Lymanopoda chysquyco Pyrcz, Boyer

Pyrcz, Tomasz W., Boyer, Pierre, Garlacz, Rafał, Fåhraeus, Christer, Andrade-C, Miguel Gonzalo, Bálint, Zsolt & Mahecha-J, Oscar, 2025, Out of the blue: a new blue Lymanopoda butterfly from the páramo of northern Colombia raises questions about disjunct distributions (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), Zootaxa 5659 (4), pp. 547-564 : 550-556

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5659.4.5
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:643D7B30-4E2F-40FD-B80B-48AF02A0283F
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/5C71132D-2C23-2D6F-FF22-FCCCFE3A2C4B
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Lymanopoda chysquyco Pyrcz, Boyer
status

Treatment

Lymanopoda chysquyco Pyrcz, Boyer & Mahecha-J. sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6B5965C5-70D4-4248-87B0-C94317974A8D

Diagnosis: In the field, adults of this species may resemble the parapatric lower altitude congener, L. samius , but can be recognized by the much wider solid black border which covers the entire outer half of both fore and hindwing upperside, while in L. samius it is limited to the outer one-third and enclose several blue patches, notably in the FW postdiscal area ( Fig. 1A View FIGURE 1 ). However, L. chysquyco sp. nov. resembles even more closely L. hazelana Brown , occurring in southern Ecuador, in particular its nominate subspecies which also has a wide outer half solid black area in the wing surfaces, although markedly narrower on the HW, with no enclosed blue patches, except one in the FW postdiscal area ( Fig. 1C View FIGURE 1 ), whereas in other subspecies of L. hazelana the blue area extends further distally and black outer one-fourth encloses several blue patches ( Pyrcz et al. 1999). Another, subtle but diagnostic difference between L. chysquyco sp. nov., L. hazelana and L. samius is the position of HWV submarginal black dots which in the former two species follow the outline of the HW outer margin, whereas in L. samius they are arched basally (1D–F). Male genitalia (2B) are very characteristic and allow an immediate recognition from other congeners, in particular rather short and slender valvae, compared to L. samius , compressed in the middle, without any prominent dorsal process with a bulky terminus, similar in this respect to L. hazelana , but adorned with numerous, prominent, spiny protrusions, serrate in L. hazelana ; a short but stout gnathos strongly adhered to the base of the uncus, similar to L. huilana Weymer and L. tolima Weymer , but differing from L. hazelana whose gnathos is reduced to a shallow protrusion; a stout, and strongly hooked uncus, compared to a thinner and slightly curved uncus of L. hazelana or much shorter and slender of L. samius .

Description: MALE ( Fig. 1B, 1E View FIGURE 1 ): Head: Eyes chocolate brown, hairy; labial palps two times the length of head, dorsally covered with grey-brown scales, ventrally with brown and milky yellow hairy scales. Thorax: dorsally black, with sparse black, hairy scales; ventrally rather thickly covered with golden yellow scales, legs covered with brick red scales. Wings: FW length 21–25 mm (larger than L. hazelana , 18–22 mm, mean= 19.8mm). FW triangular with acute apex, and a gently concave apical outer margin; HW oval with the margin bent at vein M2, then straight; FWD sapphire blue from base do median area, across mid-discal cell, out curved at the base of vein CuA1, then produced basally at the anal margin, distally black, with a series of three subapical white spots, gradually larger from cell M1-M2 to M3-CuA1, and two other, small ones in positioned basally in CuA1-CuA2 and CuA2-1A2A; HWD sapphire blue from base to wing’s postdiscal area, curved at a straight angle in M2-M3; distally all black; FWV rusty red with a series of black patches, an irregular band, faint one in mid discal-cell, another one along distal margin of discal-cell, and a larger roughly rectangular patch distally from discal cell, dusted with black along the entire submarginal area, five white spots reflected from the upperside, of similar size, ringed with black, basal area and anal margin dusted with black scaling; apex lighter, honey yellow; HWV honey yellow dusted with rusty red scales somewhat denser around discal cell and between veins M2 and CuA1 towards distal margin, with a series of seven postdiscal black dots forming a row following the outline of outer margin. Male genitalia ( Fig. 2B View FIGURE 2 ): Tegumen strongly sclerotized in basal half, extending into a prominent superuncus; uncus massive, claw-like, almost entirely detached from the tegumen, gnathos short and stout, adhered to the base of the tegumen, subscaphium sclerotized, forming a thin slat; pedunculus prominent; vinculum sinuate in lateral view; saccus long and flattened dorsoventrally; valvae slender, approximately the length of tegumen + uncus, narrowed in the middle, with a series of very sharp, prominent “teeth” along dorsal surface and on the apical extremity; aedeagus slightly longer than saccus + valva, almost straight, except for the proximal tip curved upwards, extending into a sharply ended apical tip, with a smooth surface, with no apparent cornuti. FEMALE ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 ): Sexual dimorphism is little marked and expressed only in a slightly duller blue colour of the wings’ upperside, and paler dark markings on the forewing underside, brownish-grey insetad of blackish. The only known female was a dead half-eaten individual, presumably by a bird, found on the ground. FW length: 26 mm. Genitalia not examined.

Type material: Holotype male: Colombia, Norte de Santander, Páramo de Guerrero, Cáchira-Cucuta, N 7°45’55’’ W73°00’03’’, 3400–3450 m, 17.IX.2024; P. Boyer leg., genitalia slide: CEP-GEN-11269; barcode: CEP-DNA-7802, to be deposited in MCN-UN GoogleMaps ; Paratype male: CNO31, Colombia, Depto. Norte de Santander, Cachira , Páramo de Guerrero, N 7°45’56” W 72°59’54”, 3350–3550 m, 15-19.IX.2024, T. Pyrcz leg. GoogleMaps , barcode: CEP-DNA-7737, CEPUJ; Paratype female: Colombia, Prov. Norte de Santander, Cáchira , Páramo de Guerrero , 7.763520 –72.991823, 3544 m GoogleMaps ; 19.IX.2024, O. Mahecha-J. leg., CEPUJ .

Etymology: The specific epithet chysquyco (pronounced: chiskiko) means blue (colour) in the Muisca language, autochthonous inhabitants of the part of Colombia where the type locality of the species is situated.

Habitat and distribution: Lymanopoda chysquyco sp. nov. is found in the Páramo de Guerrero massif (also referred to as the Páramo de Cáchira ), Colombian Eastern Cordillera, in the department of Norte de Santander, just east of the small locality of Cáchira. It was discovered at an elevation of approximately 3450–3500 m a.s.l. near the upper ridge of the highest mountain in the region (3575 m a.s.l.), within an open páramo ecosystem densely covered by dwarf Chusquea sp. bamboo, alongside two species of Espeletia spp. , Senecio spp. , Ericaceae , and bunch grasses such as Calamagrostis spp. and Stipa spp. ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 ). The two collected individuals were observed flying low above bamboo thickets, accompanied by a white Lymanopoda sp. (Pyrcz et al., in prep.), aff. L. mirabilis Staudinger. Other Pronophilina species recorded in the area included three species of Pedaliodes , i.e. P. aff. tamaensis Viloria & Pyrcz, P. sp. nov. (Pyrcz et al. in prep.) and the dominant P. nebris Thieme. The blue Lymanopoda samius (likely representing a new subspecies, Pyrcz et al., in prep.) was observed and collected at slightly lower elevations, just above the timberline at 3100–3200 m a.s.l. Considering the regional landscape, it is probable that L. chysquyco sp. nov. is not confined to the Páramo de Guerrero but may also inhabit the adjacent to the south Páramo de Santurbán , which has larger extensions of páramo and reaches higher elevations (up to 4000 m a.s.l.). However, its presence in the even more southerly Páramo de Berlín is less likely, given the significant topographical barrier formed by the Zulia, Sardinata and Cáchira river basins. The Páramo de Berlín has also been more extensively sampled.

Relationships: ML and BI trees based on COI barcodes suggest that L. chysquyco sp. nov. belongs to a clade including five other species of Lymanopoda ( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 ), i.e. L. caracara Pyrcz, Willmott & Hall , L. inde Pyrcz , L. ingasayana Pyrcz , L. dyari Pyrcz and L. hazelana . L. chysquyco sister position to the remaining species of this clade is moderately supported. The GD based on K2P model, L. chysquyco sp. nov. shows high values in comparison to the other congeners more than> 0.07 (7%) ( Table 1).

The divergence time estimates obtained from our COI-based phylogenetic analysis should be considered preliminary and interpreted with caution, given that they are derived from a single mitochondrial marker and represent a gene tree rather than a species tree ( Mallo & Posada 2016; Talavera et al. 2022). The mitochondrial DNA is known to evolve rapidly in some lineages ( Schwartz 2021), which may introduce bias in divergence time estimates due to substitutional saturation ( Mallo & Posada 2016; Talavera et al. 2022). Despite these caveats, our results suggest that the genus Lymanopoda split from its sister genus Ianussiusa Pyrcz in Miocene, ~14 Mya. Accordingly, the “hazelana ” clade would have separated from its sister “labda ” clade in Miocene, ~9.3 Mya (95% HPD: 7.49–11.14 Mya), while L. chysquyco sp. nov. diverged from other extant members of the clade approximately ~7.5 Mya (95% HPD: 5.79–8.87 Mya). Rather shortly afterwards, some ~7 Mya (95% HPD: 5.37–8.28 Mya) the “Peruvian group”, including L. inde , L. ingasayana and L. dyari split from the “Ecuadorian group” with L. caracara and L. hazelana ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 ).