Pierphulia rosea rosea (Ureta)

Pierphulia rosea rosea (Ureta)

Piercolias nysiella.—Herrera, 1954b:52 [a misidentification, in part].—Herrera and Etcheverry, 1956:284 [a misidentification, in part].

Piercolias nysias rosea Ureta, 1956:163–164, fig. 5, pl. 1: figs. 5a–5d [a misidentification, in part]; 1963:99.—Peña, 1970:262.

Piercolias (Pierphulia) nysias rosea.—Peña, 1963:215.

MALE (Figures 103, 122, photographs of topotype).—Uppersurfaces as illustrated with ground color white, fuscous spots on apex of forewing variable in amount. Wings below pale pink on secondaries and in apical area of primaries. This subspecies is characterized by having the undersurface of the hind wing and apex of forewing much paler, much less heavily irrorated with black scales.

Length of forewing, 10.5–16 mm (average 13.9 mm).

FEMALE (Figures 102, 119, photographs of specimen from Ojos del Putana, Antofagasta, Chile; 104, 123, photographs of topotype).—Similar to the male with fuscous submarginal markings on apex of forewing larger and with ground color white or yellow. Wings below quite similar to the male, disc of forewing sometimes whitish yellow.

Length of forewing, 12–15 mm (average 13.6 mm).

TYPE DATA.—The type-locality is given as “Alto de Laguna Verde, Cord, de Antofagasta,” Chile. This type-locality citation refers to the small lagoon east of the Volcán Hékar in the Province of Antofagasta, not to Laguna Verde in the southwest corner of Bolivia. This subspecies was described from the holotype male, allotype female, and two male and three female paratypes, all from this locality, 24 December 1952, 5000 meters, Luis E. Peña collector. Five male and two female paratypes from Parinacota, Province of Tarapacá, and one male paratype from Apacheta de Chapiquina, Province of Tarapacá, are not this subspecies but are P. rosea maria, new subspecies. The holotype, allotype, and four male topotypical paratypes are in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Santiago, Chile. The remaining paratypes are in the collections of Luis E. Peña and G. Heimlich.

NATURAL HISTORY.—The natural habitat of this subspecies is arid areas in the high planes.

DISTRIBUTION (see Map 4).—This subspecies is found only in the Cordillera de Antofagasta at from 3300 to 5000 meters elevation.

We had for study 15 males and 7 females from the holotype locality and one male and two females from Ojos del Putana, Province of Antofagasta (3 December 1959).