Alesa hemiurga Bates 1867
Creators: name: Santos, Wildio Ikaro Da Graça
name: Dolibaina, Diego Rodrigo
name: Dias, Fernando Maia Silva
name: Mielke, Olaf Hermann Hendrik
name: Casagrande, Mirna Martins
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Riodinidae
Alesa
Alesa hemiurga

description: Alesa hemiurga Bates, 1867
Figs 37–38, 46–47, 51, 55, 59, 70, 76, 81, 96
Alesa hemiurga Bates, 1868. Jour. Linn. Soc. 9: 372, 415; Ega, Upper Amazon [=Tefé, Amazonas, Brazil].—Herrich-Schäffer, 1868. Corr.-Blatt. zool.-min. Ver. Regensburg 22: 122.—Kirby, 1871. Syn. Cat. diurn. Lep., p. 287.—Mengel, 1905. Cat. Erycinidae, p. 55.—Stichel, 1915. Dtsch. ent. Ztschr. 1915: 695.— Callaghan & Lamas, 2004, Riodinidae, p. 148, in Lamas (ed.). Checklist: Part 4A. Hesperioidea—Papilionoidea, in Heppner (ed.) Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera 5A. — Hall & Ahrenholz, 2010. Trop. Lep. Res. 20 (1): 21.
Alesa amesis hemiurga; Stichel, 1910, in Wytsman. Gen. Ins. 112A, p. 81.— Seitz, 1916. Groβ-Schmett. Erde 5, p. 652.
Alesa sp. n. aff. amesis [misidentification]; Lamas et al., [1997]. Rev. per. Ent. 39: 66.
Diagnosis. Alesa hemiurga has a wing pattern similar to other members of the “ amesis group”. Males of A. hemiurga can be distinguished from males of A. amesis and A. mariae sp. nov. by the lack of the dark blue iridescence on the wings upper side, and by the irregular discal band on the hindwing underside, whereas they are distinguished from those of A. lipara by the presence of spots and bands present or observed by transparency on the wings upper side. Finally, males of A. hemiurga are distinguished from A. thelydrias by the presence of a purplish sheen on the wings upper side. Females of A. hemiurga are only tentatively identified (see comments section below), differing from females of A. amesis by the absence of dark blue iridescence on the center of the submarginal ocelli on the hindwing upper side, and by the yellowish discal band directed towards the costal margin and not to the ocellus in Rs–M 1 on both sides of the hindwing. There is no notable differences between the putative female of A. hemiurga and A. lipara, except by the smaller wing length of the former, 14,5–15mm.
Type material. Alesa hemiurga was described from an unstated number of specimens from “Ega”, upper Amazon (Tefé, Amazonas, Brazil). To avoid future uncertainty, a male syntype in NMHUK with the following labels is here designated lectotype of Alesa hemiurga Bates, 1868: / Type H. T. / Type. A. hemiurga / Ega, U. Amazons. H. W. Bates. / ♁ / 300 / Alesa hemiurga, Bates. Godman-Salvin Coll. 1913.-2. / BMNH (E) 1717340 /; female: / Type H. T. / Ega, U. Amazons. H. W. Bates. / ♀ / Type. A. hemiurga [verso of the same label:] ♁ Ega / Alesa hemiurga, Bates. Godman-Salvin Coll. 1913.-2. / NHMUK 010242189 /, and the following labels will be added to the specimen: / LECTOTYPUS / Lectotypus Alesa hemiurga Bates, 1868 W. Santos, Dolibaina, Dias, O. Mielke & Casagrande des. 2021 /. Asyntype female also deposited at the NHMUK is here designated paralectotype and will be labeled accordingly.
Distribution. This species is only known from the western Amazon of Brazil (Acre and Amazonas) and Peru (Loreto), although this species is likely to be widespread in throughout the Amazon (Fig. 96).
Comments. Morphology characters support A. hemiurga as being closely relatedto A. lipara and A. thelydrias. As mentioned above, A. hemiurga is superficially more similar to A. lipara, which is also supported by the male genitalia. The intensity of the purplish sheen on the wings upper side of the males of these species varies in A. hemiurga, while the sheen is always evident in A. lipara, and absent in A. thelydrias. Alesa hemiurga was considered a subspecies of A. amesis by Stichel (1910) and Seitz (1916), but as a “form” (i.e. subspecies) of A. lipara by Stichel (1930). However, Callaghan & Lamas (2004), recognized A. hemiurga as a distinct species.
The female of A. hemiurga is probably very similar to the female of A. lipara. Three specimens are here recognized as the putative females of A. hemiurga, a paralectotype of the species and two specimens from Tefé, Amazonas, Brazil (see examined material). One of these three females come from the exact same locality, where males and putative females of A. hemiurga and male and female specimens of A. lipara were collected together, in the same collecting event. In accordance with the average size of males, the putative females of A. hemiurga are smaller than the females of A. lipara; apart from their different sizes, females of A. hemiurga and A. lipara are superficially indistinguishable.
Males of A. hemiurga were collected in the Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor, Acre, Brazil, in a low elevation summit, in the same place where other species of the “ amesis group” were also collected, displaying typical hilltopping behavior in a shaded area, flying fast and resting on leaves of bushes or lianas, about one to one and a half meters above the ground, between 9:00–9:30h.
Examined material. PERU — Loreto: San Roque (W of Iquitos), 1 male, ex. coll. Le Moult (MGCL *). BRAZIL — Amazonas: Tefé (Rio Solimıes), IX.1930, 1 female, ex. coll. Le Moult (MGCL *), 4–6.XII.1987, 1 male, 1 female, O. Mielke & Casagrande leg., DZ 34.976*, DZ 35.266* (DZUP). Acre: Bujari (50 Km NW), 200m, 25.IX.2003, 1 male, Mielke & Casagrande leg., DZ 35.106* (DZUP). Mâncio Lima (Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor, Porç „o Norte), 450m, 7–10,13. X.2018, 2 males, O. Mielke, Casagrande, Dolibaina & Medeiros leg., DZ 44.441*, DZ 44.671* (DZUP). Rondônia: Cacaulândia (Fazenda Rancho Grande), 15.XI.1992, 1 male, G. T. Austin leg., (MGCL).
description: Published as part of Santos, Wildio Ikaro Da Graça, Dolibaina, Diego Rodrigo, Dias, Fernando Maia Silva, Mielke, Olaf Hermann Hendrik & Casagrande, Mirna Martins, 2023, A review of the South American metalmark genus Alesa Doubleday, 1847 (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae: Eurybiini) with the description of two new species, pp. 77-120 in Zootaxa 5284 (1) on pages 114-117, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5284.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7919001