S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 62. (Budapest, 2001)
Type locality — Venezuela, Mérida, km 12.5 on the road between Apartaderos and Santo Domingo, 3200 m. Type — Holotype: male, presently in coll. A. Neild, but will be deposited in MIZA, labelled as "Apartaderos-Sto. / Domingo, Km. 12.5 / Mérida, Venezuela / ca. 3100-3200 m. / Coll. A. Neild [printed] / 16.IX.97. [handwritten]". Genital dissection: gen prep. Bálint no. 970. The specimen is in good condition, but stained (by grease?) in the basal area, and the two antennae are loose and pinned below in a cellophane triangle along with two legs; the abdomen is dissected. Distribution — Geographically, spatially and temporarily known only from the holotype. Etymology — Named after the collector of the holotype, Mr. Andrew Neild, Scientific Associate of The Natural History Museum (London, United Kingdom). Discussion — Ecology: the habitat is marshy paramo with low bushes. Andrew Neild (pers. comm.) notes that he saw only a single specimen of Podanotum andrewneildi. Flying synchronically in the same area there were two Paralustrus commodus (Felder et Felder, 1865) (Lycaenidae, distributed in monatne northwestern Venezuela and Colombia), two Steromapedal iodes albonotata (Godman, 1905) (a species endemic to the Cordillera de Mérida), and numerous Redonda empetrus (Thieme, 1905) (a genus endemic to the Cordillera de Mérida) (both Satyrinae: Pronophilini). No other species were seen. The weather was poor (overcast and rainy) on the day of capture, but these specimens were all seen during a half hour break in the clouds, when the sun shone fiercely. The species perched on the top of one of these bushes, at about 2 metres above the ground. It flew very rapidly when disturbed, and due to its sombre colouration, was extremely difficult to follow in flight. Systematics: I place this species in Podanotum, because (1) the ventral markings of Podanotum clarissimus Hall, Willmott et Johnson, 1996 are strongly reminiscent of the pattern of andrewneildi, and show characters unique amongst Neotropical lycaenids; and (2) the male genitalic configurations of clarissimus and andrewneildi are identical (I could not detect any diagnostic character). Members of the superficially similar Penaincisalia have a more complex ventral hind wing pattern and possess a dorsal fore wing androconial cluster. When Podanotum was described, it contained two conspicuously coloured species. Some years later the metallic blue Penaincisalia paramosa was described (Constantino & Salazar 1998: 199). I consider the latter as congeneric with P. andrewneildi. I have not examined the holotype, but I am convinced that it belongs to Podanotum because (1) the male dorsal ground colour is metallic (no such Penaincisalia s. str. species are known), (2) the ventral markings are simplified (complex and cryptic in Penaincisalia) resembling P. metallicus Torres et Johnson, 1996, and (3) the male fore wing androconial cluster is missing. Consequently I propose the new combination Podanotum paramosa (Constantino et Salazar, 1998). The original placement of paramosa again indicates the problematic systematics of the whole Penaincisalia genus group (see above, plus Bálint & Wojtusiak 2000: 185). The Podanotum species described in the present paper shows a closer affinity to P. paramosa, because the hind wings of both the taxa are tailed.
