Manerebia punku Pyrcz & Farfan 2021, n. sp

Manerebia punku Pyrcz & Farf��n, n. sp. (Figs. 3, 7) Type locality. Peru, Piura Department, Abra de Porculla. Diagnosis. This species is immediately recognized from its congeners by the presence of prominent HWV postdiscal yellow spots, and the absence of any median band. No closest relative can be identified at this time. Description. MALE (Fig. 3A, B): Head: eyes chocolate brown, naked, lustrous; labial palpi two times length of head, covered with black hair-like scales, longer ventrally but overall shorter than in other congeners; antennae slender, 2/5 th length of costa, naked, dorsally and ventrally brown, except for ventral side of gradually formed club, which is sandy yellow. Thorax: black; legs dull brown, tibia covered with brown, femur and tarsus with sandy yellow scales. Wings: FW length: 17.5 mm (n=2). FWD almost uniform medium brown, with a slightly darker basal half. FWD medium brown, with hair-like scales in basal half. FWV medium brown, a shade lighter in distal half, with two, faint postdiscal and submarginal regular lines, and four small postdiscal, pale yellow dots, apparently varying individually with one individual lacking these dots (Fig. 3B). HWV medium brown, a shade lighter in distal half, with dark brown postbasal, postdiscal and submarginal lines, all rather irregular, with latter fainter than others, and a series of 5 postdiscal pale yellow dots, three central ones larger than extremal ones. Abdomen: dorsally covered with black scales, laterally and ventrally with grey brown scales. Genitalia (Fig. 7C): Uncus long and arched; gnathos one-third length of uncus, with a stout base and sharp apex; pedunculus prominent, directed downwards, saccus short, bulbous; valva slender, with a gradually narrowing apical part ending with a sharp tip turned inwards, with an irregular dorsum; aedeagus stout, sinuate, short. FEMALE: Unknown. Molecular data. BI (Fig. 12), ML (Fig. 13), the species-delimitation methods (Figs. 14,15) and genetics distances (Supplementary material 2) indicate that M. punku n. sp. is a distinct species. However, based on ML analysis, M. punku n. sp. is related to the clade formed by M. germaniae, M. apiculata, M. leaena + M. inderena mirena complex + M. golondrina, M. interrupta, M. inderena similis, M. inderena fina clade + M. trimaculata, M. undulata complex + M. inderena clara, M. inderena ssp., M. inderena antioquiana, M. prattorum udima n. ssp. clade, and according to BI analysis, it is related the M. mycalesoides and M. nevadensis, but both analyses showed high branch support of the clades containing it. Type material: Holotype ♂: Peru: Piura, Abra de Porculla, 05��50���42������ S / 79��30���15������ W, 15.vi. 2018, 2247 m, J. Farf��n leg. MUSA; Paratype (4 ♂): 1 ♂: same data as the Holotype, will be deposited in MUSM; 1 ♂: Piura, Abra de Porculla, western slopes, 2200���2250 m, 15.vi.2018, T. Pyrcz leg., prep. genit. 1613/ 24.01.2019 K. Florczyk, prep. mol. 392/ 26.06.2018 A. Zubek, CEPUJ; 1 ♂: Piura, Abra de Porculla, Chiclayo���Pucara S05��50���43��� W79��30���18���, 2200 m, 15.vi.2018, P. Boyer leg., PBF; 1 ♂: Piura, Pacaipampa, Bellavista, S04��57��� W79��33���, 1950 m, 25.vi.2003, W. Zelada leg., MUSM. Etymology. ���punku��� is a word in Quechua language (spoken currently in the Peruvian Andes) that means door, entry, access, portal, alluding to the Porculla pass that connects the two sides of the Andes at the type locality. Remarks. This species is easily distinguished from other congeners by its small size, rounded wings and, in the typical form, prominent HWV rounded yellow dots. The genitalia are also quite distinctive, being most similar to those of M. rufanalis Pyrcz & Hall, 2006 from southern Ecuador, which is otherwise externally very different. It is the only species of Manerebia known so far from the Abra de Porculla (Fig. 11C), where it occurs on the western slopes only, with the eastern slopes being extremely arid with no cloud forest vegetation. The geographic range of this species is incompletely known, and it can only be speculated that it extends both north and southwards where similar habitat is found. In the trees generated based on COI sequences this species is sister to M. apiculata, M. leaena, and M. germaniae, all externally different species occurring at higher elevations in the northern Andes.
Published as part of Mahecha-J, Oscar, Florczyk, Klaudia, Willmott, Keith, Cerde��a, Jos��, Zubek, Anna, Boyer, Pierre, Farf��n, Jackie, Lachowska-Cierlik, Dorota & Pyrcz, Tomasz W., 2021, Solving the cryptic diversity of the genus Manerebia Staudinger in northern Peru description of new species and considerations on the biogeographical role of the Huancabamba Deflection (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae: Pronophilina), pp. 201-237 in Zootaxa 5072 (3) on pages 215-216, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5072.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5744549
{"references":["Pyrcz, T. W., Willmott, K. R., Hall, J. P. W. & Viloria, A. L. (2006) A review of the genus Manerebia Staudinger (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) in the northern Andes. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera, 39, 37 - 79."]}