Melitaea phoebe subsp. sibina, Alpheraky, 1881

Russell, Peter J. C., Lukhtanov, Vladimir A. & Tennent, W. John, 2022, Reassessment of the status of some European and Asian Melitaea taxa described as subspecies of Melitaea phoebe ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775), with designations of lectotypes where appropriate (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), Zootaxa 5141 (1), pp. 25-38 : 26-28

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5141.1.2
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F1B8B140-4A7C-4AAA-97C6-A0DAA259C8E3
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6580816
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/DB6B87B0-FFF9-FFE5-E1FD-0625FDBCFE6E
treatment provided by	Plazi (2022-05-24 15:34:29, last updated 2024-11-26 04:56:38)
scientific name	Melitaea phoebe subsp. sibina
status

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M. phoebe sibina Alphéraky, 1881 View in CoL

[TL: Peoples Republic of China, NW Xinjiang, Yining, Sibo, Ili Valley]. The locality data label (see Fig. 7C View FIGURES 7–11 ) has the location in Russian ‘Kuldscha, Kainak’, since this was Russian territory in 1879)]; for some considerable time this taxon has been given specific status, as Melitaea sibina , for example: Grum- Grshimailo, 1895: 291, Schultz 1908: 91 and Higgins, 1941: 347. However, Tóth & Varga (2011) were unable to separate M. sibina from M. phoebe using morphometric measurements of male and female genitalia and Lukhtanov et al. (2009), Leneveu et al. (2009) and Tóth et al. (2014) were also unable to separate these species using molecular data. The present authors consider that Melitaea sibina ( Figs 7A, B, C View FIGURES 7–11 ) should be considered as a closely related species separate from M. phoebe due to its significantly different wing pattern, in agreement with van Oorschot & Coutsis (2014: 65) and Korb (2018: 58). As a point of interest the label in Russian ( Fig. 7C View FIGURES 7–11 ): ‘Кол.[лекциЯ] Вел.[икого] Кн.[ЯЗЯ]/ НиколаЯ/ Михайловича’ translates to ‘Collection of Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich’.

It is noted that Korb (1998: 62) synonymised M. scotosia weiwueria Huang & Murayama, 1992 [TL: China, Xinjiang, Altai, Jiadengu], with nominate M. scotosia Butler, 1878 and Lang (2012: 160) synonymised it with M. scotosia butleri Higgins (1940: 53) . From Huang & Murayama’s monochrome figure of a worn specimen (1992: 8, fig. 17 no. 19), it is almost impossible to provide specific identification. However, Korb & Bolshakov (2011: 42) and van Oorschot & Coutsis (2014: 65) placed this taxon in synonymy with M. sibina , which seems to be a more plausible interpretation (although not indisputable, possibly requiring further investigation), since the distance to Altai in Xinjiang province is more than 1000 km. northwest of the widely recognized distribution of M. scotosia in northeast China, Korea, and Japan.

References

Butler, A. G. (1878) On some butterflies recently sent home from Japan by Mr. Montague Fenton. Cistula Entomologica, 2 (19), 281 - 286.

Higgins, L. G. (1940) A new species and two new subspecies of Melitaea (Lep. Nymphalidae). Entomologist, 73, 51 - 53.

Higgins, L. G. (1941) An illustrated catalogue of the Palearctic Melitaea (Lep. Rhopalocera). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London, 91, 175 - 365. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1365 - 2311.1941. tb 01045. x

Huang, R. - X. & Murayama, S. (1992) Butterflies of Xinjiang Province, China. Tyo to Ga, 43 (1), 1 - 22.

Korb, S. K. (1998) Some corrections on the diurnal butterflies (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) from Xinjiang Province, China. Entomotaxonomia, 20 (1), 61 - 62.

Korb, S. K. & Bolshakov, L. V. (2011) A catalogue of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilioformes) of the former USSR. Second edition, reformatted and updated. Eversmannia Supplement 2, 1 - 123. [In Russian]

Korb, S. K. (2018) Butterfly fauna of Dzhumagal-Too mountain ridge in Kyrgyzstan (Lepidoptera: Papilionidea and Hesperioidea), Acta Biologica Sibirica, 4 (2), 53 - 60. https: // doi. org / 10.14258 / abs. v 4 i 2.4124

Lang, S. - Y. (2012) The Nymphalidae of China (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) Part 1: Lebytheinae, Calinaginae, Morphinae, Heliconiinae, Nymplalinae, Charaxinae, Apaturinae, Cyrestinae, Biblidinae, Limenitidae. Tshikolovets Publications Pardubice, Czech Republic, 443 pp.

Leneveu J., Chichvarkhin, A. & Wahlberg, N. (2009) Varying rates of diversification in the genus Melitaea (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) during the past 20 million years. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 97, 346 - 361. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1095 - 8312.2009.01208. x

Lukhtanov, V. A., Sourakov, A., Zakharov, E. V. & Hebert, P. D. N. (2009) DNA barcoding Central Asian butterflies: increasing geographical dimension does not significantly reduce the success of species identification. Molecular Ecology Resources, 9, 1302 - 1310. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1755 - 0998.2009.02577. x

Schultz, O. (1908) Ueber einige Farbungs- und Zeichnungs- anomalien aus dem Genus Melitaea F. Entomologische Zeitschrift, 22, 90 - 92.

Staudinger, O. (1870) Beitrag zur Lepidopterenfauna Griechenlands. Horae Societatis Entomologicae Rossicae, 7, [3] - 304.

Toth, J. P. & Varga, Z. (2011) Inter- and intraspecific variation in the genitalia of the ' Melitaea phoebe group' (Lepidoptera. Nymphalidae). Zoologischer Anzeiger, 250, 258 - 268. [6 pp. of Appendix with key and figures of genitalia only present in the on-line version, www. sciencedirect. com] https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. jcz. 2011.05.002

Toth, J. P., Bereczki, J., Varga, Z., Rota, J., Sramko, G. & Wahlberg, N. (2014) Relationships within the Melitaea phoebe species group (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae): new insights from molecular and morphometric information. Systematic Entomology, 39, 749 - 757. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / syen. 12083

Van Oorschot, H. & Coutsis, J. G. (2014) The genus Melitaea Fabricius, 1807 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Nymphalinae) Taxonomy and systematics with special reference to the male genitalia. Tshikolovets publications, Pardubice, Czech Republic, 360 pp.

Figures

FIGURES 7–11. 7, Lectotype of Melitaea phoebe sibina Alphéraky, 1881. 8, Melitaea phoebe ab. tatara Krulikovsky, 1891. 9, Lectotype of Melitaea phoebe ornata Christoph, 1893. 10, Lectotype of Melitaea phoebe uralensis Krulikovsky, 1897 (= ufensis Krulikovsky 1902). 11, Lectotype of Melitaea phoebe var. tungusa Herz, 1899. Figs 7, 9, 11 © V.A. Lukhtanov. Figs 8, 10 © expired. A = upperside, B = underside, C = labels on specimen pin.