Pierellisation of stripes in the wing-pattern of the genus Rhaphicera Btl. (Lepidoptera Satyridae)

Summary

The process of pierellisation of wing-pattern components described by the author (1925, 1928) inPierella and related genera of South American butterflies may result in the formation of complex pattern components as it is shown in the diagrams (text-figs. 2, 3).

But within thePierella group of genera no representative is found which would be exactly corresponding to the diagram text-fig. 3, concerning hind-wing, that diagram being a combinative scheme.

The condition wanted has been discovered in a quite different branch of Satyridan family namely in the Eastern speciesRhaphicera dumicola (fig. 5), the hind wing of which exactly reproduces the condition of the text-fig. 3 regarding pattern components dealt with in the latter.

(A short description of the derivation ofdumicola from the Nymphaloid prototype [text-fig. 1] is given in the explanation of the figures.)