Choranthus  richmondi,  new  species

                             Figs. 5, 6  ( ♀ ),  21  ( ♀  gen.)

     Female:  Head,  thorax  and  abdomen  blackish-brown  above  sprinkled  with
greenish  and  fulvous  hairs,   heaviest  on  the  head  and patagia.   Antenna  dark
brown   above,   fulvous   at   the  base   of  the  club;  below  the  shaft  is  ringed
with    alternating    chocolate-brow    and   light   fulvous;   nudum   dull   brown.
Palpus   brownish-black  above  and  pale  fulvous  below;  checks  light  grayish-
fulvous .  Thorax   and   abdomen   beneath  densely  covered  with  tan  hairs  in-
termingled    with    a   few   green   ones.   Legs   thickly   covered   with   bright
fulvous  hairs.
     Upper   surface   of   forewing   dark   fuscous  with  a  darker  patch  near  the
end  of  the  cell  corresponding  to  that  of  other  members  of  the group.  The
area  bounding  the  cell,  from  the  origin  of  R1,   around  the  cell  and  thence
across   the  wing   to  near   the  middle  of  2A,   is  thinly  dusted  with  fulvous
scales  and  corresponds  to  the light  patch  on  females of other radians group
skippers.  The   hindwing   is  also  dark  fuscous  with  long  basal  fulvous  hairs
and  a  poorly  defined  discal  patch  of  the  same  color  interrupted  by  darker
veins.  The  fringes  of  both  wings  arc  grayish-brown.
     Under  surface  of  forewing  fuscous,  darker  from  the  base  to  the  end  of
the   cell   and   almost  to  the   inner   margin.   Costa   heavily  overscaled  with
bright   fulvous ;   the   apex,   margin   and  extradiscal   areas  are  thickly  over-
scaled   with   mixed  fulvous  and  green.   Hindwing   likewise  fuscous  heavily
dusted  with  mixed  fulvous  and  green  scales,  fulvous  alone  in  the anal area.
There  are  no  discal  markings,  and  the  veins  are  not  paler   than  the ground
color.

    Length  of  forewing  of Holotype ♀ , 5.5 mm.;  of Paratype ♀,
16.5 mm.
   The  female  genitalia  are  characteristic  of  the  radians group
as regards  the paired median posteriad  projections of the lamella
antevaginalis.   The  broad,   shield-like  lamella   postvaginalis  is
similar  to that of radians,  but it is broader in the present species.
   Described from two females from the Exuma Islands, Bahamas.
    HOLOTYPE    ♀:    White  Point,  Great   Guana  Cay,  Exuma
Islands, BAHAMAS; 17.vii.1965  (N. D. Richmond);  ♀ genitalia
slide  no. M-1458   (Lee D Miller).
    PARATYPE ♀:  Exuma  Cays, Bitter Guana Cay, BAHAMAS;
13.i.1953  (L. Giavannoli);  ♀  genitalia  slide no. G2410 (Amer-
ican Museum of  Natural History).
    The Holotype is in  the collection of Carnegie Museum  (C. M.
Ent.  type  series no. 513),  and  the  Paratype  is  in the collection
of  the  American  Museum of  Natural  History.
    I  take  great pleasure  in  naming this skipper for my friend and
colleague,  Neil  D.  Richmond,  Curator of Amphibians and Rep-
tiles, Carnegie  Museum, who collected the Holotype. His collec-
tions  have  enriched   the  entomological   holdings   of  Carnegie
Museum  for  many  years.
    This species is the  "Choranthus species" referred to by Rindge
(1955)  in  his  report of  the Bahaman  butterflies.  The specimen
he noted  is the  Paratype.
    C. richmondi  is  closest  to radians,  and probably radians was
the ancestral  species of  the  Bahaman insect. The  Exuma Islands
are  those  nearest  eastern  Cuba and  lie along  the "main line" of
dispersal  from  Cuba  to  the  remainder  of  the  Bahamas.  From
the  systematic proximity of  radians and richmondi,  I expect the
male of the latter to be rather like that of radians, perhaps darker,
and  with  at  least  some  green  overscaling  on  the hindwing be-
neath. I doubt  that the conspicuously paler veins  of the hindwing
below  which  identify  radians  will   be  apparent in  the  present
species.