Revalidation of Pedaliodes lithochalcis BUTLER & DRUCE, description of a new species from Peru and Bolivia and of a new subspecies of P. napaea BATES from Honduras (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae : Satyrinae)

Abstract

Pedaliodes lithochalcis, occurring in Costa Rica and Panama, has been considered for more than a century a junior synonym of P. dejecta from Guatemala. It is reinstated here as a valid species. It is shown that the two species belong to different groups of species with sympatric representatives throughout Central America and the Andes characterized by common characters of adult morphology, particularly the male genitalia. Pedaliodes lithochalcis is closely related to P. napaea whose new subspecies, P. napaea naksi n. ssp., is described from the Celaque massif in Honduras. It is the first cloud forest Satyrinae butterfly described from this country. Pedaliodes dejecta is related to another Mesoamerican species, P. ereiba, and to P. pomponia from Ecuador and to a new species, P. peregrina n. sp., from Peru and Bolivia