Hesperia phocylides Plötz, 1882

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui & Grishin, Nick V., 2022, Taxonomic changes suggested by the genomic analysis of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera), Insecta Mundi 2022 (921), pp. 1-135 : 73

Hesperia phocylides Plötz, 1882 is a junior subjective synonym of Cymaenes edata (Plötz, 1882)

Following the hypothesis of Godman (1907), who suggested that was “probably a small ♀ of Lerema accius ” (J. E. Smith, 1797) (type locality USA: Georgia), Hesperia phocylides Plötz, 1882 (type locality Venezuela: La Guaira) is currently treated as a junior subjective synonym of L. accius ( Mielke 2005) . However, inspection of copies of Plötz’s unpublished drawings (no. 578 for H. phocylides ) in the library of the Natural History Museum, London, revealed that the wing pattern of H. phocylides does not agree with that of L. accius . Namely, hindwing below has a broad middle pale band through the discal cell, also expressed in cell Sc+R 1 -RS as a wide rectangular spot, which is narrow in L. accius , but the brown discal band is narrow in contrast to broader band in L. accius . However, the illustration of H. phocylides is an excellent match to Cymaenes edata (Plötz, 1882) (type locality Venezuela: La Guaira) specimens from Venezuela. Both phocylides and edata have the same type locality and due to phenotypic similarities we suggest, acting as first reviser (ICZN Code Art. 24), that Hesperia phocylides Plötz, 1882 is a junior subjective synonym of C. edata . Both taxa were proposed in the same work issued on the same date ( Plötz 1882b), and we give priority to the name edata , because this name is currently used as valid, but phocylides has been placed in synonymy (although with a wrong taxon) by the suggestion of Godman (1907) since Draudt (1923b).