Three new species of the Xylophanes crotonis species-group (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) from Colombia and a neotype designation for Xylophanes aristor

Abstract

Three new species of the hawkmoth genus Xylophanes Hübner, 1819 from Colombia are described based on morphological characters and DNA barcodes: Xylophanes camilae Correa-Carmona & Giusti sp. n., Xylophanes pijao Giusti & Correa-Carmona sp. n., and Xylophanes tayrona Correa-Carmona & Giusti sp. n. The new species are compared with the most morphologically similar species within the informal Xylophanes crotonis species-group: Xylophanes aristor (Boisduval, 1870), Xylophanes crotonis (Walker, 1856) and Xylophanes huloti Haxaire & Vaglia, 2008. Diagnoses, distribution maps, photographs of genital structures and habitus are provided for each new species. In addition, a dichotomous key is provided to identify the new species and the most morphologically similar species within the group. To stabilize the nomenclature and fix the taxon concept, a neotype is designated for Xylophanes aristor.

Keywords

• lepidoptera
• sphingidae
• colombia
• dna barcoding
• neighbor-joining tree
• neotype
• new species
• species delimitation
• taxonomy
• xylophanes crotonis species-group