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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 39(2), 1985, 145
GENERAL NOTES
A GENERIC REPLACEMENT NAME IN THE NACOPHORINI (GEOMETRIDAE)
One of the twenty new generic names proposed in "A Generic Revision of the New World Nacophorini (Lepidoptera, Geometridae)" (Rindge, 1983, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 175:147-262) was Azuayia. D. S. Fletcher of the British Museum (Natural History) was kind enough to remind me that this name had already been published by Dodge (1967, Pacific Insects 9:681). I hereby propose the replacement name Postazuayia for Azuayia Rindge, 1983, op. cit, p. 199; the type species remains Cidariophanes stigma-talis Dognin, and the gender is feminine.
Frederick H. Rindge, Department of Entomology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St., New York, New York 10024.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 39(2), 1985, 145-146
THE CORRECT NAME FOR WHAT HAS BEEN CALLED LYCAEIDES ARGYROGNOMON IN NORTH AMERICA
I have been asked by the Chairman of the Committee to Review/Update Memoir No. 2 of the Lepidopterists' Society to explain briefly the confusion that has arisen in North America over the name Lycaeides ar gyro gnomon as used by various authors. I think the situation is sometimes misunderstood; so I shall review the circumstances in which the name has been used during the last 150 years and of the final identification of Berg-strasser's butterfly, Lycaeides argyrognomon. Before doing so I must emphasize, to avoid confusion, the importance of using the correct, valid names for all animals. Rules for the formation and use of names have been the concern of zoologists at least since 1842, with rules and codes of practice usually agreed upon by committees of eminent specialists. The last International Code of Zoological Nomenclature was published in 1964 including Rules and Recommendations accepted by all countries. Its most important objectives are to maintain the Law of Priority and the Law of Homonymy.
Turning now to the name argyrognomon, this was introduced into general butterfly nomenclature as Cupido argyrognomon in 1871 by W. F. Kirby in his Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera. From that time most European authors applied this name, as used by Kirby, to cover the European species of Lycaeides, before, of course, the presence of a second European species was discovered. In the early years of the present century the well-known French entomologist Charles Oberthur became interested in the group. The importance of genitalic structure in butterfly taxonomy was just becoming known, and Oberthur realized the presence in Europe of two species of Lycaeides, one of them a local insect, its male genitalia with long falces, which he named in 1910 as Lycaena argus ligurica. At the same time he wrote to two well-known specialists, Prof. Courvoisier and Dr. Chapman in England, asking them to investigate "Lycaena argus and its forms, Races and Species." Material for this investigation was obtained from many localities in Europe and Asia. The two entomologists selected by Oberthur made independent reports which were included by Oberthur in his private publication in 1917 (Lep. Comp. XIV:2-70), including a note from Dr. Reverdin about the genitalic structure in Lycaeides and numerous photographic plates. Both men agreed that two species were present in Europe. Prof. Courvoisier accepted OberthuVs name
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ligurica for the species with long falces so newly identified. Chapman described it as a "New European Lycaena" under the name argus sp. nov.
As the years passed more names were published, difficulties arose, and the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature (I.C.Z.N.) was asked to help with the situation reported by Courvoisier and Chapman. They were asked especially to select suitable names for those species recently identified by examination of the genitalia and to select a type species for the genus Lycaeides. All of this proved to be extremely difficult. It involved examination of a large number of specimens. In many cases no obvious scientific name existed, and finding one often called for considerable ingenuity; so, not surprisingly, the work took several decades. The first results were promulgated by the Commission in 1945 (Opinion 169) and finally in 1954 (Opinion 269). Among the important decisions was the selection of the Linnean name idas 1761 for the commoner species of Lycaeides. This was made possible by suppressing the earlier appearance of the name for a species so badly described as to be impossible to interpret. In dealing with the second species, recently identified and with specific characters in the male genitalia, the Commission was fortunate when it was found and announced in Opinion 269 that these characters were actually present in specimens of Lycaeides from the Bruchkobler Wald in northern Germany as recorded by Bergstrasser in his original description. Lycaeides argyrognomon, therefore, must become the valid specific name for this species, with impressive priority to 1779, taking precedence before all others.
During the long interval after the Commission began its work and the final Opinion in 1954, entomologists naturally continued to use the butterfly names with which they were familiar. It was during these years that V. Nabokov made many contributions, especially concerning the Lycaeides distributed in North America.
When discussing what should now be called L. idas, he used the name "argyrognomon," not invalid for much of that time, but after the announcement of Opinion 269 in 1954 the position changed radically. This name was restricted to a newly identified European butterfly. Applied to any other species (e.g., L. idas) would be to create a misidentification, and to use it so must be entirely against the Rules. The correct use of the name Lycaeides idas L. proposed by the Commission has been accepted everywhere in Europe and Asia. I cannot understand why it has not been accepted in North America.
Catalogue headings for Europe and America should be as follows:
Lycaeides argyrognomon Bergstrasser 1779 (Papilio). Europe.
syn: ligurica Oberthiir 1910 (Lycaena); syn: aegus Chapman 1917 (Plebejus).
Lycaeides idas Linnaeus 1761 (Papilio). Palaearctic Region & North America.
syn: scudderi W. H. Edwards 1861 (Lycaena); syn: anna W. H. Edwards 1861 (Lycaena); syn: argyrognomon sensu Kirby et Auctorum, nee Bergstrasser [misidentification].
Lycaeides melissa W. H. Edwards 1875 (Lycaena). North America, ?E. Siberia, ?Japan.
Lionel G. Higgins, Focklesbrook Farm, Chobham, Woking, Surrey, England GU24 8HB.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 39(2), 1985, 146-150
TIGRIDIA ASESTA (LINNAEUS) (NYMPHALIDAE) IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THEOBROMA CACAO L. (STERCULIACEAE)
The medium-sized (spread wingspan, tip-to-tip, 4.5 cm) orange, brown and white nymphalid butterfly, Tigridia asesta (Linnaeus), is broadly distributed in moist-to-wet tropical forests of Central and South America (Seitz, 1904, Macrolepidoptera of the World, Vol. 5: The American Rhopalocera, A. Kernan, Stuttgart). A general description