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| Amiga Nakahara, Willmott & Espeland [upper] Amiga arnaca indianacristoi ssp. n. in nature, Altos de Pipe, Miranda, Venezuela
[lower]
i A. arnaca adela from Costa Rica, male; j A. arnaca adela from Costa Rica, female;
k A. arnaca adela from W Ecuador, holotype male; l A. arnaca adela from W Ecuador, female;
m A. arnaca sericeella, male from Mexico; n A. arnaca sericeella from Mexico, female;
o A. arnaca indianacristoi from NW Venezuela, paratype male; p A. arnaca indianacristoi from N Venezuela, paratype female.
in Nakahara, Lamas, Tyler, Marín, Huertas, et al., 2019.
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Abstract
We here propose a new, monotypic genus, Amiga Nakahara, Willmott & Espeland, gen. n., to harbor a common Neotropical butterfly, described as Papilio arnaca Fabricius, 1776, and hitherto placed in the genus Chloreuptychia Forster, 1964. Recent and ongoing molecular phylogenetic research has shown Chloreuptychia to be polyphyletic, with C. arnaca proving to be unrelated to remaining species and not readily placed in any other described genus. Amiga arnaca gen. n. et comb. n. as treated here is a widely distributed and very common species ranging from southern Mexico to southern Brazil. A neotype is designated for the names Papilio arnaca and its junior synonym, Papilio ebusa Cramer, 1780, resulting in the treatment of the latter name as a junior objective synonym of the former. A lectotype is designated for Euptychia sericeella Bates, 1865, which is treated as a subspecies, Amiga arnaca sericeella (Bates, 1865), comb. n. et stat. n., based on molecular and morphological evidence. We also describe two new taxa, Amiga arnaca adela Nakahara & Espeland, ssp. n. and Amiga arnaca indianacristoi Nakahara & Marín, ssp. n., new subspecies from the western Andes and eastern Central America, and northern Venezuela, respectively.
Keywords: DNA barcodes, Euptychiina, species delimitation, subspecies, systematics, taxonomy
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| Figure 2. Amiga arnaca spp. specimens spanning its range (dorsal on left, ventral on right): a nominotypical subspecies from Suriname, neotype male (USNM) b nominotypical subspecies from Guyana, female (FLMNH-MGCL 263373) c nominotypical subspecies from E Ecuador, male (FLMNH-MGCL 257121) d nominotypical subspecies from Peru, female (FLMNH-MGCL 262953); e nominotypical subspecies from N Brazil, male (FLMNH-MGCL1036223) f Nominotypical subspecies from N Brazil, female (FLMNH-MGCL 207984) g Nominotypical subspecies from SE Brazil, male (FLMNH-MGCL 1036213); h nominotypical subspecies from SE Brazil, female (FLMNH-MGCL 1036218) i A. arnaca adela from Costa Rica, male (FLMNH-MGCL 207991) j A. arnaca adela from Costa Rica, female (FLMNH-MGCL 207992) k A. arnaca adela from W Ecuador, holotype male (FLMNH-MGCL 151127) l A. arnaca adela from W Ecuador, female (FLMNH-MGCL 257087) m A. arnaca sericeella, male from Mexico (FLMNH-MGCL 207900) n A. arnaca sericeella from Mexico, female (FLMNH-MGCL 207896) o A. arnaca indianacristoi from NW Venezuela, paratype male (FLMNH-MGCL 263107) p A. arnaca indianacristoi from N Venezuela, paratype female (FLMNH-MGCL 1036235). |
Amiga Nakahara, Willmott & Espeland, gen. n.
Papilio arnaca Fabricius, 1776,
by present designation
Systematic placement and diagnosis:
Espeland et al. (2019) recovered Amiga arnaca comb. n. as sister to the “Pareuptychia clade”, whose composition partially corresponded to that found in Peña et al. (2010), with a high support (BS and PP > 0.95). The “Pareuptychia clade” itself was also well supported (BS and PP > 0.95), including Satyrotaygetis satyrina (Bates, 1865), Magneuptychia inani (Staudinger, [1886]), Euptychoides albofasciata (Hewitson, 1869), Neonympha areolatus (Smith, 1797), Erichthodes antonina (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867), Pareuptychia ocirrhoe (Fabricius, 1776), Megeuptychia antonoe (Cramer, 1775), Splendeuptychia doxes (Godart, [1824]), Nhambikuara mima (Butler, 1867), and Euptychoides eugenia (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867). Amiga gen. n. is distinguished from all members of the “Pareuptychia clade” by the presence of bluish-lilac coloration on the dorsal hindwing and by the purplish sheen in the tornal half of the VHW. Furthermore, the absence of cornuti and membranous lamella antevaginalis of Amiga gen. n. appear to be unusual character states among the clade. The type species of Chloreuptychia, Papilio chloris Cramer, 1780 (= Chloreuptychia chlorimene) was recovered as sister to a moderately supported (BS and PP > 0. 75 < 0. 95), clade including the “Pareuptychia clade”, “Taygetis clade”, “Splendeuptychia clade” and “Archeuptychia clade”.
Etymology: The new generic name is derived from the feminine Spanish noun “amiga”, meaning “a (female) friend”, alluding to the fact that this is a common, familiar butterfly. The generic name is regarded as feminine.
Distribution: This genus ranges from southern Mexico throughout virtually all of tropical Central and South America, where its southernmost distribution appears to be southern Brazil.
Taxonomy:
Amiga gen. n. is regarded as monotypic, with total of four subspecies recognized, of which two are named and described herein.
Amiga Nakahara, Willmott & Espeland, gen. n.
(– denotes a subspecies, – – denotes a synonym)
Amiga arnaca (Fabricius, 1776) comb. n.
– –ebusa (Cramer, 1780)
– –priamis (D’Almeida, 1922)
Amiga arnaca adela Nakahara & Espeland, ssp. n.
Amiga arnaca sericeella (Bates, 1865) comb. n. et stat. n.
Amiga arnaca indianacristoi Nakahara & Marín, ssp. n.
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| Figure 7. Amiga arnaca indianacristoi ssp. n. in nature, Altos de Pipe, Miranda, Venezuela
(photographed by Indiana Cristóbal Ríos-Málaver,
on 11 September 2011).
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Amiga arnaca indianacristoi Nakahara & Marín, subsp. n.
Etymology: This new species-group name is proposed in recognition of our friend and colleague, Indiana Cristóbal Ríos-Málaver, known as “Indiana Cristo”, who studied the butterflies of the area where this taxon occurs. Indiana Cristo has contributed to Neotropical lepidopterology in various ways, especially through social media, where he is bringing lepidopterology to the public. This species-group name is treated as a latinized masculine noun in the genitive case.
Distribution: This taxon occurs in the Venezuelan Cordillera de la Costa and northwestern Cordillera de Mérida, and possibly also into the Serranía de Perijá.
Shinichi Nakahara, Gerardo Lamas, Stephanie Tyler, Mario Alejandro Marín, Blanca Huertas, Keith R. Willmott, Olaf H. H. Mielke and Marianne Espeland. 2019. A Revision of the New Genus Amiga Nakahara, Willmott & Espeland, gen. n., described for Papilio arnaca Fabricius, 1776 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae). ZooKeys. 821: 85-152. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.821.31782
