Friday, November 11, 2016

[Entomology • 2016] Magneuptychia pax • A Remarkable New Butterfly Species (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) from western Amazonia


Magneuptychia pax 
Huertas, Lamas, Fagua & Willmott, 2016 

proaves.org

Abstract

 A distinctive new species of butterfly in the subtribe Euptychiina (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae), which is widespread throughout the upper Amazon in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, is here described. The species is provisionally placed in the genus Magneuptychia Forster, 1964, although this is likely to change as the higher level taxonomy of Euptychiina is resolved and the genus is reviewed in detail. 

Keywords: Systematics, Euptychiina, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador. 



Magneuptychia pax sp. nov. Huertas, Lamas, Fagua & Willmott

‘Euptychia’? sp.: D’Abrera 1988: 786-787, figs. (Peru? Ecuador).
Magneuptychia sp. n. 1: Lamas, Robbins & Harvey. [1997]: 65.
Magneuptychia [n. sp.]: Lamas, 2004: 220 (no. 1416).
Magneuptychia sp. 3: Piñas, 2004: 34, figs. 271-272. 


Distribution: Magneuptychia pax n. sp. has been found to date only in a limited area of western Amazonia, where it is confirmed from specimens collected in Colombia (north to Caquetá), Ecuador and Peru (south to Loreto). All known localities are situated within 4 degrees of the Equator, suggesting a specialisation to warmer habitats within western Amazonia. This species is known to range from 115 to 300 metres above sea level (Fig. 3).

 Etymology: The name pax is the nominative singular of a third declension Latin noun, meaning ‘peace’. The name is non-variable. Magneuptychia pax n. sp. is dedicated to the peace process in Colombia and to every person affected there by a conflict that has lasted more than five decades, including in the remote forests that this butterfly inhabits. This dedication is made in the hope that a lasting peace agreement can be reached and to focus attention on the need for conservation of Amazon forests and improvement in conditions for research and scientific discovery in that region. 



Blanca Huertas, Gerardo Lamas, Giovanny Fagua, James Mallet, Shinichi Nakahara and Keith Willmott. 2016. A Remarkable New Butterfly Species from western Amazonia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae).  [Una notable nueva especie de mariposa de la Amazonía occidental (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)]. Conservación Colombiana. No. 24 – 27; 5-11. 

Discovery of a new species of butterfly for science


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