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Issue: Vol. 5448 No. 4: 14 May 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-05-14
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5448.4.9
Page range: 581-590
Abstract views: 10
PDF downloaded: 1

A new species of Metron Godman, 1900 (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae) from the western Amazon, with a unique hindwing color pattern in Hesperiina, its phylogenetic placement, and an illustrated key for the genus

Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidoptera Neotropical; Departamento de Zoologia; Universidade Federal do Paraná; P. O. Box 19020; 81531–980 Curitiba; Paraná; Brazil
Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidoptera Neotropical; Departamento de Zoologia; Universidade Federal do Paraná; P. O. Box 19020; 81531–980 Curitiba; Paraná; Brazil
Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidoptera Neotropical; Departamento de Zoologia; Universidade Federal do Paraná; P. O. Box 19020; 81531–980 Curitiba; Paraná; Brazil
Departments of Biophysics; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; 5323 Harry Hines Blvd.; Dallas; TX 75390–9050; USA; Departments of Biochemistry; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; 5323 Harry Hines Blvd.; Dallas; TX 75390–9050; USA; National Museum of Natural History; Smithsonian Institution; Washington; DC; USA
Lepidoptera Biodiversity butterfly disruptive pattern skipper taxonomy

Abstract

Metron mentor Dolibaina, O. Mielke & Casagrande, sp. nov. is described from the western Amazon of Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. The wide white area covering part of the hindwing and body of the new species is unique in Hesperiina and is hypothesized to create a disruptive pattern when the insect is at rest, resembling a bird dropping. Based on genomic data, Metron mentor sp. nov. is recovered as a sister species of all the known species of Metron Godman, 1900. This hypothesis suggests that the similar ventral hindwing of M. mentor sp. nov. to species formerly in Metron and Propertius Evans, 1955, but currently in Metrocles Godman, 1900 may be plesiomorphic. The new species is illustrated and described, a phylogenomic hypothesis for Metron is presented, and an illustrated key for both sexes (when known) is given for all the species and subspecies in the genus.

 

References

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