Pedaliodes piletha subsp. costae Viloria & Pyrcz, n. ssp.

Abstract

Pedaliodes piletha costae Viloria & Pyrcz n. ssp. (Figs. 7, 8, 62) Diagnosis: This subspecies differs immediately from the nominate P. piletha, P. suspiro Adams & Bernard, and P. japhleta Butler in the absence of HWD white anal wedge. Description: MALE (Fig. 7): Head: eyes chocolate brown; palpi covered ventrally with blackish-brown, and laterally with short, yellow hair; antennae to two-fifth the length of costa, reddish-brown, club slightly thicker than shaft, terminal segments dark brown. Thorax: black; legs dark brown. Abdomen: dark brown, ventrally slightly lighter. Wings: FW length: 25–27 mm; mean: 26.2 mm; n= 8; apex blunt, outer margin wavy between apex and vein M 2, from M 2 to tornus straight. HW rounded with outer margin slightly wavy. FWD: uniform dark brown, lustrous. HWD: uniform dark brown. FWV: dark brown, glossy in median area with a chestnut orange sheen; in some individuals a faint postdiscal whitish streak. HWV: dark brown, dull and a shade darker than on the HWV; a short whitish streak at mid-costa; postmedian to submarginal area very slightly lighter and suffused with sparse whitish scales; a white submarginal dot in Cu 1 -Cu 2. Male genitalia (Fig. 62): Uncus stout and short, two-thirds the length of tegumen, with a sharp apex curved downwards, slightly broader than in the nominate P. piletha, otherwise similar; valvae roughly rectangular, apex blunt, dorsa without any prominent dorsal process, instead a single, minute spine, slightly smoother than the serrate dorsal surface of the nominate P. piletha; saccus deeper than in the nominate P. piletha; aedeagus thin and contorted similar to the nominate subspecies. FEMALE (Fig. 8): Head, thorax and abdomen as in male. FW length 23 mm. FWD and HWD: uniform chocolate brown, lustrous. FWV: ground color blackish brown, suffused with ligther, chestnut scales in distal one-third; whitish scales in the subapical and apical area; a large, faint, red patch in the postmedian area. HWV: chocolate brown and chestnut forming a marble-like pattern, with a wide chestnut postmedian band; two whitish submarginal dots in Cu 1 -Cu 2 and Cu 2 - 1 A; some whitish suffusion along anal margin. Female genitalia: not illustrated. Types: Holotype (male): Venezuela, Estado Carabobo, 15 km. North of Bejuma, Cerro San Isidro, 1550– 1600 m, 10. VII. 2003, T. Pyrcz leg., to be deposited in MIZA; Allotype (female): same locality, 27.IX. 2002, M. Costa leg., MZUJ; Paratypes (11 males and 2 females): CARABOBO: 6 males: same data as the holotype, TWP; 1 male and 1 female: Bejuma, Cerro S. Isidro, Venezuela, 1600 m, 24.VIII. 2003, M. Costa leg., MCC; 1 female: same data but 27.X. 2002, MCC; 3 males: Palmichal, Cerro de Paja, ridgetop path, 1500–1600 m, 27.X. 2002 A. Neild leg., AFNL; 2 males: Municipio Bejuma, Cerro de Paja, 1500 m, 02.XI. 2001, J. C. Desousa leg., TWP. Etymology: This species is dedicated to Mauro Costa, a lepidopterist from Caracas, and incidentally refers to the geographical name of the Cordillera de la Costa range (costa means coast, in Spanish). Geographic range: Hitherto known exclusively from the western part of the Serranía del Litoral. Altitudinal range: 1500–1600 m. Remarks: P. piletha belongs to a group of closely related, apparently monophyletic species including P. poesia (Hewitson), P. japhleta and P. suspiro, all sharing a broadly similar male genitalia structure and color patterns. HWV patterns of P. piletha piletha and P. piletha costae are widely divergent and indeed differ more than the color patterns of nominate P. p i l e t h a and the above mentioned related allopatric species. P. piletha costae is the only taxon of this group which has no HWV white anal wedge, which is the most conspicuous color pattern element. On the other hand, the two subspecies of P. piletha are consistently smaller than other taxa of this apparently monophyletic group. The reason for considering costa and piletha as conspecific are also closely similar male genitalia, and androconia (size and shape of FWD androconial patch). There are some ecological differences between the subspecies of P. p i l e t h a, as costa occurs in the lower section of cloud forests, around 1500–1600 m, whereas the nominate is usually found at considerably higher elevations, usually above 1800 m. A few individuals of P. piletha were, however, collected at 1400–1500 m along the Maracay-Choroní road, indicating that it occurs occasionally within the same altitudinal range as the western subspecies.Published as part of Viloria, Angel L., Pyrcz, Tomasz W. & Orellana, Andrés, 2010, A survey of the Neotropical montane butterflies of the subtribe Pronophilina (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) in the Venezuelan Cordillera de la Costa, pp. 1-41 in Zootaxa 2622 on page 16, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19811