Dyscophellus porcius porcius

Austin, George T., 2008, Hesperiidae of Rondônia, Brazil: Taxonomic comments on “ night ” skippers, with descriptions of new genera and species (Lepidoptera: Eudaminae), Insecta Mundi 2008 (29), pp. 1-36 : 19

Dyscophellus porcius porcius (C. and R. Felder, 1862)

( Fig. 56-57, 59-60 , 98 , 105 , 127 )

Dyscophellus porcius from Rondônia (male mean FW length = 26.7 mm [24.9-28.0, n = 10]) seem typical (e.g., see Cock and Alston-Smith 1990). The dorsal color varies in the brightness of the red-brown and in the definition of the darker brown margins, the latter a function of the intensity of red-brown overscaling. There is slight variation in the size of the discal cell macules on both the forewing and hindwing and considerable variation in the size and definition of and the amount of white within the macules on the ventral hindwing.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 98 ) of Rondonian material are like those illustrated by Godman and Salvin (1879 - 1901) as Dyscophellus doriscus (Hewitson, 1867) and Hayward (1948), but do not show the recurved harpe as illustrated by Evans (1952). The genitalia of a single female of what is possibly D. porcius (from Costa Rica, but see Miller et al. 2006) were examined ( Fig. 105 ). The lamella postvaginalis slopes laterad from a shallow V-shaped central indentation, the lamella antevaginalis has two large lateral plates without serrations or spines and a short central portion having a pair of short lateral lobes extending caudad, and a broad sclerotized antrum followed by a membranous tube joining the side of the broadly oval ductus bursae cephalad of its caudal end, this constricting slightly cephalad before an oblong corpus bursae. The caudal end of the ductus bursae has a weakly sclerotized plate with its posterio-lateral corners as heavily sclerotized points.

Two additional phenotypes of female Dyscophellus were examined from Costa Rica that could not be placed with certainty into this species. One (FW length = 31.1 mm), which may be Dyscophellus sebaldus (Stoll, 1781) , superficially resembles the female of D. porcius ( Fig. 33, 36 ), but the forewing is more produced, the large forewing macules are different in size and shape, and, on the ventral hindwing, the submarginal macules are margined distad by dark macules with scattered white scales. This female has the lamella postvaginalis produced into two caudal lobes separated by a U-shaped central notch ( Fig. 106 ). The lateral plates of the lamella antevaginalis are narrow with a weakly serrated caudal edge and the central portion is short and quadrate. The sclerotized antrum is short.

The other phenotype (FW length = 30.2 mm), possibly D. diaphorus , is red-brown, becoming gradually browner towards the margins ( Fig. 38-39 ). The macules are small, nearly as small as on D. ramon . The lamella postvaginalis of this female ( Fig. 110 ) has a nearly quadrate caudal edge with a narrow Ushaped central notch; a lamella antevaginalis with the broad lateral plates having a serrated caudal edge and a central portion that is long, rectangular, and slightly notched on its caudal edge; and a short membranous tube caudad of the sclerotized antrum with a rectangular sclerotized plate at its junction with the ductus bursae just cephalad of its caudal end. The ductus bursae is bulbous caudad, but narrows to a long tube before the globular corpus bursae. This is the only species of Dyscophellus on which this long tubular portion of the ductus bursae has been seen.

Dyscophellus porcius is uncommon in central Rondônia, with records scattered through the year ( Fig. 127 ). This species is wide ranging from southern Mexico to Paraguay and southern Brazil ( Hoffmann 1941, Evans 1952, Cock and Alston-Smith 1990, Brown 1992, de la Maza and Gutiérrez 1992, Mielke and Casagrande 1997, Warren 2000, Luis et al. 2004).

Figures

Figure 50-61. Dyscophellus (from BRAZIL: Rondônia, unless noted otherwise; dorsum and venter of same specimens). 50, 53) D. erythras male, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 17 Aug 1993. 51, 54) D. erythras female, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 19 Nov 1992. 52, 55) D. erythras female, 5 km S of Cacaulândia, 23 Oct 1994. 56, 59) D. porcius porcius male, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 12 Nov 1994. 57, 60) D. porcius porcius female, COSTA RICA: Puntarenas Prov.; Manual Antonio, 20 Sep 1987. 58, 61) D. phraxanor female, ECUADOR: Pichincha Prov.; Hotel Tinalandia, 8 May 1988.

Figure 98-103. Male genitalia of Dyscophellus (from BRAZIL: Rondônia, unless noted otherwise). Structures shown are lateral, dorsal, and ventral views of tegumen, uncus, gnathos, and associated structures; lateral internal view of right valva; lateral view of aedeagus and associated structures; and ventral view of transtilla and juxta. 98) D. porcius porcius (GTA #3419). 99) D. erythras (GTA #1787). 100) D. diaphorus (GTA #3916). 101) D. mielkei (GTA #2879). 102) D. ramon (GTA #3363), COSTA RICA. 103) D. porsena (GTA #3204).

Figure 104-110. Female genitalia (ventral view) of Dyscophellus and Sarmientoia (from BRAZIL: Rondônia, unless noted otherwise). 104) D. phraxanor, ECUADOR (GTA #7210). 105) D. porcius porcius, COSTA RICA (GTA #7201). 106) Dyscophellus sp. (D. sebaldus?), COSTA RICA (GTA #7205). 107) S. similis (GTA #7224). 108) D. erythras (GTA #7206). 109) D. ramon, COSTA RICA (GTA #7208). 110) Dyscophellus sp. (D. diaphorus?), COSTA RICA (GTA #7209).

Figure 125-130. Phenology of some night skippers from central Rondônia, Brazil. 125-126) Bungalotis species. 127) Dyscophellus species. 128) Salatis salatisand Sarmientoia similis. 129) Nicephellus nicephorus and Euriphellus euribates. 130) Pseudonascus paulliniae and Nascus species.

Figure 26-37. Salatis, Sarmientoia, and Dyscophellus (from BRAZIL: Rondônia, unless noted otherwise; dorsum and venter of same specimens). 26-27) Salatis salatis male, 3 km E of Fazenda Rancho Grande, 15 Jun 1993. 28, 31) Salatis salatis male, 5 km S of Cacaulândia, 18 Apr 1995. 29-30) Sarmientoia similis male, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 20 Apr 1991. 32, 35) Sarmientoia similis female, 5 km S of Cacaulândia, 27 Mar 1994. 33, 36) Dyscophellus sp. (D. sebaldus?) female, COSTA RICA: Heredia Prov.; Chilamate, 22 Mar 1989. 34, 37) D. diaphorus male, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 9 Jun 1993.

Figure 38-49. Dyscophellus, Nicephellus, and Euriphellus (from BRAZIL: Rondônia, unless noted otherwise; dorsum and venter of same specimens). 38-39) Dyscophellus sp. (D. diaphorus?) female, COSTA RICA: Alajuela Prov.; Upala Rd., 18.3 km S of Upala, 22 Sep 1987. 40, 43) N. nicephorus female, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 21 Sep 1992. 41-42) N. nicephorus male, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 13 May 1995. 44-45) E. euribates euribates male, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 5 Dec 1991. 46, 49) E. euribates euribates female, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 10 Nov 1995. 47-48) D. mielkei male, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 16 Nov 1994.