'' male
imagines, upperside (left) and underwing There have been 2 major competing
taxonomic schemes for this genus in the late 20th century. The traditional view delimits the genus
loosely, with about 30 species. A more recent proposal restricts the genus to 6-8 valid species, which all possess the typical
apomorphies and can be divided into three species groups or
superspecies: '''
mavors group''' •
Theritas kalikimaka (Clench, 1944) (sometimes included in
T. mavors) •
Theritas lotis (Goodson, 1945) (sometimes included in
T. mavors) •
Theritas mavors Hübner, 1818 '''
paupera group''' •
Theritas drucei (Lathy, 1926) •
Theritas gozmanyi (Bálint, Wojtusiak, Kerstész & Biró, 2007) •
Theritas harrietta (Weeks, 1901) •
Theritas paupera (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1865) '''
triquetra group''' •
Theritas triquetra (Hewitson, 1865) In 2019, phylogenetic research (Martins 2019) could just as well be closer to
Micandra and
Penaincisalia than to
Theritas proper. All in all, it is not unlikely that some of the genera nowadays considered
junior synonyms of
Theritas turn out to be valid. Several of the proposed genera are
monotypic, and thus perhaps least likely to be valid. One of these has been argued to be
nomen nudum per Article 13.1 of the
ICZN Code, because an appropriate genus description was not given; the matter has been submitted to the
ICZN for discussion. That all nonwithstanding, species provisionally placed in
Theritas are: •
Theritas acontius (Goodson, 1945) •
Theritas adamsi (Druce, 1909) (close to
"T." deniva?) •
Theritas anna (Druce, 1907) (
type species of
Aveexcrenota; including
A. mimianna) •
Theritas arene (Goodson, 1945) •
Theritas augustinula (Goodson, 1845) •
Theritas augustula (Kirby, 1877) •
Theritas boliboyeri (Bálint & Wojtusiak, 2006) (later
Lucilda boliboyerus (Bálint & Wojtusiak, 2006) per Martins et al. 2019. •
Theritas chalumna (Schaus, 1902) •
Theritas crines (Druce, 1907) (type species of
"Lucilda") •
Theritas curitibaensis (Johnson, 1992) •
Theritas danaus (C. & R.Felder, [1865]) (type species of
Margaritheclus) •
Theritas deniva (Hewitson, 1874) (type species of
Denivia) •
Theritas hemon (Cramer, [1775]) (close to
"T." deniva?) •
Theritas lisus (Stoll, 1790) •
Theritas margaritacea (Draudt, 1919) •
Theritas monica (Hewitson, 1867) •
Theritas phegeus (Hewitson, 1865) •
Theritas theocritus (Fabricius, 1793) •
Theritas viresco (Druce, 1907) In addition, there are at least three more undescribed species placed here: one from
Santa Catarina state in
Brazil and two from the
Andes of
Peru. It is unknown whether they are indeed
Theritas sensu stricto.
T. drucei and
T. triquetra as well as some species of the disputed assemblage are known from Santa Catarina or its surroundings, while the rest of the
paupera group but also many other related
Lycaenidae are found in the Andes. ==Footnotes==