Paronymus punctata

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2023, Butterfly classification and species discovery using genomics, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 11 (3), pp. 1-94 : 74

Paronymus punctata ( Holland, 1896), new combination; its type locality is Sierra Leone: Freetown

The name Ceratrichia punctata (type locality in “Tropical West Africa”) was published by Holland (1896) in synonymy with Ceratrichia phocion (Fabricius, 1781) (type locality in South Africa) and attributed to Mabille as a “MS. name”, with the holotype specimen (“another male … has been designated as the type”) from the Staudinger collection, now in MFNB. A short description was provided: “primaries more spotted than is quite usual.” Evans (1937) used the name “ Ceratrichia punctata Holland ” as valid, attributing it to Holland’s publication and citing the same “type” specimen in Berlin. Therefore, under Articles 11.6.1 and 50.7 of the ICZN Code (1999), the name Ceratrichia punctata Holland 1896 is currently both available and valid and is based on the holotype in Berlin. N.V.G. found the holotype, which bears a purple “Origin.” label, an identification label in Mabille’s handwriting, “ C. punctata / Mab. ♂ ”, and an identification label in Holland’s handwriting, “ Ceratrichia / phocion, / ♂ ”, among several others. The locality label on the holotype is “Frtn. / Pr.” meaning that it was collected by Preuss in Freetown, Serra Leone. German botanist Paul Rudolph Preuss collected in Sierra Leone in 1886–1888 (Barnhart 1965), giving a possible range of dates when the holotype was captured.

Genomic sequencing of the holotype (NVG-18073A05) places it as sister to Paronymus semilutea (Mabille, 1891) (type locality in Nigeria, syntype sequenced as NVG-21118G05) ( Figs. 45, 46), being distinct from it due to genetic differentiation, e.g., COI barcode difference of 2.1% (14 bp). Therefore, we propose Paronymus punctata ( Holland, 1896), comb. nov. The holotype of P. punctata is not conspecific with the species Evans (1937) identified as C. punctata : e.g., the holotype has ventral forewing nearly uniformly brown without pale areas by the inner margin characteristic of Evans’ C. punctata ; smaller forewing and ventral hindwing spots, and brownish tuft of hair-like scales by the base of dorsal hindwing. Evans’ C. punctata lacks androconia and is a species of Ceratrichia Butler, 1870 (type species Papilio nothus Fabricius, 1787 ); it does not have a name. This new species is described below.