Calephelis

Abstract: EENY-407, a 4-page illustrated fact sheet by Donald W. Hall, Marc Minno and Jerry F. Butler, is part of Featured Creatures collection. It provides information about this tiny orange butterfly with metallic silver lines on the wings. Includes references. Published by the UF Department of Entomology and Nematology, May 2007.

Abstract: Six species of Calephelis are known from central Rondonia, Brazil, including Calephelis aymaran and five species, distinguished largely by their genital morphology, named and described as new herein. These fly mostly during the wet season. The genus Calephelis Grote & Robinson, 1869 (Riodinidae: Riodininae), distributed from the northern United States to Argentina, contains about 45 species that are difficult to identify (McAlpine 1971; Austin 1993a, 1993b, 1997; Lamas 2001; Hall and Harvey 2002; Callaghan and Lamas 2004; but see Scott 1986). The included species are very similar in their superficial appearance and genitalia. Taxa were poorly distinguished in their latest revision (McAlpine 1971) and determining Calephelis to species requires the need to resolve seasonal variation and recognize subtle character differences; dissections of genitalia and long series and comparative material are often necessities. Careful study of relatively extensive collections from Costa Rica (Austin 1997), the Tikal area of Guatemala (Austin et al. 1996), Belize, and southeastern Mexico (Campeche, Quintana Roo) indicated that genital characters are very constant, at least within these local faunas, and, for many taxa, superficial characters are not readily apparent until phenotypes are sorted using genital morphology. This sorting is best accomplished by the use of a camera lucida to superimpose images of genitalia over drawings of those of the local species. This allows identification of similar phenotypes by subtle differences in curvature, length, and breadth of the pedicel (see Hall and Harvey 2002) and in the shape and relative length of the transtilla of males and in the size and shape of the genital plate of females. Such differences between certain species are frequently difficult to judge without this direct comparison.