The Ithomiines of Brazil (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). III. Rediscovery and Systematic Position of Napeogenes xanthone

The "lost" east Brazilian butterfly species Napeogenes xanthone Bates wasrecently rediscovered in Itamaraju, in the south of the state of Bahia, where it occurs very rarely in large ithomiine pockets also occupied by much greater numbers of the very similar Hypothyris euclea laphria. Morphological considerations indicate it to be conspecific with Napeogenes yanetta Hewitson, which occurs locally farther south in the states of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro; xanthone takes date preference for the name of the combined species. The variable form "richardi" Fruhstorfer represents a clinal series between N.x. xanthone and N.x. yanetta, found principally in northern Espirito Santo and adjacent eastern Minas Gerais. The recently described form "haenschi" Fox and Real is regarded as an intrapopulational variant of N.x. yanetta, though it may be seasonally predominant in local areas southward. The relationships of N. xanthone to the Amazonian N. inachia and N. cyrianassc are uncertain, but are surely much more distant than that to N.x. yanetta. The ambiguous name Mechanitis rhezia Geyer should be regarded as a "species inquerenda".