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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