Corresponding author: Ricardo Russo Siewert (
Academic editor: Carlos Peña
A new species of
The butterfly subtribe
In a recent study based on molecular data,
The genus
Although intraspecific phenotypic variation appears to be common in several
The present paper studied in detail the morphology of male and female genitalia and wing pattern variation of
Dissections of the genitalia were made following standard techniques. The abdomen was removed, soaked in a heated 10% KOH solution for 5 minutes before dissection of the genitalia to analyze its structures. Illustrations were prepared with the aid of a camera lucida attached to a stereoscopic microscope. Genitalia terminology follows
All examined material belongs to the following institutions:
Coleção Entomológica Padre Jesus Santiago Moure, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais taxonomic collection, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Museu de Zoologia Adão José Cardoso, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
André VL Freitas Collection, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde, Dresden, Germany
Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Germany
Holotype male with the following labels (separated by transverse bars): /HOLOTYPUS/
BRAZIL –
Adults of
The specific epithet refers to Drogon, one of the three dragons of Daenerys Targaryen, a fictional character from the George R. R. Martin’s novel “A Song of Ice and Fire”.
(
This species has presumably not been recognized in the past because of the intrinsic phenotypic variation within
BRASIL –
Adults of
(
This is the commonest and more widespread species of the group. The high intraspecific variation observed in
BRASIL –
Adults of
(
Despite its superficial resemblance to
BRAZIL –
Adults of
(
Holotype male with the following labels: /HOLOTYPUS/
BRAZIL –
Adults of
(
The description of
A combination of wing shape and color pattern permits identification of all five species without dissection, and genitalia of both sexes (not included here but discussed in the text) provide diagnostic characters for all species.
1 | Forewing upper side with suffused dark brown marginal band developed ( |
2 |
– | Forewing upper side with suffused dark brown marginal band reduced ( |
3 |
2 | Forewing underside submarginal band constricted at M3 and reduced or absent in CuA1-CuA2 ( |
|
– | Forewing underside submarginal band not constricted at M3 ( |
|
3 | Forewing apex conspicuously pointed ( |
|
– | Forewing apex rounded ( |
4 |
4. | Ventral hind wing with the proximal border of the submarginal band and post discal line straight and regular, forming an even 2 mm wide creamy white fascia; hind wing with projections at CuA1, CuA2 and 2A strongly reduced ( |
|
– | Ventral hind wing with the proximal border of the submarginal band and post discal line irregular, forming an irregular creamy white fascia ( |
Male genitalia of
Female genitalia of
Geographical distribution of the species in the “
The “
The five species treated here can be easily distinguished from one another by wing pattern and genitalia, and two main subgroups can be identified based on morphology - group 1, composed of
Although species in the “
The present study revealed that morphological characters, such as wing shape and pattern, and male and female genitalia, were efficient to provide clear-cut species delimitation. However, further detailed morphological studies on
We are grateful to Gerardo Lamas and Keith Willmott for critical reading of the manuscript. Axel Hausmann (ZSM), Marcelo Duarte (MZUSP), Fernando Silveira (UFMG), Wolfgang Nässig (SMFL), Jessie Pereira dos Santos, Mariana Monteiro de Brito and André Roberto Melo Silva provided additional distributional data and/or information about the type species. R. R. S., T. Z. and F. M. S. D. acknowledge the CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) for research fellowships. A. V. L. F. acknowledges support from FAPESP (Biota-Fapesp – grant 2011/50225-3), from the Brazilian Research Council – CNPq (fellowship 302585/2011-7, and “SISBIOTA-Brasil/CNPq grant 563332/2010-7), and from the National Science Foundation, USA (DEB-1256742).