AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES Published by Number 1359 the AMERICAN MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY August 22, 1947 New York City

AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES Published by Number 1359 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY August 22, 1947 New York City ATRYTONE SINGULARIS HERRICH-SCHAFFER AND THE SUBSPECIES INSOLA TA BUTLER (LEPIDOPTERA, RHOPALOCERA) BY ERNEST L. BELL In the year 1865 Herrich-Schiffer de- presented to the Museum, among other scribed a species of Hesperiidae from a material, by Dr. William Schaus many single male specimen collected by Dr. Juan years ago. According to Bates, Dr. Schaus Gundlach in the vicinity of Guantanamo, collected specimens of insects in the prov- Oriente Province, at the eastern end of inces of Matanzas and Oriente. Cuba, and gave it the name Goniloba Gundlach (1881) briefly redescribes singularis. Apparently Herrich-Schiiffer singularis and says that he collected only returned this specimen, the type of the one specimen in the vicinity of Guan- species, to Dr. Gundlach as it is said now to tanamo and that there was nothing known be in the Gundlach collection in Havana, of its origin or its habits. He gives the Cuba. expanse across the wings as 40 mm. Since the publication of Herrich- Ramsden (Skinner and Ramsden, 1923) Schiiffer's description so many years ago, says that he saw the type of singularis in all of the references to his singularis in the Gundlach collection in Havana and published literature known to us are based compares it with cornelius Latreille, a on the single specimen collected by related Cuban species. Gundlach, and no further captures of this Williams (1931) does not mention sin- insect have been reported. gularis in his paper on the Hesperiidae Dr. S. C. Bruner, Chief of Department, taken by Mr. Orazio Querci and his family Departamento Fitopatologia y Entomo- during their 11 months' collecting in Cuba logia, Estacion Experimental Agronomica, either among the species that were collected Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, has recently or in the list of those not collected. With sent to us four specimens, two of each sex, headquarters at Cristo, near Santiago de of singularis which were collected at Cuba, most of the collecting by Mr. Querci Siboney by Mr. Pastor Anayo, of Santiago and his family was done in the foothills de Cuba. Siboney is located on the south- of the Sierra Maestra Mountains which ern coast of Oriente Province, southeast of lie along the southern side of Oriente Santiago de Cuba and southwest of Guan- Province at the eastern end of Cuba. tanamo, the type locality of singularis. Williams says that Mr. Querci and his The specimens were captured on the fol- family were in the field every day. De- lowing dates, one male, June 20, 1943; spite this intensive collecting no specimens one male, August 11, 1946; one female, of singularis were taken, although the gen- May 9, 1945; one female, June 9, 1946. eral region in which the Querci family Dr. Bruner has generously donated one worked is that from which have come all pair of the specimens to the American of the known specimens of singularis Museum of Natural History, and the other bearing definite locality data. pair is being returned to him. In addition Bates, in his comprehensive paper on the to the pair of specimens donated by Dr. butterflies of Cuba, places singularis Bruner there is another female specimen in among the doubtful species. the collection of the Museum which bears In view of the absence of published rec- the label "Cuba Schaus coll." which was ords of the capture of specimens of sin- 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITA TES [No. 1359 gularis since the original type specimen The overscaling varies among individuals was taken and the fact that the four speci- in its intensity and the area which it covers. mens sent by Dr. Bruner were collected over The fringes are brown with some fulvous a period of nearly three years, it is indicated scales in the lower part and at the anal that the species is of rare occurrence or angle. very locally distributed, or perhaps both. The under side of the primaries is dark The unspined mid-tibiae and the general brown with an overscaling of rusty fulvous superficial characteristics seem to indicate along the costal margin and on the apical that singularis is closely allied to that half of the wings. The secondaries are section of the genus Atrytone in which the entirely overscaled with rusty fulvous. primaries of the males have an oblique stigma of similar form but not so greatly developed. In the original description Herrich- Schaffer briefly compares singularis with "G. lineosa m. aus Brasilien" but we can find no published description by Herrich- Schaffer of a species of Hesperiidae by that name, and we assume that it is a nomen nudum. In view of the brief original description of singularis and the fact that the female has not been described at all, we give below Fig. 1. Male genitalia of Atrytone singularis a detailed description of both sexes. Herrich-Schaffer. Cuba. Atrytone Herrich-Schiiffer singularis The upper side of the head is black with Figure 1 yellow scales in Goniloba singularis HERRICH-SCHAFFER, 1865, front of the antennae, at p. 55. Cuba. the extreme back of the head, and sur- Pamphila singularis, KIRBY, 1871, p. 605. rounding the third joint of the palpi. The Goniloba singularis, GUNDLACH, 1881, p. 168. top of the thorax and the abdomen is ful- Pamphila singularis, GUNDLACH, 1881a, p. 113. vous and rusty fulvous. On the under side Goniloba singularis, SKINNER AND RAMSDEN, 1923, p. 318. the palpi are yellowish and the pectus is Goniloba singularis, BATES, 1935, p. 238. orange fulvous. The thorax and abdomen are fulvous and rusty fulvous. The legs MALE are rusty fulvous. The hind tibiae have The upper side of the primaries is dark two pairs of spurs, the upper pair much brown with a ferruginous sheen. The smaller than the lower pair. The mid- basal area is overscaled with rusty fulvous. tibiae are not spined (as mentioned by The very broad stigma is dark grayish and Herrich-Schaffer). The antennae are composed of two segments, the upper one about half as long, or a little more, than filling the base of interspace 2 and the lower the costal margin of the wings; the club is one extending across interspace 1 to vein 1. moderately stout with an apiculus which These two segments are outwardly bor- appears to be equal to a trifle more than the dered by a broad area of modified scales diameter of the club. The antennae are which change in color according to the black on the upper side, and on the under angle of light in which they are viewed; side there is a narrow fulvous line. The thus they may appear to be black, or bur- club is entirely fulvous; the apiculus is red. nished coppery, or metallic green. The fringes are brownish. FEMALE The secondaries are dark brown with an No two of the three females before us overscaling of rusty fulvous except in the are alike, but on the upper side the ground costal area and along the outer margin. color seems to be a shade paler than that 1947] ATRYTONE SINGULARIS 3 of the males. The rusty fulvous over- Serdis aurinia, LONGSTAFF, 1908, p. 50. Limochore8 aurinia, DRAUDT, 1924, p. 935, pl. scaling is of the same shade and covers 181k. about the same area as that of the males. Limochores in8olita, KAYE, 1926, pp. 459, 498. One individual has two slightly yellowish Limochores in8olita, KAYE, 1931, p. 536, pl. 39, hyaline discal spots on the primaries, an fig. 11. elongate one in interspace 2 just under the Limochore8 insolita, AVINOFF AND SHOUMA- end of the cell, and the other a smaller one TOFF, 1946, p.293. lying near the base of interspace 3. There As there are some superficial differences is a barely noticeable indication of a sub- in specimens from Jamaica and Hispaniola apical spot in interspace 6. Another in- we retain the name insolata to represent the dividual has the two spots in the same po- subspecies of singularis inhabiting those sitions, but the lower one is very small and islands. The overscaling on both sides the upper one so minute that it is just of the wings of both sexes of insolata is of discernible. The third individual appears a lighter shade of fulvous, and in some to have no spots at all, a minute paler individuals, especially those from His- place in the ground color being the only paniola, it is particularly bright. On the trace of the spot in interspace 2. under side of the secondaries occasional On the under side of the wings the rusty individuals of each sex show traces of a fulvous overscaling appears to be heavier curved discal band of small pale spots and more extensive than that of the males. which vary in distinctness. As on the upper side, the three females On the under side of the primaries of the differ from each other on the under side. males the stigma of the upper side is rep- The first individual mentioned has the resented by a prominent black area which two discal spots of the primaries slightly is outwardly bordered by accumulations of larger than on the upper side, but the sub- pale fulvous scales forming spots in inter- apical spot is very small. On the second- spaces 1 and 2, and a small spot in the base aries there is a hazy indication of two small of interspace 3. These three spots appear discal spots, one in interspace 2 and the to form a discal band which is not present other in interspace 3.

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