A revision of the new genus Amiga Nakahara, Willmott & Espeland, gen. n., described for Papilio arnaca Fabricius, 1776 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae)

Abstract

We here propose a new, monotypic genus, Amiga Nakahara, Willmott & Espeland, gen. n., to harbor a common Neotropical butterfly, described as Papilioarnaca Fabricius, 1776, and hitherto placed in the genus Chloreuptychia Forster, 1964. Recent and ongoing molecular phylogenetic research has shown Chloreuptychia to be polyphyletic, with C.arnaca proving to be unrelated to remaining species and not readily placed in any other described genus. Amigaarnacagen. n. et comb. n. as treated here is a widely distributed and very common species ranging from southern Mexico to southern Brazil. A neotype is designated for the names Papilioarnaca and its junior synonym, Papilioebusa Cramer, 1780, resulting in the treatment of the latter name as a junior objective synonym of the former. A lectotype is designated for Euptychiasericeella Bates, 1865, which is treated as a subspecies, Amigaarnacasericeella (Bates, 1865), comb. n. et stat. n., based on molecular and morphological evidence. We also describe two new taxa, Amigaarnacaadela Nakahara & Espeland, ssp. n. and Amigaarnacaindianacristoi Nakahara & Marín, ssp. n., new subspecies from the western Andes and eastern Central America, and northern Venezuela, respectively.