp. nov. (longer length but narrower width, at right). Arrows show differences in the anterior edge: black for posterior edge (convex), red for ventral one (W-shape). 80. Structure in the papillae anales of some species like T. ortaloides stat. rev. in lateral view (left) and ventral view (right). Arrow indicates invaginations on membrane attached to ventro-lateral sides of papillae anales. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURES 81–85. Thereus species of the genena group and other similar Lycaenidae species that could be confused with in the field. 81. Thereus praxioides sp. nov., male, French Guiana (picture courtesy of Pascal Bonin). 82. Thereus near endera, in copula, Bolivia (picture courtesy of Gottfried Siebel). 83. Thereus antecum sp. nov., female feeding on Cordia schomburgkii, French Guiana (picture courtesy of Alexandre Vinot). 84. Rekoa stagira (Hewitson), female, French Guiana (picture courtesy of Stéphane Brûlé). 85. Strephonota cyllarissus (Herbst), female, French Guiana (picture courtesy of Jean-Yves Gallard).

FIGURES 86–87. Geographic distribution of the species of Thereus belonging to the genena group (question mark for imprecise data placed in the center of the province/state, circle for mounted specimen data, square for iNaturalist data). 86. T. ortalus, T. ortaloides stat. rev. (), T. confusus sp. nov., T. praxis, T. praxioides sp. nov. 87. T. endera, T. angulus stat. rev., T. cacao sp. nov., T. geminus sp. nov.