New Records of High Altitude Actinote (Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae) from Central Brazil Extend the Known Distribution by 650 Km

With 36 described species, the genus Actinote Hübner, [1869] is distributed from Mexico to Argentina, with a marked peak in species richness in the mountains of southeastern Brazil (Francini 1989, 1992, Lamas 2004, Paluch 2006, Neild 2008, Freitas et al. 2018 and references therein). Adults are usually involved in Müllerian and Batesian mimicry complexes with several species of butterflies and moths (Brown 1992). The species in the “orangish red mimicry complex” (Francini 1989) are typical of high altitudes and are mostly restricted to the mountains of southeastern and southern Brazil (Francini 1989, 1992, Paluch 2006, Freitas et al. 2018). With exception of three species (Actinote quadra (Schaus, 1902), Actinote rufina Oberthür, 1917 and Actinote surima (Schaus, 1902)), all of the other six species in this mimicry complex are phylogenetically related and are univoltine (one brood of offspring and one flight period per year), with adults flying during the Austral summer (from late December to early February). On May 25, 2016, a series of 15 Actinote of the “orangish red mimicry complex” were collected in the “Reserva do IBGE” (1115 m altitude), Brasilia, Distrito Federal, in central Brazil. With 1350 ha and altitudes ranging from 1050 to 1068 m a.s. l. , the locality is mostly covered by cerrado savannas interspersed with narrow gallery forests. The climate in the region is seasonal, with a cold dry season from May to September and a warm wet season from October to April (Pereira et al. 1989). All butterflies were collected puddling on mud near a water spring adjacent to a forest patch (15° 56'49" S, 47° 52' 08" W), and have been deposited in the Unicamp Zoology Museum, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Most specimens were identified as A. surima, a common species already recorded for the region (Brown & Mielke 1967, Emery et al. 2006, Pinheiro et al. 2008). The series also included six Actinote conspicua Jordan, 1913 (Fig. 1A) and one Actinote dalmeidai Francini, 1996 (Fig. 1B), identified based on morphology of male genitalia and wing pattern (following Francini & Penz 2006) and confirmed by molecular barcode data (Magaldi & Freitas, unpublished). This is a remarkable discovery because it expands the distribution of these two species by about 650 km (Fig. 2) (data from Paluch 2006, AVLF unpublished), and also represents the only known records for both species in the Central Brazil plateau. It is particularly surprising that neither A. conspicua nor A. dalmeidai have been reported in the region, despite inventory efforts by several researchers and collectors since the 1960’s (Brown & Mielke 1967, Emery et al. 2006). Three reasons could explain why both species have remained overlooked in this otherwise intensively studied region: 1) our sample was collected in the middle of the dry season (suggesting this should be the flight period, since both species are univoltine), a time when butterfly populations reach very low numbers (Freire & Diniz 2015) and researchers are usually not in the field; 2) the flight period of A. conspicua and A. dalmeidai in central Brazil occurred about four months after the known flight season of these species in southeastern and