Klaudia Florczyk

The conspecificity of Iolaus lalos lalos and I. lalos kigezi was doubted based on external characters. The examination of them, supplemented by genitalia characters and distribution patterns of a series of specimens tentatively identified as I. lalos lalos or I. lalos kigezi resulted in the recognition of I. kigezi stat. nov. as a distinct species, as well as four new species, I. ungujensis sp. nov., I. zimbabwensis sp. nov., I. tukuyu sp. nov. and I. rondoensis sp. nov. from the island of Zanzibar, from mountainous forests in Zimbabwe, and from Tanzania, all placed in the newly established “Iolaus lalos species group”. A further new species of different appearance, I. mabuensis sp. nov. from Mount Mabu of Mozambique proved to be a member of this species group, based on genitalia characters.

The infratribe Neosatyriti is a section of the entirely Neotropical subtribe Pronophilina, accounting for 57 species distributed from southern Patagonia to the Andes of northern Peru, and along the Atlantic coast, with the highest diversity in central Chile. They are found in two main types of habitats, i.e. puna, pampas and subantarctic grasslands, and Valdivian forests and Chilean matorral, from sea level to nearly 5000 m above sea level. We propose a phylogenetic hypothesis of the infratribe based on molecular data obtained by target enrichment (TE) of 621 nuclear loci, totalling 248,373 base pairs, from 53 species of this infratribe and 12 outgroups. Our analysis confirms that Neosatyriti is monophyletic with full support. Based on these results, we propose eight new combinations and two status reinstatements. Molecular data are congruent with morphological characters except for Homoeonympha which appears to be paraphyletic, thus almost all the genera described originally by L. Herrera, K. Hayward and W. Heimlich in the Twentieth century based only on morphological characters are confirmed as valid, except for Haywardella that is synonymised with Pampasatyrus. Neosatyriti diverged from other Pronophilina some 23 Ma and split into two major lineages some 20 Ma. Our reconstructions do not indicate a single area of origin, rather a multisource origin, but they suggest the Neosatyriti originated in the lowlands, and that their ancestral plants were non-bambusoid grasses. Major divergence of the infratribe started some 12–11 Ma when it split into the ‘Neomaenas clade’ (9 genera), the ‘Pampasatyrus clade’ (4 genera) and the ‘Neosatyrus clade’ (5 genera). The next main radiation took place some 7–5 Ma with the switch to bamboo host plants and the colonisation of Valdivian forests. The final dispersal of the tribe was associated with the colonisation of Mata Atlantica some 6–5 Ma, and high Andean puna in Peru in the Early Pleistocene. ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:29A961D1-99EF-465C-87E7-FB5B3570E3AE

The subtribe Pronophilina Reuter, 1896 is a group of Papilionoidea that is particularly useful for assessing biodiversity and human-made disturbance, especially in cloud forests. This is because of their high diversity, abundance, distribution patterns, ecological fidelity, and usefulness in formulating conservation policies. A rapid assessment (RAP) was conducted on the Pronophilina in two locations in the upper montane area of Manu National Park, southeastern Peru. The assessment included an evaluation of species richness, faunal composition, similarity, and community structure of Lepidoptera in the area. The two locations were only 30 km apart but in different elevations, ranging from 2800 to 3200 m above sea level. The study recorded a total of 1941 specimens of 45 species, with 18 species (40%) belonging to the genus Pedaliodes Butler, 1867, and as many as 1356 individuals (70%) were found in this genus. Some local species were found to be restricted to very narrow elevation ranges at the forest-puna grassland ecotone. The community structure showed good adjustment with the RAD log-normal model in Trocha Unión and with the Zipf-Mandelbrot model in Qurqurpampa, indicating that the sample obtained is representative of well-preserved uppermost cloud forests. The Sørensen similarity index was relatively low, despite the short distance between the two sites and no apparent geographic isolation. Sampling by “Van Someren-Rydon” traps was confirmed as a very effective method for studying

A new species in the genus Precis (Papilionoidea, Nymphalidae, Nymphalinae), described in this paper as P. koivoguii sp. n., was discovered in the Nimba Mountains, Guinea, West Africa, and specimens were also identified from the neighbouring mountainous area in Ivory Coast in the broader Guinea Highlands. In appearance the species is similar to some wet season forms of the widely distributed P. pelarga and the Madagascan P. andremiaja, but in size and wingshape, it also resembles P. ceryne, and could have been a natural hybrid between this latter species and P. pelarga. The specific distinction from these taxa was confirmed by marked differences in male genitalia and constant phenotypic characteristics. Based on the type series, it was thought that the new species might be endemic to mid- and high-altitude habitats, particularly forest-scrub-grassland edges or wetlands in the broader Guinea Highlands but a new photographic record from western Ghana suggests a much wider distribution in suitable habitats of the Upper Guinean forest zone.

A comparative analysis of high-Andean Pierina was carried out, including a total of 25 species. Based on morphological evidence, with an emphasis on venation and genitalia and molecular data, using three genetic markers, we confirm the recent subjective synonymy of the generic names Tatochila Butler, 1870, Piercolias, Staudinger, 1894, Hypsochila Ureta, 1955, Infraphulia Field, 1958, Pierphulia Field, 1958, and Theochila Field, 1958 with Phulia Herrich-Schäffer, 1867. Two new species are described, namely Phulia stoddardi Pyrcz & Cerdeña n. sp., from the Andes of Central Peru, which occurs at an unusually high altitude of close to 5000 m a.s.l. in dry puna habitat, and Phulia phantasma Lamas, Willmott & Boyer n. sp., from dry montane forests in northern Peru and southern Ecuador. An overview of high-elevation butterflies is presented, with some discussion on adaptations to this environment.

The Huancabamba Deflection in the Andes of northern Peru and southern Ecuador is a pivotal area for Neotropical biogeography, where exceptional biodiversity coincides with high rates of endemism. These characteristics are well illustrated within the montane butterfly genus Manerebia Staudinger (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae). Here, six new, apparently endemic species, and two new subspecies, are described from this region: M. inducta Pyrcz & Willmott n. sp., M. ronda Pyrcz & Boyer, n. sp., M. ronda amplia Pyrcz & Boyer, n. ssp., M. punku Pyrcz & Farfán n. sp., M. huamanii Cerdeña & Pyrcz n. sp., M. placida Pyrcz & Willmott n. sp., M. granatus Willmott, Radford & Pyrcz n. sp. and M. prattorum udima Pyrcz & Boyer, n. ssp. A total of 22 species of Manerebia is reported from the study region, as much as half the total number of species in this genus distributed throughout the tropical Andes. The alpha-taxonomy of Manerebia is particularly demanding, as colour patterns have apparently converged among different species making identification virtually impossible in some cases without comparison of their genitalia, which prove taxonomically and phylogenetically highly valuable. On the other hand, several species differ markedly in wing colour patterns and occur at different elevations but have identical genitalia. Furthermore, our data show that DNA barcoding is only partly viable as an alpha-taxonomic tool, as some markedly different species of Manerebia, in terms of external morphology and ecological preferences, are genetically not separable using only COI markers. On the other hand, several species barely differing morphologically are identified based on barcode. Barcodes of 26 species, including 18 from the northern Andes, are studied here, showing strong differences within some taxa previously considered conspecific based on morphological characters, suggesting that their taxonomic status needs to be re-evaluated. In particular, M. trimaculata and the widely distributed polytypic M. inderena may be highly variable species or complexes of several species. A total of 16 species are found north of the Chamaya valley in southern Ecuador and extreme northern Peru, compared to 14 species south of it in northern Peru. The faunal (Jaccard) similarity coefficient of the two adjacent regions is low (0.3), reflecting the role of the Huancabamba Deflection as a biogeographical barrier.

A new, and only the third known species of the Neotropical montane genus Oressinoma Doubleday is described—O. sorina n. sp., from the Andes of central Peru. It is distinguishable immediately from the other two congeners by the shape of the hindwing underside submarginal orange band, and by the male genitalia. The systematics of Oressinoma are reviewed. A preliminary analysis is carried out based on COI barcode confirming the separate specific status of O. sorina n. sp. in relation to other two congeners. Both barcode and genital morphology data suggest that the widespread O. typhla Doubleday may be a complex of allopatric or, locally parapatric species. The genus Oressinoma is the only neotropical member of the predominantly Australian subtribe Coenonymphina, represented in the entire Holarctic by one genus only—Coenonympha Hübner, considered as the putative sister-genus of Oressinoma. Their origins and relationships are briefly discussed.

The tribe Junoniini is a predominantly Paleotropical group of the cosmopolitan butterfly subfamily Nymphalinae (Nymphalidae), with highest diversity in the Afrotropical region. Its systematics and relationships are not entirely resolved. Question marks remain concerning the validity of some genera; and the apparently close relationship between the Indo-Australian genus Yoma and the Afrotropical Protogoniomorpha, as evidenced by molecular phylogenies, remains a puzzle. Here, we present a cladistic analysis, based on 42 characters of the male and female genitalia of 41 species of Junoniini belonging to six genera, nearly all of them continental Afrotropical, and 3 species of two Indo-Australian genera Yoma and Rhinopalpa. A ML COI-based tree is produced for 36 species of Afrotropical Junoniini and Yoma. The molecular data are consistent with previous studies. However, morphological analysis does not confirm a close relationship between Protogoniomorpha and Yoma. Despite the evolution of a number of modifications, the male genitalia within all genera and species of the Junoniini share a cohesive build plan, in particular a transformed sacculus, from which Yoma is highly divergent. The position of the genus Kamilla, previously synonymized with Junonia, is discussed. Three East African coast taxa, Junonia elgiva stat. reinst., Protogoniomorpha nebulosa stat. reinst. and Salamis amaniensis stat. reinst., and one from central Africa, Precis silvicola stat. reinst. are raised to species level, based on comparative analysis of their male genitalia.

A new species of Protopedaliodes Viloria & Pyrcz, a satyrine butterfly genus endemic to the highest part of the Guyana Shield, P. arekuna Pyrcz & Stachowicz n. sp., is described from the summit area, ca. 2400 m, of Tramen Tepui, an isolated mountain situated on the Venezuela–Guyana border. It is a remarkable finding as it is probably a narrow endemic, and only the fourth known member of the genus. Morphologically it most closely resembles P. kukenani Viloria & Pyrcz from the Roraima–Kukenán twin peaks. COI barcode analysis shows, however, high genetic distances between these two species, 9–10%. Protopedaliodes taxonomy is briefly revised, from the perspective of the monophyly of the genus based on preliminary molecular and morphological comparative data, including the female genitalia described for the first time for P. kukenani and P. ridouti Viloria & Pyrcz.