Melitaea phoebe subsp. caucasica, Staudinger, 1870

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

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.6580814
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/DB6B87B0-FFF9-FFE7-E1FD-03ADFB6BF9B6
treatment provided by	Plazi (2022-05-24 15:34:29, last updated 2024-11-26 04:56:38)
scientific name	Melitaea phoebe subsp. caucasica
status

Treatment

M. phoebe caucasica Staudinger, 1870 View in CoL

[TL: “Kindermann ganz ähnliche Stücke im Caucasus fing (?- Helenendorf; Kindermann leg.)”]. The name caucasica was preoccupied by M. didyma caucasica Staudinger, 1861 and the name was replaced first by M. phoebe ottonis Fruhstorfer 1917 . A lectotype female and a paralectotype male were designated by Nekrutenko ( Hesselbarth et al. 1995: 2: 1028) from the Staudinger collection, housed at Zoologisches Museum der Humboldt Universität, Berlin (figs 5A, B, C & 6A, B, C). Verity subsequently also proposed a replacement name, caucasicola Verity, 1919, this being a synonym of ottonis. Kemal & Koçak (2011: 44) used the name ‘ Melitaea (Cinclidia) ( phoebe ) sextilis Jachontov, 1909 ’ as a replacement name giving it subspecific(?) status; however, Jachontov (1909: 285) used this name for a variety of second generation M. phoebe and, so far as the authors are aware, no author since has used the name sextilis in favour of ottonis Fruhstorfer, 1917. In fact the M. phoebe species group portrayed by Kemal & Koçak (2011: 44), in their article on eastern Mediterranean butterflies, included M. punica , a species absent from the eastern Mediterranean. This perpetuates confusion, which the first author with others has been trying to resolve. Hesselbarth et al. (1995: 3, Tafel 80/81: figs 30– 33 ♂; Tafel 82/83: figs 1– 4 ♀) placed ottonis as a synonym of M. phoebe . Although the lectotype female does not show all the characters typical of M. phoebe , for instance the underside submarginal black arches do not touch the intervening veins (see Fig. 5B View FIGURES 1–6 ), the paralectotype underside ( Fig. 6B View FIGURES 1–6 ) certainly shows all the characters typical of M. phoebe . Recent authors, such Tshikolovets (2011: 497; 2003: plate 24: figs 16 m. and 17 f.), Tshikolovets et al. (2014: 318–319), van Oorschot & Coutsis (2014: 60) and Russell & Tennent (2016: 45, note 22) have all agreed that this is a subspecies of M. phoebe and not M. ornata , with which the present authors concur.

References

Fruhstorfer, H. (1917) Neue Rhopaloceren aus der Sammlung Leonhard. Societas Entomologica, 32 (5), 19.

Hesselbarth, G., van Oorschot, H. & Wagener, S. (1995) Die Tagfalter der Turkei unter Berucksichtigung der angrenzenden Lander, Sigbert Wagener, Bocholt, Germany, 1, 1 - 757, 2, 758 - 1354, 3, 1 - 847.

Jachontov, A. A. (1909) Notice sur les Lepidopteres Rhopaloceres du Caucase. Russkoe entomologicheskoe obozreniie (Revue Russe d'Entomologie), 8 (1908), 282 - 292. [In Russian]

Kemal, M. & Kocak, A. O. (2011) A synonymical and distributional checklist of the Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea of East Mediterranean countries, including Turkey (Lepidoptera). Priamus, 25 (Supplement), 1 - 162, Plates 1 - 42.

Russell, PJ. C. & Tennent, W. J. (2016) A synonymic list of names associated with western Palaearctic Melitaea phoebe (Denis & Schiffermuller, 1775) species group taxa M. phoebe; M. punica Oberthur, 1876; M. ornata Christoph, 1893) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). Nota Lepidopterologica, 39 (1), 27 - 56. https: // doi. org / 10.3897 / nl. 39.5929

Staudinger, O. (1861) In Staudinger, O. & Wocke, M. F. Catalog der Lepidopteren Europa's und der angrenzenden Lander, Staudinger & Burdach, Dresden, Germany, XVI + 192 pp.

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

Tshikolovets, V. V. (2011) Butterflies of Europe & the Mediterranean area. Tshikolovets Publications, Pardubice, Czech Republic, 544 pp.

Tshikolovets, V. V., Naderi A. & Eckweiler, W. (2014) The butterflies of Iran and Iraq. Tshikolovets Publications, Pardubice, Czech Republic, 366 pp. + 65 colour plates.

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.

Verity, R. (1919) Seasonal Polymorphism and Races of some European Grypocera and Rhopalocera. Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation 31 (2), 26 - 31, (3), 43 - 48, (5), 87 - 89, (7), 121 - 129, (10), 178 - 184, (11), 193 - 201.

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. 1, Melitaea ornata male underside, Russian Federation, southern Urals, Orenburg Province, Guberli, ca. 190 m, 14 May 2014. 2, Melitaea phoebe male underside, Russian Federation, southern Urals, Orenburg Province, Krasnoznamenka, ca. 210 m, 16 May 2014. 3, Melitaea ornata female underside, Slovenia, Koper, ca. 2km NW of Rakitovec ca. 525 m, 17 May 2011. 4, Melitaea phoebe female underside, Slovenia, Koper, ca. 2km S. of Rakitovec ca. 525 m, 17 May 2011. 5, Lectotype female of Melitaea phoebe caucasica Staudinger, 1870. 6, Paralectotype male of Melitaea phoebe caucasica Staudinger, 1870. Figs 1–4 © P. Russell. Figs 5–6 © T. Léger. A = upperside, B = underside, C = labels on specimen pin.