Neohesperilla Waterhouse & Lyell 1914
Creators: name: Toussaint, Emmanuel F. A.
name: Braby, Michael F.
name: Müller, Chris J.
name: Petrie, Edward A.
name: Kawahara, Akito Y.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Hesperiidae
Neohesperilla

description: Neohesperilla Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914 syn. nov.
Type species: Toxidia thyrrhus Mabille, 1891 (by monotypy).
Remarks
Braby (2010: p. 26) remarked ‘The genus Toxidia comprises a divergent assemblage of taxa [currently nine species] that have probably been grouped together more for convenience than on phylogenetic grounds.’ Notably, he pointed out that the genus Neohesperilla on available evidence is poorly defined; the known morphological characters do not distinguish it from Toxidia (see Braby, 2000). Moreover, the morphology of the larva and pupa, general biology and larval food plants of Neohesperilla (Johnson et al., 1994) are similar to those of Toxidia (Crosby, 1973; Atkins, 1988; Wood & Muller, 2003; Jenkinson, 2009). For example, in both taxa the head of the final instar larva is black and finely pitted or rugose, and the head of the pupa is sclerotized and rounded, lacking a prominent projection. Currently, four species are referred to Neohesperilla, but phylogenetic analysis of this genus has, until now, been lacking to establish its systematic relationship and determine whether Neohesperilla should be maintained or synonymized with Toxidia.
In the phylogeny generated in the present study, Toxidia was paraphyletic and polyphyletic with regard to Neohesperilla and Signeta, respectively. Although Neohesperilla comprised a monophyletic lineage, it was embedded within a larger clade that consisted of six other species of Toxidia, while the two species of Signeta formed a monophyletic group with two other species of Toxidia (Toxidia peron and Toxidia melania) that was sister to the remaining species of Toxidia plus Neohesperilla.
Given the strong phylogenetic relationships uncovered in the present work, previous morphological studies, and the lack of clear synapomorphies by which to distinguish Neohesperilla from Toxidia, we synonymize Neohesperilla under Toxidia. The issue of polyphyly with regard to Signeta is dealt with below, in which we remove two species from Toxidia. Thus, the nomenclature, new combinations and synonyms recognized for the revised 11 species of Toxidia and their constituent subspecies are as follows:
Toxidia arfakensis (Joicey & Talbot, 1917)
Toxidia inornata (Butler, 1883)
Toxidia inornata inornata (Butler, 1883)
= Hesperia maykora Plötz, 1885
= Telesto uniformis Swinhoe, 1905
Toxidia inornata sekara (Plötz, 1885)
= Toxidia damora Fruhstorfer, 1911
Toxidia inornata anga Evans, 1949
Toxidia andersoni (Kirby, 1893)
Toxidia rietmanni (Semper, [1879])
Toxidia rietmanni rietmanni (Semper, [1879])
= Telesto extranea Plötz, 1884
= Telesto leucostigma Meyrick & Lower, 1902
Toxidia rietmanni parasema (Lower, 1908)
Toxidia doubledayi (C. Felder, 1862)
= Telesto leachii C. Felder, 1862
= Carystus vallio Mabille, 1883
Toxidia thyrrhus Mabille, 1891
= Telesto bathrophora Meyrick & Lower, 1902 Toxidia parvula (Plötz, 1884)
= Hesperilla humilis Miskin, 1889
= Hesperilla ismene Anderson & Spry, 1894
Toxidia xanthomera (Meyrick & Lower, 1902) comb. nov.
Toxidia senta (Miskin, 1891) comb. nov.
Toxidia xiphiphora (Lower, 1911) comb. nov.
Toxidia crocea (Miskin, 1889) comb. nov.
= Hesperilla satulla Mabille, 1891
The larvae of Toxidia feed exclusively on Poaceae.
description: Published as part of Toussaint, Emmanuel F. A., Braby, Michael F., Müller, Chris J., Petrie, Edward A. & Kawahara, Akito Y., 2022, Molecular phylogeny, systematics and generic classification of the butterfly subfamily Trapezitinae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea: Hesperiidae), pp. 1407-1421 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 195 on pages 1416-1417, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab086, http://zenodo.org/record/6993012