Eudamus blasius Plötz, 1881

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2025, Advancing butterfly systematics through genomic analysis, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 12 (5), pp. 1-201 : 94-96

publication ID

2643-4806

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/4D7E87DA-4B21-7268-FE17-FC83ABF2FBFE

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Eudamus blasius Plötz, 1881
status

 

Neotype designation for Eudamus blasius Plötz, 1881 View in CoL

The name Eudamus blasius Plötz, 1881 (type locality listed as “ Cuba ”, likely in Southeast or South Brazil) was proposed to include specimens that Herrich-Schäffer (1869) had identified as Goniloba elorus (Hewitson, 1867) , but which Plötz (1881) suggested were misidentified. However, Godman (1907) who inspected the unpublished and now likely lost original drawing by Plötz of E. blasius syntype (taf[el]. 93), decided that it was conspecific with Telegonus (Rhabdoides) elorus (Hewitson, 1867) (type locality in Brazil, likely Southeast or South). Since then, the name blasius has been treated as a junior subjective synonym of T. elorus in most publications (Evans 1952; Mielke 2005). Skinner and Ramsden (1923) doubted the type locality “ Cuba ” given by Plötz for E. blasius because no specimens matching the original description were known from Cuba. Specimens agreeing with the description are only known from Southeast and South Brazil.

To learn more about E. blasius , we interpretively translate its original description, assembling relevant sections of the key given by Plötz (1881): “the body and wing bases are blue or green above; forewing beneath lacks a white spot near mid-costa and is brown [not blue] at the base; ventral side of all wings is light brown along the margin and sharply bordered by a dark brown postdiscal band; tornus of the hindwing beneath is shaded dull brown up to vein 2 [i.e., CuA 2].” We regard these as characters to differentiate E. blasius from other taxa.

To gain further insights, we searched for E. blasius syntypes among Hesperiidae holdings in all major collections that are listed in the Acknowledgments section. We focused on the MFNB collection, which contains many primary types of Plötz and Herrich-Schäffer. Several specimens in MFNB bear the identification label “blasius ” but none has a label characteristic of specimens from the Herrich-Schäffer collection and can be directly linked with it. One of these specimens is also labeled as “Typus.” However, according to its labels, this specimen from the Weymer collection was collected in 1894, which is after the original description of E. blasius , and, therefore, is not a syntype. This is most likely a specimen of Telegonus blasius mentioned by Weymer (1895), according to whom, it was from Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. This specimen mostly agrees with the original description of E. blasius , particularly in exhibiting a strong contrast between the paler wing margins beneath and a postdiscal dark band, but it does not have a prominently darker ventral hindwing tornus up to vein CuA 2. Images of this specimen photographed by B. Hermier are shown on the Butterflies of America website ( Warren et al. 2024).

The second specimen ( Fig. 72b) labeled as “blasius ” is also from the Weymer collection and agrees less with the original description due to weaker contrast between the submarginal pale and many Plötz’s type specimens, penciled on a yellowing paper “blasius Pl. (elorus H-Sch nec Hew.)” and agrees best with the original description of E. blasius both in having a strong contrast between pale margins and dark bands on both wings beneath and a darker tornus bordered precisely by the vein CuA 2 on the ventral hindwing. This is an old specimen with “repair” characteristic of century-old specimens when pieces of wings of some other specimens were glued on to cover missing parts of wings: both wings are repaired at the tornus from beneath. However, this specimen lacks any labels linking it to Herrich-Schäffer or Plötz directly. Judging from its age, agreement with the original description of E. blasius , and its identification label, it is possible that this specimen is a syntype of E. blasius . However, we do not have strong evidence to support this hypothesis. Therefore, we consider that syntypes of E. blasius are either lost or are unrecognizable.

Genomic sequencing reveals that at least two similar-looking species have been identified as T. elorus , of which E. blasius is considered a junior subjective synonym. Therefore, in the absence of credible syntypes of E. blasius , there is an exceptional need for the neotype to define this taxon objectively due to its almost certainly incorrect type locality, “ Cuba,” and currently unrecognized species present among its relatives. Hereby, N.V. G. designates the specimen in MFNB illustrated in Fig. 72a (DNA sample NVG-24028D10) as the neotype of Eudamus blasius Plötz, 1881 . This neotype corroborates the current and long-standing treatment of the name as a junior subjective synonym of Telegonus (Rhabdoides) elorus (Hewitson, 1867) (Godman 1907; Evans 1952; Mielke 2005) and thus stabilizes nomenclature as it is applied today.

This neotype satisfies all requirements set forth by the ICZN Article 75.3, namely: 75.3.1. It is designated to clarify the taxonomic identity of E. blasius , which is necessary because a new species is present among its close relatives; 75.3.2. The characters to differentiate this taxon from others are stated

in the original description ( Plötz 1881) and are: the body and wing bases are blue or green above; ventral forewing below without a white spot near mid-costa, brown (not blue) at the base; fringes of the hindwing are narrowly whitish; ventral side of all wings is light brown along the margin and sharply bordered by a dark brown postdiscal band; tornus of the hindwing beneath is shaded dull brown up to vein CuA2; 75.3.3. The neotype specimen is a male bearing three labels (1st handwritten, others printed): [ blasius Pl. | (elorus H-Sch | nec Hew.)], [DNA sample ID: | NVG-24028D10 | c/o Nick V. Grishin ], [{QR Code} MfN URI | http://coll.mfn- | berlin.de/u/ | 09f692] and illustrated in Fig. 72a; the neotype is missing the right antenna and has a tornus repaired from the ventral side on both hindwings; pieces of wings of other specimen(s) glued to the neotype to repair it are hereby excluded from the neotype; 75.3.4. We failed to find definitive syntypes of E. blasius among Hesperiidae holdings in all collections we visited (see Acknowledgments for their list) and, therefore, believe that they were lost, although it is possible that the neotype itself might have been a syntype; 75.3.5. The neotype agrees with the original description ( Plötz 1881) and information about E. blasius from other sources ( Herrich-Schäffer 1869; Godman 1907), as evidenced by observing the characters of this taxon listed above (75.3.2.) in the neotype photographs ( Fig. 72a); 75.3.6. The neotype is lacking a locality label and the original type locality given as “ Cuba ” is almost certainly incorrect, thus both the neotype and syntypes are from an unknown locality; and the neotype is a specimen collected around the same time as syntypes, is in the collection where many primary type specimens of Plötz and Herrich-Schäffer are deposited, and might even be a syntype; 75.3.7. The neotype is in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany (MFNB). As a result of the neotype designation, the type locality of E. blasius becomes Southeast or South Brazil, as determined by genomic comparisons, and is to be refined further by sequencing of additional specimens. The COI barcode sequence of the neotype, sample NVG-24028D10, GenBank PV550018, 658 base pairs, is: AACTCTATATTTTATTTTTGGAATTTGAGCAGGATTAATCGGAACTTCTTTAAGATTACTTATTCGAACTGAATTAGGAACCCCAGGATCTTTAATTGGAGACGATCAAATTTATAACACC ATTGTAACAGCTCACGCATTTATTATAATTTTTTTTATAGTTATACCTATTATAATTGGAGGATTTGGAAATTGATTAGTTCCTCTAATAATAGGAGCCCCTGATATAGCTTTTCCACGTA TAAATAATATAAGATTTTGACTTTTACCCCCATCATTAACTTTATTAATTTCAAGAAGAATTGTCGAAAATGGTGCTGGTACAGGATGAACAGTTTATCCCCCTCTTTCATCAAATATTGC CCATCAAGGAGCATCAGTTGACTTAGCAATTTTTTCTTTACATTTAGCTGGTATTTCTTCTATTTTAGGAGCTATTAATTTTATTACAACAATCATTAATATACGAATTAATAACTTATCT TTTGATCAAATACCTTTATTTGTTTGAGCTGTTGGAATTACAGCATTATTATTATTACTTTCACTACCAGTTTTAGCAGGAGCTATTACTATATTATTAACTGATCGAAATTTAAATACCT CATTTTTTGATCCAGCGGGAGGAGGAGATCCAATTTTATATCAACATTTATTT

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Hesperiidae

Genus

Eudamus

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