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1969
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
147
ACANTHOPTEROCTETES species
Map 1
A third member of this genus occurs in the southern Sierra Nevada of California. Braun (1921) refrained from naming this insect because it is represented by a single female in poor condition, and I likewise will characterize it briefly.
The specimen measures approximately 13 mm across the wings, and, although its present condition makes this difficult to ascertain, it seems to have been a relatively pale, uniformly colored moth. The vesture of the head is largely intact, however, and differs from that of either of the two known species in being a uniform, pale stramineous. The female genitalia closely resembles that of A. bimaculata, except for the distinctly different signa-like structure in the bursa. In this species the structure is more elongate and cylindrical and less sclerotized.
The specimen was collected at Monache Meadows, Tulare County, California, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, July 10, 1917. It is deposited in the collection of A. F. Braun.
Literature Cited
Braun, A. F., 1921. Two weeks collecting in Glacier National Park. Proc. Acad.
Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1: 1-23, 1 illus. Busck, A. and A. Boving, 1914. On Mnemonica auricyanea Walsingham. Proc.
Ent. Soc. Washington, 16(4): 151-163, 39 figs. Fletcher, T. B., 1929. A list of the generic names used for Microlepidoptera.
Mem. Dept. Agric. India, Ent. Series, 11, 246 pp. Imms, A., 1957. A general textbook of entomology, Methuen & Co., London; 886 pp.
[revised by O. Richards and R. Davies]. McDunnough, J., 1939. Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada and the United
States of America, Part 2, Microlepidoptera. Mem. So. California Acad. Sci.,
2(1), 171pp. Meyrick, E., 1912. Lepidoptera Heterocera, fam. Micropterygidae. Genera Insec-
torum, fasc. 132, 9 pp., 1 col. pi.
BOOK REVIEW
On the types of South African Microlepidoptera described by the late Edward Meyrick and preserved in the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, and the South African Museum, Cape Town; Volume 1, Tineidae; by A. J. T. Janse. Transvaal Mus., Pretoria, Memoir No. 16, 127 pp. + 118 plates in black and white. 1968. 8.50 Rand ($11.90), paper covers.
The enormous chore of illustrating the types of the 15,000-plus species described by E. Meyrick, begun by J. F. G. Clarke on specimens in the British Museum, is being continued by Janse. Although the majority of Meyrick's types were placed in
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Vol. 23, no. 3
the British Museum with his collection, a considerable number were returned by Meyrick to various museums throughout the world. In his introductory volume, Clarke catalogued 14,199 species of Microlepidoptera exclusive of the Pyraloidea, and indicated type depositions for the 50% or so where known. Probably three-fourths of those known are located at the British Museum; of the remainder possibly the largest portion, perhaps 1200 species, is housed in the two South African institutions.
The present volume treats some 216 species and includes not only photographs of the moths and genitalia, but drawings of wing venation and the head and of genitalia in some instances, as well. In all, some 432 photographs and 550 drawings are involved. Photographs of the moths, which depict dorsal views of one pair of wings and sometimes head and thorax, are fair to good, those of the genitalia mediocre to good. In males one valva has been removed and the genitalia shown in essentially lateral aspect or at a slight oblique, as was done by Janse in The Moths of South Africa for related groups. Thus for certain features, the illustrations are difficult to compare with figures published by other tineid specialists. Janse considers this position to be more desirable owing to an alleged greater distortion when mounted dorso-ventrally.
This work exceeds in depth that of Clarke, in that descriptive notes are given, often rather detailed for the genitalia. Janse's treatment, however, includes neither the original citations (which were all published in Volume 1 of Clarke), nor information from the labels, even type localities in most cases. Meyrick often published meagre locality information relative to that which had been available; Clarke reported some examples of this but none were South African.
In justifying the deposition of primary types, Janse mentions in his introduction that Meyrick rarely marked specimens he described as types, a practice recorded by Clarke as an "almost fanatical opposition to the labelling of types." Later, however, Janse in several instances discusses red, square "type" labels, which are variously stated to indicate one specimen from a series as the type (e.g., p. 25), or to be present on both a type and a specimen from a locality not mentioned in the original description (e.g., p. 55). In most cases involving series, as well as for uniques, "Holotypes" are cited, and a few lectotypes are formally identified as such, even though many are in effect designated.
In general species synonymy is not dealt with, but in one case (p. 43) an apparent manuscript name of Meyrick, Ellochotis seclusa, is given as a synonym, yet the moth and its genitalia are figured and appear to differ from the supposed senior counterpart, E. infausta, suggesting two species may be involved. If so, seclusa is sufficiently characterized and should be credited to Janse.
All names are retained in the combinations as originally proposed, irrespective of subsequent taxonomic maneuvering, even where genera were later considered as synonymous by Meyrick (e.g., Amydria Clemens). In this manner genera and species are arranged alphabetically, and some 74 generic names are involved. Included are 55 Meyrick names, of which the genotypic species for 42 are treated herein, which gives some index of the importance of this work. One genus is synonymized, where two isogenotypic genera are recognized.
Another valuable feature of the present book is the reproduction on pp. 9-22 of a key to some 325 world genera of Tineidae and Incurvariidae, as developed and used by Meyrick throughout his life. Meyrick's keys, which were of course written without the use of genital characters, were distributed to a few contemporary workers, but were never published. Janse states an intent to include keys corresponding to each family in subsequent issues of the series dealing with South African species.—Jerry A. Powell, University of California, Berkeley.