Argyrophorus Explained

Argyrophorus is a butterfly genus from the subfamily Satyrinae in the family Nymphalidae. It is distributed between Chile, Argentina and Perú. The systematic and circumscription of the genus is disputed.

Taxonomy and systematics

Type species by monotypy is Argyrophorus argenteus Blanchard, 1852.^[1] Lamas recognised four species in the Neotropics, including the type species and three undescribed species.^[2]

Several species of southern temperate satyrinae have been assigned initially to the genus Argyrophorus, but taxonomic work during the 1950s and 1960s placed many of these in distinct genera.^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]} The recent description of a new species, with two distinct subspecies, raised the question of the validity of those genera (Neomaniola, Pampasatyrus, Pamperis, Punargenteus, Etcheverrius, Palmaris, Stuardosatyrus, Chilanella and Pseudocercyonis), but did not provided a resolved and conclusive synonymy for the group.^[8]

Traditionally Argyrophorus has been considered a representative of the subtribe Pronophilina, but Viloria found it to be closer related to the Hypocystina.^[9] This later arrangement has been challenged by phylogenetic analysis based on molecular data.^{[10] [11]}

Notes and References

1. Blanchard (1852) Hist. fís. pol. Chile 7:30
2. Gerardo Lamas 2004 Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. CheckList: Part 4A Hesperioidea-Papilionoidea Scientific Publishers.
3. G. Weymer 1912 "4 familie: Satyridae", In: A. Seitz. (Eds.) Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der erde, 2; exotische fauna A. Kernen, Stuttgart.
4. K. J. Hayward 1949 "Satíridos argentinos nuevos para la ciencia (Lep. Satyridae)" Acta Zool. Lill. 8: 151-159.
5. K. J. Hayward 1953 "Satíridos argentinos (Lep. Rhop. Satyridae) I. Los géneros (excluídos euptychia y Neomaniola)" Acta zool. Lill. 13: 5-66.
6. W. Heimlich 1959 "Eine neue Satyridae aus Chile" Entomol. Zeitschr. 69: 173-179.
7. W. Heimlich 1963 "Die Gattung Argyrophorus Blanchard (Lep., Satyridae)" Mitt. Münch. entomol. Ges. 53: 70-79.
8. T.W. Pyrcz and J. Wojtusiak 2010 "A new species of Argyrophorus Blanchard from northern Peru and considerations on the value of wing venation as a source of synapomorphies in some temperate Neotropical Satyrinae (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)" Genus 21: 605--613.
9. A.L. Viloria 2007 "Some Gondwanan and Laurasian elements in the satyrine fauna of South America (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)" Tropical Lepidoptera (2004)15: 53-55.
10. C. Peña, N. Wahlberg, E. Weingartner, U. Kodandaramaiah, S. Nylin, A.V.L. Freitas, and A.V.Z. Brower 2006 "Higher level phylogeny of Satyrinae butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based on DNA sequence data" Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40: 29--49.
11. N. Wahlberg, J. Leneveu, U. Kodandaramaiah, C. Peña, S. Nylin, A. V. L. Freitas, and A. V. Z. Brower 2009 "Nymphalid butterflies diversify following near demise at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary" Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences 276: 4295–4302.