108 JOURl\AL OF TIlE LEPIDOPTElUSTS' SOCIETY

THE NEOTROPICAL METALMARK HERMATHENA OWENI

(RIODINIDAE): NEW RECORDS AND MAJOR EXTENSION

OF THE KNOWN RANGE FROM COSTA RICA TO

EL SALVADOR AND MEXICO

THOMAS C. EMMEL

Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32601

LEE D. MILLER

Allyn Museum of Entomology, 3701 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota, Florida 33.580

and

HARRY K. CLENCH

Carnegie Museum of Nahual History, Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania 15213

In the montane pine and oak forests south of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, a number of unusual butterflies were taken by one of us (T. C. E.) during March 1959. The first record of Colkt~, philodice Godart (Pieridae) for Mexico was previously reported (Emmel, 1963) from these high (7,600 ft. elevation), predominantly coniferous forests. Other, more typically Central American species were taken that spring in this location, e.g., Anelia (= Clothilda) euryale Doubleday & Hewit­son and Anaea excellens Bates (both Nymphalidae). Along with these was an extraordinary large white metalmark which was previously known only from the type specimen collected in Costa Rica.

This striking riodinid, Hermathena oweni, was described and figured in color by Schaus (1913; 350; pI. LIII, fig. 9) from a single male col­lected in Costa Rica, with no further locality, by Professor Owen of the University of 'Wisconsin. Since there are no native pines in Costa Rica, this specimen was probably collected in the oak forests which do occur at high elevations (7,000-10,000 ft.) in that country. The original descrip­tion accurately matches the Chiapas male collected in 1959 (Figs. 1 & 2) (maximum wing expanse 38 mm, forewing length 21 mm). Bccause of the rarity of the original paper and the unusual pierid-like pattern of the butterfly, Schaus' description of his male is quoted here:

Head and thorax black clothed with greyish-white hairs. Abdomen grey, with transverse black segmental shades. Wings white, the base mottled with black with traces of a subbasal whitish line; spots black, two beyond cell; a medial spot below vein 2; subterminal quadrate spots above and below vein 6, also above and below vein 3; apex black; spots at ends of veins; terminal inter­spaces between veins 2 and 3, and 4 and 6 mottled with black. Hind wings: terminal spots at veins; subterminal quadrate spots above and below vein 7. Underneath similar; the basal mottling showing through from above; the terminal markings on interspaces entirely black . Exp~nse 42 mm.

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VOLUME 29, NUMBER 2 109

Fig. 1. Adults of Hermathena oweni Schaus: upper surfaces (top) and under surfaces (bottom). Left: <3, Mexico, Chiapas: 12 km S San Cristobal de las Casas, March (T. C. Emmel); forewing length 21 mm. Center: ~,Mexico, Chiapas: Ochuc, July (R. C. Wind); forewing length 23 mm. Right: ~ (form "dativa" Schaus), Mexico: Chiapas: Santa Rosa Comit<ln, May (T. Escalante); forewing length 18 mm.

Seitz (1916) placed oweni as a subspecies of H. candidata Hewitson, but the figure given of the subspecies columba Stichel (Seitz, 1916: pI. 126d) suggests that oweni is a distinct and totally different species. One of us (L. D. M.) has compared Otceni and candidata superficially and is of the opinion that they are not conspecific.

Since the 1959 specimen collected by Emmel, additional specimens have been taken in Mexico and EI Salvador. These specimens are now

llO JOURNAL OF THE LEPIDOPTERISTS' SOCIETY

Fig. 2. Male genitalia of Hermathena oweni Schaus, same (; as in Fig. 1 (slide M-1790; Lee D. Miller).

in the collection of the Allyn Museum of Entomology and are from the following localities:

MEXICO: CHIAPAS: Santa Rosa Comit<ln, iv-vii, ix, 4 (;, 3 <;1 (all T. Escalante); Ochuc, vii-viii, 1 (1;, 1 <;1 (both R. C. Wind); Campet, xi, 1 <;1 (R. C. Wind); cloud forest above Lago Tiscon, Lagos de Montebello, ix, 1 <;1 (R. C. Wind). VERACRUZ: Dos Amates, ix, 1 (; (T. Escalante). EL SALVADOR: METAPAN: Cerro Miramundo cloud forest, iv-v, 1 (1;, 1 <;1 (S. L. and L. M. Steinhauser and E. Manley).

In addition, Robert Wind (pers. comm.) has informed L. D. M. that he has two other specimens from Ochuc, Chiapas, thus raising the number of known Mexican specimens to at least 15.

About this insect in EI Salvador, S. L. Steinhauser has written to one of us (L. D. M.):

At Miramundo in the cloud forest we have seen them fairly commonly from late February to June flying high in the canopy where they look like pierids. They will rest beneath leaves with wings flat, but they also perch at times on the upper surfaces of leaves with wings erect (territorial defense?). Frequently they are observed in groups of three or four flying peacefully together. They almost never come lower than 20 feet above the ground and usually fly at 50-75 feet above ground level, depending on canopy height.

Steinhauser also mentions at least one other specimen taken at Cerro Miramundo (elev. 2300-2400 m = 7,600-8,000 ft.) in the cloud forest.

Much of the material from Santa Rosa Comit{m, Chiapas, as well as that specifically from the Lago Tiscon area, is from cloud forests, and this vegetational formation may be the favored home of oweni. If so, the type specimen from Costa Rica probably came from one of the patches of cloud forest scattered throughout the basically oak woodlands of the Sierra de Talamanca alluded to earlier in this report.

VOLUME 29, NUMBER 2 111

The Steinhauser observation suggests that H. oweni is not nearly so rare as has been previously assumed, but since it flies in relatively in­accessible areas, at relatively inaccessible heights, it is seldom collected.

Schaus (1928: 47-48) later described H. dativa from a single female taken on Volcan Santa Maria, Guatemala, at 7,000 ft. This name applies to specimens that are similar to typical oweni, but lack the forewing median dark spots, except for the one in M2-Mg outside the cell. The terminal spots and basal shading are as in oweni, but perhaps less well developed. Two females in the Chiapas series of oweni in the Allyn Museum material show these traits, but are not otherwise separable from typical oweni. An additional specimen or two in the series also show transitional configurations of the median spots, and it is evident that dativa (Fig. 1) represents no more than an extreme form of oweni and should be placed in the synonymy of the latter [NEW SYNONYMY].

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank Mr. Stephen L. Steinhauser for his observations on the habits of this insect. We are also grateful to Dr. J. F. Gates Clarke and Mr. William D. Field for access to the type-specimens of both species in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Our thanks go also to Mr. A. C. Allyn for the photography of the specimens and to Mrs. Jacqueline Y. Miller for the drawing of the male genitalia.

LITERATURE CITED

El\fMEL, T. C. 1963. Colias philodice in Chiapas, Mexico. J. Res. Lepid. 1: 194. SCHAUS, W. 1913. New species of of Rhopalocera from Costa Rica. Proc. Zool.

Soc. London, 1913: 339-367, pIs. L-LIV. SCHAUS, W. 1928. New species of Lepidoptera in the United States National

Museum. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington 30: 46-58. SEITZ, A. 1916. Erycinidae. In Seitz, A. (ed.), 1907-1924. The Macrolepidoptera

of the World. Vol. 5, The American Rhopalocera. Stuttgart, Alfred Kernan Verlag: p. 617-738, pIs. 121-143.