Dianesia aberrans male 13 Aug 2023 Mina Amores, Baracoa © Yosiel Alvarez
The long-anticipated paper describing a further six cryptic species of Dianesia, all endemic to the island of Cuba, has now been published. You can read the paper here. The comparison between these cryptic newly described Dianesia species and the many Calisto species that until recently were also thought to be just one species is noted.
The two previously described species were:
Carter's Metalmark Dianesia carteri found only in the Bahamas is now given full species status and split from Ramsden's Metalmark Dianesia ramsdeni found only in eastern Cuba.
The description of Galindo Metalmark Dianesia galindoensis was detailed in the last blog.
The two previously described species were:
Carter's Metalmark Dianesia carteri found only in the Bahamas is now given full species status and split from Ramsden's Metalmark Dianesia ramsdeni found only in eastern Cuba.
The description of Galindo Metalmark Dianesia galindoensis was detailed in the last blog.
Dianesia abscondita female 21 April 2024 Road to El Playazo, Santa Clara © Yosiel Alvarez
The six new species described in the new paper are:
Aberrant Metalmark Dianesia aberrans
Sheyla's Metalmark Dianesia sheylae
Alayo's Metalmark Dianesia alayoi
Flaming Metalmark Dianesia flammata
Hidden Metalmark Dianesia abscondita
Holguin Metalmark Dianesia serpentinicola
Mean interspecific barcode p-distances were above 2% for all species pairs except between Dianesia alayoi and D. flammata where it was 1.59%. This falls below the 2% threshold usually employed for species delimitation in Lepidoptera. However, the existence of morphological differences in the adults, larvae, genitalia, larval host plant and distribution led the authors to describe them as different species. In other species pairs the barcode p-distances were up to 7.08% (between D. aberrans and D. sheylae).
I also found interesting the absence of Dianesia from Hispaniola. They speculate that this could reflect extinction events or other historical factors but also accept that the existence of undiscovered species of Dianesia cannot be discounted.
Aberrant Metalmark Dianesia aberrans
Sheyla's Metalmark Dianesia sheylae
Alayo's Metalmark Dianesia alayoi
Flaming Metalmark Dianesia flammata
Hidden Metalmark Dianesia abscondita
Holguin Metalmark Dianesia serpentinicola
Mean interspecific barcode p-distances were above 2% for all species pairs except between Dianesia alayoi and D. flammata where it was 1.59%. This falls below the 2% threshold usually employed for species delimitation in Lepidoptera. However, the existence of morphological differences in the adults, larvae, genitalia, larval host plant and distribution led the authors to describe them as different species. In other species pairs the barcode p-distances were up to 7.08% (between D. aberrans and D. sheylae).
I also found interesting the absence of Dianesia from Hispaniola. They speculate that this could reflect extinction events or other historical factors but also accept that the existence of undiscovered species of Dianesia cannot be discounted.
Dianesia alayoi female 10 Jul 2024 Sigua, Santiago de Cuba © Yosiel Alvarez
In all our visits we have only seen one of the eight species - Flaming Metalmark Dianesia flammata. That was on our visit to Cayo Coco in June 2019. It is quite possible of course that we have mostly been looking at the wrong time of year. A huge well done to all the wonderful people involved in this great piece of science for all the field work, lab work, writing, proof reading and of course to Yosiel Alvarez for the great pictures. I will load more information on to the new individual species pages over the next couple of weeks.
Dianesia flammata larva 14 Jun 2024 Cayo Coco, Ciego de Ávila © Yosiel Alvarez
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