A stunning new species of Jamides Hübner, 1819 (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), with notes on sympatric congeners from the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Jamides vasilia sp. n., from montane West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, is described and illustrated. The new species is strongly divergent from other known Jamides Hübner, 1819 in possessing a high antenna-forewing length ratio, long androconia on the hindwing upperside and a strongly convex forewing inner margin in the male. It is compared by external structures, male genitalia and mtDNA sequence data to putative related species in the cyta group of Jamides. Notes on various Jamides taxa from the Bismarck Archipelago are also provided, with Jamides pseudosias (Rothschild, 1915) and Jamides reverdini (Fruhstorfer, 1915) recorded from New Britain for the first time.

Molecular phylogeny of the tribe Candalidini (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae): systematics, diversification and evolutionary history

“…The Candalidini currently comprises 37 species (Tite ; Tindale, ; Common & Waterhouse, ; Edwards & Kerr, ; Parsons, ; d'Apice & Miller, ; Braby, , , ; Williams & Bollam, ; Braby & Douglas, ; Tennent, ; Müller, , , ; Müller & Tennent, ), but the number of genera remains uncertain (Braby, ). Indeed, the taxonomic composition of genera has had a turbulent history over the past half century, varying from as few as two to as many as eight genera (see history of the systematics of the Candalidini below).…”

“…The lycaenid tribe Candalidini is endemic to the Australian region and represents a significant radiation of butterflies in Australia and mainland New Guinea. It occurs from the Lesser Sunda Islands (Sumba and Timor) through mainland New Guinea (Papua New Guinea, Papua and West Papua) and its satellite islands, including Aru, Kai, Tanimbar, the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain), the D'Entrecasteaux Islands and the Louisiade Archipelago, to Australia, including the island state of Tasmania (Tite, ; Parsons, ; Braby, ; Müller, ). It is absent from the Solomon Islands, including Bougainville Island (Tennent, ).…”

Six new species of Philiris Röber, 1891 (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) from Papua New Guinea

“…This work has further high-lighted areas of butterfly endemism in Papua New Guinea. In particular, expeditions within the mountains comprising the central cordillera of New Britain Island have yielded other recent noteworthy discoveries ( Müller 2013 ; Müller and Wills 2013 and references there-in). The Hindenburg Range and Star Mountains in Western Province also host a number of recently described taxa ( Lachlan 1999 , 2000 ) and the Upper Sepik Basin supports a number of distinctive butterfly taxa, yet to be described (C. Müller, unpublished).…”

A new subspecies of Candalides geminus Edwards and Kerr, 1978 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from the Northern Territory, Australia

“…It currently contains 37 species and 23 subspecies (60 taxa) referred to two genera (Candalides Hübner, 1819 andNesolycaena Waterhouse &Turner, 1905), and thus represents a significant evolutionary radiation and characteristic component of the Australo-Papuan butterfly fauna. Since the revisionary work of Tite (1963), a remarkable number of new taxa have been described during the past 30 years (Parsons 1986;d'Apice and Miller 1992;Braby 1996Braby , 2008Williams and Bollam 2001;Tennent 2004;Braby and Douglas 2004;Müller 2013Müller , 2014Müller and Tennent 2016), suggesting that the taxonomic inventory of the tribe is incomplete and that additional taxa may await discovery.…”