Perisama xanthica (Hewitson, 1868), 2025

Zubek, Anna, Wahlberg, Niklas, Boyer, Pierre, Lorenc-Brudecka, Jadwiga, Mahecha-J, Oscar & Pyrcz, Tomasz, 2025, Integrative taxonomy, phylogeny and distribution patterns of the diverse Neotropical cloud forest butterfly genus Perisama Doubleday (Nymphalidae, Biblidinae, Callicorini), Zootaxa 5636 (1), pp. 1-34 : 13

Perisama xanthica (Hewitson, 1868) , stat. rev.

Perisama xanthica is a very distinctive species, with a relatively low interspecific diversity. It was described as Catagramma xanthica by Hewitson (1868) and considered a subspecies of P. oppelii by Lamas (2004). Its specific status was reinstated by Attal-and-Crosson du Cormier (2010), but Zubek et al. (2015) again down-ranked it to a subspecies of P. oppelii taking into account the absence of any significant differences in the morphology of male genitalia, including the hypandrium, or wing colour patterns, except from the more vivid, yellow-orange shade of the HWV in P. xanthica . However, our molecular data clearly show that P. xanthica and P. oppelii are separate species. Their genetic distance is very high, ranging from 8.6%–9.4 %. Considered this, the specific status of P. xanthica is hereby formally reinstated.