Libythea cinyras Trimen 1866

Kawahara, Akito Y., 2013, <strong> Systematic revision and review of the extant and fossil snout butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Libytheinae) </ strong>, Zootaxa 3631 (1), pp. 1-74 : 13-14

Libythea cinyras Trimen 1866 , revised status

( Figs. 54 , 77, 78 )

Libythea cinyras Trimen 1866: 337 .

Libythea (Dichora) cinyras: Pagenstecher 1901: 12 .

Dichora cinyras: Hering 1921: 273 .

Libythea (Dichora) cinyras cinyras: Peters 1952: 90 .

Libythea cyniras [sic] d’Abrera 1980: 409.

Libythea laius cinyras Shields 1984a: 265 .

Libythea labdaca cinyras Okano 1987: 3 .

Libythea cinyras Kawahara 2006a: 17 [nomen nudum].

Diagnosis. Libythea cinyras is sister species to L. narina by sharing the presence of a discrete triangular mark in the Sc + R 1 cell of hindwing. Libythea cinyras can be distinguished from the latter species by having a dorsal wing surface that is orange and brown, whereas the dorsal wing surface of L. narina is white and dark brown.

Type Examined. Holotype, [sex unknown]: MAURITIUS: Moka district: 25-VII-1865 ( BMNH).

Distribution. Mauritius.

Biology. Nothing is known about host plants or biology of this species ( Kawahara 2006a).

Remarks. Libythea cinyras is only known from the holotype, which is missing the head and abdomen. The sex is unknown, as the forelegs and abdomen are missing. Trimen (1866) noted that a similar specimen was collected in Madagascar and deposited in the South African Museum, however, this specimen was not found ( Kawahara 2006a).

Shields (1984a) believed that cinyras was a subspecies of laius , while Okano (1987) treated cinyras as a subspecies of labdaca , but I follow Pagenstecher (1901, 1902, 1911), Mengel (1905), Smart (1975), and d’Abrera (1980) and treat this taxon as a separate species because the forewing dorsum of cinyras lacks two significant marks that are present in both labdaca and laius : a pale mark in 1A + 2A and a triangular mark arising from the wing base of the discal cell. Furthermore, the hindwing dorsal band is significantly wider and more orange in cinyras than labdaca or laius . Libythea cinyras is presumed to be extinct (Kawahara 2009); its closest relative is L. narina , and the two species are sister taxa and share the presence of a discrete triangular mark in cell Sc + R 1 of the hindwing. A similarly colored species, Neptis dumetorum (Boisduval, 1833) occurs on the island of Réunion, but the shape of its forewing and orange hindwing band differs from L. cinyras .

Figures

FIGURES 54−62. Wing venation of Libythea and Libytheana. Fine lines indicate margins of wing markings; 54. Libythea cinyras; 55. Libythea collenettei; 56. Libythea geoffroyi; 57. Libythea labdaca; 58. Libythea laius; 59. Libythea lepita; 58. Libythea myrrha; 60. Libythea narina; 61. Libytheana florissanti.

FIGURES 69−84. Right dorsal and ventral wing surfaces of Libythea. The second image of each specimen shows the ventral surface of the wings. 69, 70. Libythea celtis (Laicharting): ♂, Russia, Kirgizia, Kirgizaskii Ridge, Ala−Archa, Ak−Sai (TFC); 71, 72. Libythea celtis (Laicharting): ♀, France, St. Maxime (BMNH); 73, 74. Libythea collenettei Riley: ♂, Marquesas Islands, Ua Pou, Poohekaei Summit (BPBM); 75, 76. Libythea collenettei Riley: ♀, Marquesas Islands, Nuku Hiva, Toovi Plateau (BPBM); 77, 78. Libythea cinyras Trimen: Holotype, Mauritius, Moka District (BMNH); 79, 80. Libythea geoffroyi alompra Moore: Holotype ♂, Myanmar, Ataran Valley (BMNH); 81, 82. Libythea geoffroyi ceramensis Wallace: ♂, Indonesia, Seram (BMNH); 83, 84. Libythea geoffroyi ceramensis Wallace: ♀, Indonesia, Seram, Mansuela (BMNH).