Description of a new species of Pseudodebis Forster, 1964 from Central America (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)

Abstract

We name and describe a new nymphalid butterfly species, Pseudodebis hartmanni Nakahara & MacDonald, n. sp. (Satyrinae: Satyrini) based on differences in its wing pattern and DNA from the closely related species. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that this Central American species belongs to a strongly supported clade that also includes two sympatric species from western Ecuador: P. nakamurai Nakahara & Willmott, 2021 and P. pieti Nakahara & Willmott, 2021. This whole clade is sister to a Central American species, P. zimri Butler, 1869. The new species described here is currently known only from several sub-montane and montane rainforest habitats across Costa Rica and Panama; its description raises the total number of Pseudodebis to 11 species and underscores the hidden genetic and taxonomic diversity within Euptychiina.