1974 ] 
Burns — Polytypic Genus Celotes 
67 
rather more reminiscent of limpia with respect to both facies and size. 
Unfortunately, the geographic source (s) of the female (s) on which 
these figures are based was not indicated, but probability favors 
Mexico: Evans (1953) records that the holdings of the British 
Museum by then included 10 specimens of nessus from Texas, of 
which just 2 are females, but still only 3 from Mexico, to wit, “ic? 
2?” from “N. Sonora. Durango.” I would not be surprised to find 
that Godman and Salvin depicted a fetnale of limpia from Durango. 
Summary 
Celotes limpia , a new species of skipper butterfly in a hitherto 
monotypic genus, is described and extensively compared with C. 
nessus, which it closely resembles in superficial appearance and biol- 
ogy. Of 529 specimens examined, 97 represent the new species. 
Whereas C. nessus ranges widely (from central Texas and Oklahoma 
west to northwestern Arizona and south to at least the northern tier 
of Mexican states), C. limpia is relatively restricted, occurring within 
the range of C. nessus in Trans-Pecos Texas and interior northern 
Mexico. In Trans-Pecos Texas, where the only direct comparisons 
could be made, the two species are not only sympatric but also syn- 
chronic, flying in an indefinite number of generations from March to 
September. Larvae of both skippers are known, in the field, to eat 
various plants in the Malvaceae: Abutilon incanum, A. malacum 
( limpia only), Wissadula holosericea, W. amplissima {nessus only), 
Sphaeralcea angustifolia var. lobata, and Sida filipes {nessus only). 
In the laboratory, additional malvaceous foodplants are Althaea rosea 
and Malvastrum americanum {limpia only). Celotes limpia and 
C. nessus differ slightly in size and strikingly in genitalic morphology 
(both male and female) and in the morphology of certain scales on a 
male secondary sex character having a presumed communicative 
function. 
Acknowledgements 
Thank you : for lending specimens, J. A. G. Rehn and D. C. 
Rentz and Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, F. H. 
Rindge and American Museum of Natural History, C. D. MacNeill 
and P. H. Arnaud, Jr. and California Academy of Sciences, J. A. 
Powell and California Insect Survey, H. K. Clench and Carnegie 
Museum, L. M. Martin and J. P. Donahue and Los Angeles County 
Museum of Natural History, J. F. G. Clarke and W. D. Field and 
