Rekoa bourkei (Kaye (1925))

Rekoa bourkei Kaye

NOMENCLATURE.—Thecla bourkei Kaye, 1925: Kaye (1925) described Thecla bourkei from a Trinidadian female in Bourke's Collection in the Oxford Museum. Kaye (1931) later corrected the type locality to Jamaica, and illustrated a male. The type apparently has been lost (Comstock and Huntington, 1959), but Kaye's illustration makes identification unambiguous. Thecla bourkei is the type species of Heterosmaitia; its change to Rekoa is a new combination.

Heterosmaitia abeja Johnson and Matusik, 1988: Johnson and Matusik (1988) described this species from a male and female collected in the Dominican Republic. I examined the types (in CMNH) for each of the 47 coded characters in this paper that did not require a standard deviation or removal of androconia, and found no difference from those of R. Bourkei except for Character 44. This evidence is the basis for synonymy. Further, none of the character states that the authors used to differentiate R. abeja is unique to that species. Indeed, the relationship of R. abeja to R. bourkei and R. zebina will remain unclear until there are enough specimens to assess variation. The phylogenetic analysis and distribution map for R. bourkei were prepared before information on the types of R. abeja was available to me.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION (Figure 91), TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION, AND ELEVATION.—JAMAICA: Cornwall: Trelawny, Baron Hill (1200 ft, Jan, 16 Jun, Oct); from Brown and Heineman, 1972, Duncans (25 Jan), Hanover-Lucea (Jun); from Brown and Heineman (1972). Middlesex: Ocho Rios (Dec), St. Ann, Rio Bueno (30 Dec), St. Ann, Islington (20 Feb); from Brown and Heineman (1972). Surrey: St. Andrew and Kingston, Constant Spring (Jan), St. Andrew and Kingston, Sandy Gully (8 Jul); from Brown and Heineman (1972), St. Thomas, 1 mi E of Lysson (6 Sep); from Brown and Heineman (1972). DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Pedernales: Las Abejas (1250 m, 10, 15 Jul).

IDENTIFICATION.—Riley (1975) stated that R. bourkei has “a few distant relatives on the mainland,” but it is very closely related to R. zebina. The best differentiating character is locality. In the morphology section, a few statistical and two qualitative distinguishing characters are noted. Female R. bourkei lack spines on the lamella postvaginalis, while they are present in R. zebina. The dorsal cornutus in the penis of R. bourkei has the right prong lost or reduced to a small bump, while it is not lost in R. zebina.

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR.—Habitat: Little is known about the habitat preferences of R. bourkei. It occurs mainly in the Jamaican lowlands (Brown and Heineman, 1972) up to about 375 m. Most of the areas where it occurs receive less than 250 cm annual rainfall (Brown and Heineman, 1972), much like R. zebina. It appears to fly throughout the year. The specimens from the Dominican Republic were collected at 1250 m.

Rekoa bourkei, the Jamaican hairstreak or Hispaniolan hairstreak, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad.