THE POLYTYPIC GENUS CELOTES 
(LEPIDOPTERA: HESPERIIDAE: PYRGINAE) 
FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES 
AND NORTHERN MEXICO* 
By John M. Burns 
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University 
Although most species of American hesperiids are hard to deter- 
mine, some are not; and none is more immediately distinct than the 
“streaky skipper,” Celotes nessus (Edwards). Ever since it was 
described (in genus Pholisora) in 1877, nothing else like it has been 
known. Indeed, since the turn of the century — despite abortive 
attempts of various workers to jam it into polytypic genera (such as 
Pyrgus [then commonly called Hesperia ], Systaseaj and Antigonus) 
— it has properly stood alone in the monotypic genus Celotes (God- 
man and Salvin 1899). I feel, therefore, a measure of remorse in 
now describing a second species of Celotes that closely resembles the 
first. 
Although I have accumulated data on Celotes since New Year’s 
Eve of 1961, when I first recognized it as polytypic, I still see no 
clear clues to the evolutionary differentiation of C. nessus and the 
species to be described: they overlap fully in space and in time, and 
at least partly in choice of larval foodplants. The new species is a 
multivoltine mallow-eater occurring in a montane strip that runs 
northwest-southeast through the middle of the range of C. nessus. 
Because C. nessus is both peculiar and familiar, the following 
description is comparative. And because original descriptions can be 
too tedious for words, this one is largely visual. 
In preparing it, I have examined the genitalia o'f all specimens of 
Celotes available to me and possessed of an abdomen — a total of 
529 individuals, of which 97 represent the new species. Wherever 
possible, I have also examined the metathoracic pouch of males. 
Each pinned specimen studied has received a sex-and-determination 
label. 
The new specific name is a noun in apposition. 
Celotes limpia new species 
Holotype. — cf, Limpia Canyon, 5000 feet, Davis Mountains, 
4 miles WNW of Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, Texas, May 2, 
* Manuscript received by the editor March 1, 1974. 
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