Lamprospilus decorata subsp. valluna Prieto & Faynel & Lorenc-Brudecka 2023, ssp. nov.
Creators: name: Prieto, Carlos
name: Faynel, Christophe
name: Lorenc-Brudecka, Jadwiga
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Lycaenidae
Lamprospilus
Lamprospilus decorata
Lamprospilus decorata valluna

description: Lamprospilus decorata valluna ssp. nov. Prieto & Faynel
(Figures 7, 8, 23, 32)
Type material. Holotype male: RCCP: COLOMBIA, Valle del Cauca, Aguacatal, Cerro Brisas, 1970 m, 08/08/2004, specimen number: m217
Paratypes (n = 9): 3 males, RCCP: same locality as holotype, 06/08/2005, specimen numbers: m476, m477, m478; 2 males, RCCP: same locality as holotype, 09/08/2005, specimen numbers: m494, m495; 2 males, RCCP: same locality as holotype, specimen numbers: m262, m263; 1male, RCCP: same locality as holotype, specimen number: m528; 1 male, RCCP: same locality as holotype, 22/08/2005, specimen number: m537; 5 males, HNHM: same locality as holotype, 1940 m, 5–20/08/2005, Prieto leg.
Description:
Male: Wings. Forewing average costal length measured from wing base to apex 15.6 mm (n = 7). Hindwing with a short black tail with white tip at the end of vein CuA 1, and with an additional tail two times longer at the end of vein CuA 2; dorsal forewing surface and borders black, with white scales forming short bands between veins M 3 and CuA 2 and another bigger and irregular white band between CuA 2 and wing basal margin; dorsal hind wing surface black on the margin and greyish basally, a large conspicuous wide white band crossing the medial zone from the Costa to the vein CuA 2, two very conspicuous and quadrangular bright blue spots on the hind wing margin, one between the veins CuA 1 and CuA 2 and another between CuA 2 and 2A. Ventral forewing surface light brown, with a conspicuous 3 mm wide white band crossing the wing from the Costa to the vein CuA 2, and another displaced irregular quadrangular white band between veins CuA 2 and 2A. Submarginal white line crossing the ventral forewing from the R 2 to 2A veins; ventral hindwing surface light brown, a large conspicuous wide white band crossing the medial zone from the Costa to the vein CuA 2. A thin white line forming the typical “W” shaped pattern of the Theclinae. Black spot surrounded by orange scales in CuA 1 -CuA 2 accompanied by another small black spot at tornus (Figure 7).
Male genitalia: Brush organs absent, gnathos short and robust with a bifid tip and a well-developed tooth in the internal part of the turn. Saccus slender and rectangular in shape (Figure 23).
Female: Wings. Forewing average costal length measured from wing base to apex 16.2 mm (n = 9); dorsal wing surface ground color shiny blue with a wide black border reaching half of the discal cell from the costal edge. Dorsal hindwing surface shiny blue with a wide black border not reaching the discal cell. Ventral wing pattern as illustrated (Figure 8).
Etymology: This subspecies is named after the Colombian toponymic term meaning “pertaining or related to the department of Valle del Cauca ”, and is treated as a feminine adjective.
Diagnosis: The medial band of the forewing ventral side is broader in L. decorata valluna ssp. nov. than in the nominotypical subspecies. We found no other conspicuous wing pattern elements distinguishing this subspecies from the nominotypical subspecies described from Peru (BIN: AEB8254) despite the high intersubspecific mean genetic distance being 3.93% (n = 11 comparisons of barcodes> 600 bp). Based on previous data (Prieto et al. 2021), a distance of more than 4% often indicates specific separation in many Eumaeini genera.
Distribution: Colombia in the Aguacatal river basin on the Western Cordillera near Cali, in Valle del Cauca, and in Quinchía, in Risaralda. Altitudinal range 1800–2000 m.
Remarks: Males are commonly observed flying on a hilltop in clearings between branches of trees 7–10-m in height in Cerro Brisas, Aguacatal. They were observed to be active between 12:40 and 14:00 hours. Females were found crossing the male territories or in clearings on the hill slopes.
description: Published as part of Prieto, Carlos, Faynel, Christophe & Lorenc-Brudecka, Jadwiga, 2023, Integrative description of two new species and two new subspecies of Lamprospilus Geyer (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), pp. 145-159 in Zootaxa 5244 (2) on page 153, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5244.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7656055