Euptychia boulleti (Le Cerf) n. comb. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae), a Rare and Endangered Butterfly from Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

This paper discusses the systematic position of the rare and endangered satyrine butterfly Caenoptychia boulleti Le Cerf, the only included species in Caenoptychia (type species), based on adult morphology and molecular data. The results showed that Caenoptychia Le Cerf belongs to the Euptychia Hübner clade, and the genus is synonymized with Euptychia, new synonymy. Euptychia boulleti (Le Cerf) is a new combination. The male genitalia of E. boulleti showed at least one important synapomorphy with the other species of Euptychia, which is the presence of a posterior projection of the tegumen above the uncus. Molecular data reinforces the position of Caenoptychia within the genus Euptychia.

Two new species of Euptychia Hübner, 1818 from the upper Amazon basin (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae)

“…n. is sister to the clade consisting of Euptychia picea Butler, 1867 and two undescribed species. Unlike Freitas et al (2012), Euptychia boulleti (Le Cerf, 1919) is here placed as sister to the clade with Euptychia enyo Butler, 1867, Euptychia westwoodi Butler, 1867, and an undescribed species in the ML tree, although with relatively low support. However, in the Bayesian tree (Fig.…”

“…On the other hand, the genus Euptychia Hübner, 1818 is relatively well known compared to other euptychiine genera, and is morphologically defined by the posterior projection of the tegumen above the uncus in the male genitalia. This character is considered to be a good synapomorphy (Freitas et al 2012) and has been used to classify recently described Euptychia species (Neild et al 2014, Nakahara et al 2014). Many other described and undescribed Euptychia species also possess this character (Nakahara, unpub.…”

“…Many other described and undescribed Euptychia species also possess this character (Nakahara, unpub. ), and its presence even contributed to the inclusion of Caenoptychia boulleti Le Cerf, 1919 in Euptychia (Freitas et al 2012). However, we here describe two new species of Euptychia which lack this posterior projection of the tegumen.…”

A new species of Euptychia Hübner, 1818 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae: Satyrini) from Mount Roraima, Guyana

“…In addition to this external analysis, dissection results of male genitalia revealed that the prominent projection of the tegumen over the uncus is present in the male genitalia. This conspicuous projection is thought to be a diagnostic character for Euptychia (Freitas et al 2012;Neild et al 2014), and this combination of facts has influenced our decision to place this species in the genus Euptychia. In addition, the presence of the forewing recurrent vein reinforces this placement, as this is considered to be a shared character for known Euptychia species (Freitas et al 2012;pers.…”

Immature stages of the Selaginella-feeding Euptychia mollina (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) from the Brazilian Amazon

“…In recent years, several aspects of Euptychiina have been extensively studied, including their taxonomy and phylogeny, natural history, biogeography and conservation (Peña et al 2010, Marín et al 2011, 2017, Freitas et al 2012, Zacca et al 2018. As a result, the systematics of the subtribe has been revised from the species to the subtribal level, with significant reorganization in most of the large genera (see references above).…”