Blepolenis bassus C. Felder & R. Felder 1867
Creators: name: Penz, Carla M.
name: Mohammadi, Neda
name: Wahlberg, Niklas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Nymphalidae
Blepolenis
Blepolenis bassus

description: Blepolenis bassus (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867)
Fig. 1 A–D, 2A–C
Diagnosis. Forewing length of male 3.61–3.89 cm (mean = 3.77, n = 5), and female 4.09–4.32 cm (mean = 4.2, n = 3). Dorsal forewing basal to medial areas pale yellow, notably lighter in color than B. batea and B. catharinae, and usually outlined distally by an orange tinge. Ventral forewing brown postmedial band often thinner than those of B. batea and B. catharinae; this band is thicker from M1 to the middle of the Cu1 cell, becoming thinner and with a zigzag pattern from there to 1A+2A (the zigzag pattern corresponds to the edge of the yellow area on the dorsal surface). Dorsal hind wing yellow area pale such that the underside pattern is visible dorsally, brown band form the postmedial to marginal area narrower than in B. batea and B. catharinae, usually interspersed by pale yellow spots. Females similar to males except for the better defined dorsal marginal and submarginal pale yellow spots on both wings.
Genitalia. Given the smaller size of this species, both the male and female genitalia are proportionately smaller than those of B. batea and B. catharinae. Male specimens (three dissections, two without locality data) varied in the width of the distal half of the valva, and also the number of subterminal spines at the dorsal edge (Fig. 2 A, B). Female sterigma with long lateral arms, and a longer and narrower midline lobe than those in B. batea and B. catharinae (but only one female was dissected). Corpus bursa oval shaped, with paired signa, and constricted at the meeting point with the narrow ductus bursa (Fig. 2 C).
Distribution. Brazil, Atlantic forest, São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul.
Variation and subspecies. Some variation in wing color has been identified, such as the size of the pale yellow spots at the dorsal hind wing margin (see males in Fig. 1 A and D, and females in Fig. 1 B and C). As noted by Fruhstorfer (1912) the association of wing color with subspecific forms seems arbitrary. This probably led to Casagrande’s (2004) proposal that B. bassus luteipenis (Butler, 1874) be considered a synonym of the nominal subspecies. We note that two females from Campos do Jordão, São Paulo state (Fig. 1 C), appear to be darker orange in color, and with larger pale yellow spots at the dorsal hind wing margin than those from more southern localities (Fig. 1 B). Mirna Casagrande (pers. comm.) notes that females of B. bassus may vary in color within the same population.
Natural history notes. Fruhstorfer (1912) indicated that B. bassus is commonly found with B. batea, and that unlike the latter, B. bassus “ventures even in the greatest heat of the day on to sunny grass-lands with scattered bushes.” Andre Freitas (pers. comm.) observed B. bassus ovipositing on grass in Capão Bonito (Fazenda Intervales), São Paulo state, but the early stages of B. bassus remain unknown.
description: Published as part of Penz, Carla M., Mohammadi, Neda & Wahlberg, Niklas, 2011, Neotropical Blepolenis butterflies: wing pattern elements, phylogeny, and Pleistocene diversification (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae), pp. 1-17 in Zootaxa 2897 on pages 7-8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.205026