Grishin, Zhang & Cong & Shen & Song & Grishin, 2024

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2024, New taxa of butterflies supported by genomic analysis, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 12 (3), pp. 1-63 : 48

Sarala Grishin , new subgenus

http://zoobank.org/ 5063C1BE-31F4-4367-923F-12FF8DEF1BB2

Type species. Parnara sarala Nicéville, 1889 .

Definition. Genomic phylogeny of Acerbas Nicéville, 1895 (type species Hesperia anthea Hewitson, 1868 ) and relatives reveals that the genus partitions into two prominent clades with genetic differentiation that correspond to at least subgenera ( Fig. 44), e.g., their COI barcodes differ by about 11.2% (74 bp). The first clade consists of the type species of Acerbas . Because no type species of available genus-group names belongs to the second clade, it represents a new genus-group taxon that we conservatively propose as a subgenus. This new subgenus keys to J.22.2b in (Evans 1949) and differs from its relatives by a combination of the following characters: forewing vein 2 originates closer to the base than to the origin of vein 3; forewing discal cell with pale spots; gnathos is usually less developed than in the nominate subgenus, aedeagus is less expanded terminally, and the valva is more elongated. In DNA, a combination of the following characters is diagnostic in the nuclear genome: aly499.8.4:C57T, aly171.12.1:G39C, aly171.12.1:T42C, aly577.55.7:C97A, aly3616.1.1:A465G, and COI barcode: T316A, T424A, A484T, C641C, T643T.

Etymology. The name is tautonymous with the type species name and is a feminine noun in the nominative singular.

Species included. The type species (i.e., Parnara sarala Nicéville, 1889 ), Carystus duris Mabille, 1883 , Acerbas selta Evans, 1949 , Acerbas latefascia de Jong, 1982 , and Acerbas suttoni Russell, 1984 .

Parent taxon. Genus Acerbas Nicéville, 1895 .