Speyeria hesperis cottlei ( Comstock, 1925 )

Dunford, James C., 2009, Taxonomic overview of the greater fritillary genus Speyeria Scudder and the atlantis - hesperis species complexes, with species accounts, type images, and relevant literature (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), Insecta Mundi 2009 (90), pp. 1-74 : 35-36

Speyeria hesperis cottlei ( Comstock, 1925)

Argynnis cottlei Comstock, 1925: 64 (see dos Passos and Grey 1947).

Speyeria atlantis cottlei (Comstock) [ Emmel et al. 1998c].

Speyeria hesperis cottlei (Comstock) [ Warren 2005].

Common name. Cottle’s fritillary.

Type deposited. The specimen used for description was in the J. E. Cottle collection, San Francisco ( Comstock 1925; dos Passos and Grey 1947). Holotype reportedly located at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County ( Pelham 2008); cannot be located (see discussion below) and a neotype designation may be needed.

Type locality. Vicinity of Alturas, Modoc County, California. Dos Passos and Grey (1947) synonymized A. cottlei with Speyeria atlantis [= hesperis ] irene and designated a lectotype for S. h. irene taken from Massack, Plumas County, California. Emmel et al. (1998c) resurrected the name from synonymy based on examination of the type for S. h. irene and the distribution of S. h. cottlei .

Type label data. I have not seen the type specimen. According to Emmel et al. (1998c), a single specimen was used to describe A. cottlei , but it is not clear where the specimen is currently located. John Emmel (pers. comm.) stated the following: “Riker mounts that Comstock used for his plates in The Butterflies of California are still stored at L.A. County Museum--however, specimens that Comstock borrowed, such as Cottle’s specimen of Argynnis cottlei , were returned to the persons who lent them to Comstock. So presumably the type was returned to J. E. Cottle-- where his collection went, I’m not sure. There are some specimens of Cottle’s in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. However, about 15 years ago when I was at the American Museum I did not see the type of cottlei . Cottle lived in San Francisco, but the type of A. cottlei has not turned up at the California Academy of Sciences there. Comstock’s illustration (1927 [1989], The Butterflies of California) of the type of A. cottlei may be your only source for an image.” A type specimen may need to be redesignated for S. hesperis cottlei . At the time, Comstock treated A. cottlei as a distinct species but speculated it may have been an unsilvered form of what is now S. zerene hippolyta .

Identification, taxonomy, and variation. Closely resembles members of the zerene complex and S. h. irene . However, there is a complete lack of silver scaling on the ventral hindwings of S. h. irene . Adult wingspan ranges from 50-55 mm. This subspecies has been referred to as S. atlantis [= hesperis ] irene (Boisduval) in the past. Argynnis cottlei was raised from full synonymy with S. h. irene to subspecies status by Emmel et al. (1998c), who retained it in the atlantis species complex. This species should be placed with former western ‘ atlantis ’ forms that conform to the hesperis subspecies complex listed by Scott et al. (1998). Warren (2005) was the first to use ‘ cottlei ’ with S. hesperis .

Range. According to Emmel et al. (1998c), S. h. cottlei is known from the Warner Mountains, but blend zones with S. hesperis dodgei occur in the Klamath Mountains and Mt. Shasta region.

Life history. Nothing could be gleaned from the literature.