Eueides tales forsteri Freitas, Winhard & Brown, 2025

Eueides tales forsteri Freitas, Winhard & Brown , ssp. nov.

Eueides tales ssp.: Brown Junior (1979: 45, quad. 7, 60, Fig. 11).

Eueides tales [n. ssp.] K. S. Brown, MS: Lamas (2004: 266)

Eueides tales Manuscript subsp. (Marajó Island): Brown Junior 1975: 237, Appendix II

Eueides tales [n. ssp.#2] K. Brown, MS: Warren et al. (2017)

Description and diagnosis. Male ( Figs. 1A and B View Figure 1 ): Antennae black with a black club, 14 mm in length (n = 2), with 47 antennomeres; club with 13 antennomeres, not conspicuously developed (n = 2). Thorax black, with reddish lateral areas; patagium red. Forewing length 32- 35 mm (n = 4); hindwing length 21-22 mm (n = 4). Dorsal forewing with a black background, basal third red with black scales along the veins, a small yellow spot on the distal end of discal cell (absent in some individuals; Fig. 1A View Figure 1 ) and three ( Fig. 1A View Figure 1 ) to five ( Figs. 1B and C View Figure 1 ) small yellow spots just outside the de cell between radius and CuA 2; ventral forewing similar, with the basal red third reduced to the discal and costal region and a small yellow area on basal costa; a double row of paired marginal white spots from tornus to space CuA 1 -CuA 2. Dorsal hindwing with a black background with a red dennis-ray pattern, a gray homogeneous androconial area on costal margin; ventral hindwing similar, with a red strip on costal area and a yellow patch on humeral angle, with a double row of paired intervenal submarginal white spots from apex to tornus (four white spots in each intervenal space, except the apex, where only two white spots are present).

Female ( Fig. 1C View Figure 1 ): similar but lacking the androconial gray area on costal margin of dorsal hindwing. Antennae length 13-14 mm (n = 3), with 47 antennomeres; club yellow, with 14 antennomeres. Forewing length 32-34 mm; hindwing length 20-22 mm (n = 3).

Eueides tales forsteri ssp. nov. is similar to some forms of Eueides tales surdus Stichel, 1903 that present reduced yellow spots in the forewing (such as the form reducta ) but can be distinguished by the presence of the red dennis-ray on dorsal hindwing (absent in E. tales surdus ). It can be distinguished from Eueides tales pythagoras W. F. Kirby, [1900] by the reduced yellow spots on dorsal forewing. It can be distinguished from all other subspecies of E. tales by the absence of the yellow postmedian bar in the dorsal forewing.

Type material. Holotype ( Fig.1A View Figure 1 ): male, deposited in the Zoological Collection of the Museu de Diversidade Biológica da Universidade Estadual de Campinas ( ZUEC), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Labels on the holotype (four labels separated by transverse bars): Holotypus / Brasil, Pará, Ilha do Marajó , Soure , 2,5 km NW Aeroporto, 18.I.1975, K. S. Brown leg. / Eueides tales forsteri Freitas, Winhard & Brown det. 2025/ ZUEC LEP 14799

Paratypes (all from Brazil). Pará: Soure, Ilha do Marajó , 2,5 km NW Aeroporto, 16.I.1975, 1 male, K. S. Brown leg. ( ZUEC LEP 14800 ) ( ZUEC), 17.I.1975, 2 males K. S. Brown leg. ( ZUEC LEP 14801 , ZUEC LEP 14802 ) ( ZUEC), 18.I.1975, 2 females, K. S. Brown leg. ( ZUEC LEP 14803 , 14804 ), ( ZUEC), Soure, [Fazenda] Amparo , Ilha do Marajó , 13.VI.1953, 1 female, W. Forster leg. ( ZSM) .

Etymology. This subspecies is named after Walter Forster, a German entomologist of the Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Munich, Germany. The name was proposed as a note in an old envelope with specimens by the last author, Keith S. Brown Jr. ( Fig. 1E View Figure 1 ).

Taxonomy and variation. Following the suggestion of Brown Junior (1975, 1979), the new taxon was described as a subspecies of E. tales , a decision supported by the presence of a double row of paired intervenal submarginal white spots on the ventral hindwing (all other Eueides present a single row) ( Brown Junior and Holzinger, 1973). Eueides tales is a species restricted to the Amazon Hylea, being absent from the drier areas in the southeastern Amazon, with 14 described subspecies including the here-described E. tales forsteri ssp. nov. ( Brown Junior, 1979; Lamas, 2004). Although some variation occurs in most of the 14 described subspecies, 11 of them present a yellow postdiscal band or large yellow postdiscal patches, one presents a very short yellow postdiscal patch ( Eueides tales llanera Winhard, 2019 ), and two presents yellow postdiscal patches or spots: E. tales surdus , and E. tales forsteri ssp. nov.

Variation on the wing pattern is mostly restricted to the number and size of the yellow postdiscal spots in the forewing and the extension of the red rays on the dorsal forewing (see above).

Distribution. This subspecies is only known from its type locality in the municipality of Soure, Pará, northern Brazil, but is likely present in other nearby forests in southeastern Marajó Island.

Habitat and Natural History. All specimens were collected in areas of scrubby forest on mixed sandy soils in the southeastern Marajó Island. In the same forests, E. tales forsteri ssp. nov. flies together with Heliconius erato estrella H. Bates, 1862 and Heliconius melpomene intersectus Neustetter, 1928, two putative mimics showing similar wing patterns, with the presence of red dennis-ray in the hindwing and reduced yellow postdiscal spots in the forewing.