Pyrrhopyginae de Venezuela. (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae)

Resumen

Studies on the systematic and taxonomy of Venezuelan HESPERIIDAE are limited to Bell s (1946b, 1947c) and Evans (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955) catalogues. While the former is entirely dedicated to Venezuela, the latter displays partial data on New World specimens housed at the British Museum in London (The Natural History Museum). Other references citing taxa as ocurring in this country are coarse, and in no way are they exhaustive. Since then, 44 specific and infraspecific pyrrhopygine taxa are known to occur in Venezuela. This Neotropical hesperiid subfamily actually consists of 163 species (Mielke,2004; 2005). In this study, 32 taxa are added to the Venezuelan fauna, raising the number to 62, five of which are new species and other six are new subspecies. Fifty species-level taxa are currently known. The new venezuelan Pyrrhopyginae are: Myscelus nobilis (Cramer, 1777), M. perissodora Dyar, 1914, M. assaricus (Cramer, 1779), Passova gellias (Godman y Salvin, 1893), Pyrrhopyge e. evansi (Bell, 1947), P. evansi borburata, new subspecies, P. thericles raymondi, new subspecies, P. thericles fola Evans, 1951, P. amythaon peron Bell, 1947, P. sergius andros Evans, 1951, Pyrrhopyge caribe new species, P. caribe camachoi, new subspecies, Pyrrhopyge guayaraca new species, P. boulleti LeCerf, 1928, Yanguna cometes staudingeri (Ploetz, 1879), Yanguna cometes angeli, new subspecies, Melanopyge maculosa (Hewitson, 1866), Elbella patrobas evansi Mielke, 1995, E. merops (Bell, 1933), E. theseus (Bell, 1933), E. azeta azeta (Hewitson, 1866), E. lustra Evans, 1951, E. patroclus acala Evans, 1951, Jemadia demarmelsi new species, J. sosia Mabille, 1878, J. menechmus shinoi, new subspecies, J. hewitsonii Mabille, 1878, Jemadia ortizi new species, J. gnetus (Fabricius, 1781), Amenis pionia sandra new subspecies, A. rogeri new species, and Mysoria barcastus pallens Mabille, 1891. Similarly, several taxa should be removed from the venezuelan faunal list: Elbella lampra lampra (Hopffer, 1874), Mimoniades nurscia (Swainson, 1821), Myscelus amystis epigona Herrich-Schaeffer, 1869, Myscelus phoronis caucanus Staudinger, 1888, Oxynetra felderi Hopffer, 1874, Creonpyge creon (Druce, 1874), Pyrrhopyge phidias garata Hewiton, 1866, Passova polemon (Hopffer, 1874), Pyrrhopyge zenodorus Godman y Salvin, 1893, Sarbia damippe Mabille y Boullet, 1908 y Sarbia oneka (Hewitson, 1866). The presence of Pyrrhopyge amyclas (Cramer, 1779) and Gunayan rhacia (Hewitson, 1874) could not be corroborated. All species and subspecies included in this study are decribed, commented and ilustrated, including the genitalic aparatuses of both sexes where possible. The habits and habitats are discussed, including the distributional range within and outside Venezuela.