Styx infernalis
| Styx infernalis | ||||||||||||
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Illustration with only one wing half from The Macrolepidoptera of the World |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the tribe | ||||||||||||
| Stygini | ||||||||||||
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| Styx | ||||||||||||
| Staudinger , 1875 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Styx infernalis | ||||||||||||
| Staudinger , 1875 |
Styx infernalis is a butterfly species of the cubic butterfly (Riodinidae) from Peru .
features
The moth has a wingspan of 46 to 49 millimeters. The body is black in color, the wings are cloudy gray-white, translucent like glass, with black veins and a blurred, dark-colored outer edge, the coloring reminds some viewers of the Apollo butterfly (genus Parnassius ). The front wings are fairly elongated with a rounded front angle, the rear wings are about the same size and elongated and broadly rounded. The head has two rather short, clubbed antennae, the length of which is only about a third of the forewing length. There are no spurs on any pair of legs in the tibia . The abdomen is somewhat compressed at the sides.
As is typical of riodinidae which is Vordertarsus the male partially reduced and is not suitable for running. He has no claws, only a pale colored appendix, possibly a rudiment of the adhesive pad ( arolium ). The number of segments is variable between two and four. As with many dice butterflies, it has numerous elongated scales.
distribution
The rarely found species is only known from a small area in the highlands of Peru. It lives in the primary mountain rainforest at sea levels between 1,000 and 1,800 meters, in steep, small stream valleys near the watercourses. The moths fly around noon. Because of the small area and the threatened habitat, which is often cleared for coffee plantations, it is considered to be endangered. Although the extinction of the species has also been feared, specimens were spotted at least in 2004. Details on the biology of the species, such as B. the caterpillar stage or food plants are unknown.
Taxonomy
It makes its own monotypic tribe Stygini within South America ( Neotropical limited) subfamily Euselasiinae the riodinidae (Riodinidae). In a study with combined data on morphology and homologous DNA sequences (molecular phylogeny ), a closer relationship with the subfamily Nemeobiinae was found instead.
Earlier investigators sometimes assumed an even more basal position of the species, at the base of the bluebells (Lycaenidae) in the broader sense or even of the butterflies as a whole; often the species is alternatively placed in a monotypical subfamily Styginae.
Staudinger notes that the species "seems to come from the underworld rather than from the magnificent tropical vegetation".
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Styx infernalis. Tree of life web project
- ^ A b O. Staudinger (1875): New Lepidoptera of the South American Fauna Area . Negotiations of the Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna 25 (1): 89–124.
- ^ RK Robbins (1988): Male foretarsal variation in Lycaenidae and Riodinidae, and the systematic placement of Styx infernalis (Lepidoptera). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 90: 356-368
- ↑ KS. Brown Jr .: Selected Neotropical species. In: The IUCN Species Survival Commission: Conservation Biology of Lycaenidae. ISBN 2-8317-0159-7 .
- ^ Paul R. Ehrlich in Carol L. Boggs, Ward B. Watt, Paul R. Ehrlich: Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight. University of Chicago Press, 2003. ISBN 9780226063171 p.1
- ↑ Homepage Rod Eastwood, Pierce Lab, Harvard University ( Memento of the original from November 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ CJ Callaghan & G. Lamas (2004): Riodinidae. In Lamas, G. (editor): Checklist part 4A. Hesperioidea – Papilionoidea. Heppner, JB (editor): Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. volume 5A. Association for Tropical Lepidoptera / Scientific Publishers, Gainesville. xxxvi + 439 pp., pp. 141-170.
- ↑ Maria Heikkilä, Lauri Kaila, Marko Mutanen, Carlos Peña, Niklas Wahlberg (2011): Cretaceous origin and repeated tertiary diversification of the redefined butterflies. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 279: 1093-1099 doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2011.1430
