Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5618 No. 1: 1 Apr. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-04-01
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5618.1.3
Page range: 47-67
Abstract views: 74
PDF downloaded: 6

A review of the Ocaria arpoxais species group (Lycaenidae: Theclinae) with the description of a new species previously confused with O. cinerea (Lathy)

16; rue des Aspres; 34160 Montaud; France.
9275 Hollow Pine Drive; Estero; Florida 34135; USA.
Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidoptera Neotropical; Departamento de Zoologia; Universidade Federal do Paraná; Curitiba; Paraná; Brazil.
Natural History Museum; Cromwell Road; London SW75BD; UK.
Department of Biology; Lund University; Lund; Sweden.
Lepidoptera Callophryidina Eumaeini taxonomy Andes endemics sibling species mountain biodiversity barcoding mtDNA skimming genome secondary sexual characters tree-topping Ocaria arpoxais Ocaria cinerea Ocaria clepsydra Ocaria sadiei Ocaria elisa

Abstract

The genus Ocaria Clench comprises fourteen small to medium-sized Neotropical species within the Eumaeini tribe (Lycaenidae: Theclinae). They inhabit lowland to mid-montane habitats across Central and South America. A phylogenetic analysis of Ocaria is presented based on the COI barcode region to test the monophyly and species composition of the arpoxais group, a subset of six species sharing similar size and wing patterns. The genus Arases K. Johnson, syn. rest., is reestablished as a synonym of Ocaria, and two species recently assigned to Arases are transferred to Ocaria: O. moseranki (Bálint) comb. nov. and O. pricarlosi (Bálint) comb. nov. During the comprehensive review of the arpoxais group, an undescribed species has been identified based on differences in wing morphology, genital structures, genetic markers (COI) and geographic distribution. Ocaria delphinae Faynel, Fåhraeus & Busby sp. nov. is described from 48 male and two female specimens, with Peru as type locality. It is widely distributed across South America in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and had historically been confused with O. cinerea. Females are associated with males for the first time and illustrated along with their genitalia when possible. Key diagnostic characters for adults are detailed and illustrated. Updated distribution maps are provided for all species within this group.

 

References

  1. Bálint, Z. & Costa, M. (2012) Description of an Ocaria species from the Venezuelan Pantepuy (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae). Annales historico-naturales Musei nationalis hungarici, 104, 299–310.
  2. Bálint, Z. (2022) Függelek. Az új tribuszok, génuszok és fajok leírása. In: d’Abrera, B.L. & Bálint, Z. (Eds.), Pillangóvilág. Bevezetés és a teremtett sokféleség rendje. Magánkiadás, Budapest, pp. 85–1051.
  3. Busby, R.C., Faynel, C., Moser, A. & Robbins R.K. (2017) Sympatric diversification in the Upper Amazon. A revision of the Eumaeine genus Paraspiculatus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 649, i–vii + 1–65. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.1943-6696.649
  4. Costa, M., Viloria, A.L., Attal, S., Benmesbah, M., Neild, A.F.E. & Bálint, Z. (2018) Lepidoptera from the Pantepui. Part V. New Lycaenidae (Theclinae: Eumaeinae). Opuscula zoologica, Budapest, 49 (2), 163–179. https://doi.org/10.18348/opzool.2018.2.163
  5. Clench, K. (1970) Generic notes on two hairstreaks new to the United States (Lycaenidae). Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, 24 (1), 56–59.
  6. Comstock, J.H. (1918) The wings of insects. The Comstock Publishing Company, Ithaca, New York, 430 pp.
  7. Comstock, W.P. & Huntington, E.I. (1959) An annotated list of the Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera) of the Western Hemisphere. Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 67 (2 & 3/4), 59–95 & 163–212.
  8. Dabney, J., Knapp, M., Glocke, I., Gansauge, M.T., Weihmann, A., Nickel, B., Valdiosera, C., García, N., Pääbo, S., Arsuaga, J.-L. & Meyer, M. (2013) Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequence of a Middle Pleistocene Cave Bear Reconstructed from Ultrashort DNA Fragments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110 (39), 15758–15763. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1314445110
  9. d’Abrera, B.L. (1995) Butterflies of the Neotropical Region. Part VII. Lycaenidae. Hill House, Black Rock, Victoria, xi + 173 pp. [pp. i–xi + 1098–1270]
  10. Draudt, M.W.K. (1920) “Theclini F.”. In: Seitz, A. (Ed.), Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde. Die amerikanischen Tagfalter. Vol. 5. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart, pp. 744–812.
  11. Faynel, C. & Bálint, Z. (2004) Supplementary information on neotropical Eumaeini primary type material and further historical specimens deposited in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (Lycaenidae, Theclinae). Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France, 109 (3), 263–286. https://doi.org/10.3406/bsef.2004.16126
  12. Johnson, K.D. (1991) Types of Neotropical Theclinae (Lycaenidae) in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, 45 (2), 142–157.
  13. Johnson, K.D. (1992) Genera and species of the Neotropical “elfin”-like hairstreak butterflies (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Theclinae). Reports of the Museum of Natural History, University of Wisconsin, 22 (2), 136–279.
  14. Hall, A.C., Powell, O.N., Cuber, P. & Price, B.W. (2023) Low-Cost Museum DNA Extraction Using Magnetic Beads. Protocols.Io. [published online] https://doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.4r3l27ebxg1y/v2
  15. Hoang, D.T., Chernomor, O., Von Haeseler, A., Minh, B.Q. & Vinh, L.S. (2018) UFBoot2: improving the ultrafast bootstrap approximation. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 35 (2), 518–522. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx281
  16. Kalyaanamoorthy, S., Minh, B.Q., Wong, T.K.F., Von Haeseler, A. & Jermiin, L.S. (2017) ModelFinder: fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates. Nature Methods, 14 (6), 587–589. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4285
  17. Kapp, J.D., Green, R.E. & Shapiro, B. (2021) A Fast and Efficient Single-Stranded Genomic Library Preparation Method Optimized for Ancient DNA. Journal of Heredity, 112 (3), 241–49. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esab012
  18. Lamas, G., McInnis, M.L., Busby, R.C. & Robbins, R.K. (2021) The lycaenid butterfly fauna (Lepidoptera) of Cosñipata, Peru: annotated checklist, elevational patterns, and rarity. Insecta Mundi, 861, 1–34.
  19. Lathy, P.I. (1936) Thecla nouveaux d’Amérique du Sud (Lepidopt. Lycaenidae). In: Livre Jubilaire de M. Eugène-Louis Bouvier. Fermin-Didot et Cie, Paris, pp. 229–232, pl. 8.
  20. Minh, B.Q., Schmidt, H.A., Chernomor, O., Schrempf, D., Woodhams, M.D., Von Haeseler, A. & Lanfear, R. (2020) IQ-TREE 2: new models and efficient methods for phylogenetic inference in the genomic era. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 37 (5), 1530–1534. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa015
  21. Nguyen, R., Kapp, J.D., Sacco, S., Myers, S.P. & Green, R.E. (2023) A Computational Approach for Positive Genetic Identification and Relatedness Detection from Low-Coverage Shotgun Sequencing Data. Journal of Heredity, 114 (5), 504–512. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esad041
  22. Rambaut, A. (2012) FigTree. Version 1.4.0. University of Oxford, Oxford. Available from: http://tree.bio.ed.ac.uk/software/figtree (accessed 26 February 2025)
  23. Ratnasingham, S. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2013) A DNA-based registry for all animal species: the barcode index number (BIN) system. PLoS One, 8 (8), e66213 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0066213
  24. Rohland, N., Glocke, I., Aximu-Petri, A. & Meyer, M. (2018) Extraction of Highly Degraded DNA from Ancient Bones, Teeth and Sediments for High-Throughput Sequencing. Nature Protocols, 13 (11), 2447–2461. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-018-0050-5
  25. Robbins, R.K. (1991) Evolution, comparative morphology, and identification of the Eumaeini butterfly genus Rekoa Kaye (Lycaenidae. Theclinae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 498, 1–64. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810282.498
  26. Robbins, R.K. (2004a) Lycaenidae. Theclinae. Tribe Eumaeini. In: Lamas, G. (Ed.), Checklist: Part 4A. Hesperioidea - Papilionoidea. In: Heppner, J.B. (Ed.), Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Vol. 5A. Association for Tropical Lepidoptera, Scientific Publishers, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 118–137.
  27. Robbins, R.K. (2004b) Introduction to the checklist of Eumaeini (Lycaenidae). In: Lamas, G. (Ed.), Checklist: Part 4A. Hesperioidea – Papilionoidea. In: Heppner, J.B. (Ed.), Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Vol. 5A. Association for Tropical Lepidoptera, Scientific Publishers, Gainesville, Florida, pp. xxiv–xxx.
  28. Robbins, R.K. & Busby, R.C. (2015) Evolutionary gain of male secondary sexual structures in the widespread Neotropical montane genus Lathecla (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Eumaeini). Insect Systematics and Evolution, 46 (1), 47–78.
  29. Robbins, R.K., Cong, Q., Zhang, J., Shen, J., Busby, R.C., Faynel, C., Duarte, M., Martins, A.R.P., Prieto, C., Lamas, G. & Grishin, N.V. (2022) Genomics-based higher classification of the species-rich hairstreaks (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Eumaeini). Systematic Entomology, 47 (3), 445–469. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12541
  30. Shorthouse, D.P. (2010) SimpleMappr, an online tool to produce publication-quality point maps. Available from: https://www.simplemappr.net (accessed 30 November 2024)
  31. Yoshida, R. & Nei, M. (2016) Efficiencies of the NJp, Maximum Likelihood, and Bayesian Methods of Phylogenetic Construction for Compositional and Noncompositional Genes. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 33 (6) 1618–1624. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msw042
  32. Weeks, A.G. Jr. (1901) Descriptions of some new butterflies of the genera Thecla, Euptychia, Telegonus and Achlyodes. Proceedings of the New England Zoological Club, 2, 101–108.
  33. Weeks, A.G. Jr. (1905) Illustrations of diurnal Lepidoptera with descriptions. Vol. 1. The University Press, Cambridge, Boston, (1) + xii + 117 pp., 45pls. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.9377
  34. Wilson, J.J. (2012) DNA Barcodes for Insects. In: Kress, W. & Erickson, D. (Eds.), DNA Barcodes. Methods in Molecular Biology. Vol. 858. Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-591-6_3
  35. Winter, W.D. (2000) Basic Techniques for Observing and Studying Moths and Butterflies. The Lepidopterists’ Society, Memoir 5, i–xviii + 1–444.

How to Cite

Faynel, C., Busby, R.C., Dolibaina, D.R., Huertas, B. & Fåhraeus, C. (2025) A review of the Ocaria arpoxais species group (Lycaenidae: Theclinae) with the description of a new species previously confused with O. cinerea (Lathy). Zootaxa, 5618 (1), 47–67. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5618.1.3