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)
Author
Russell, Peter J. C.
Oakmeadow, Wessex Avenue, East Wittering, West Sussex PO 20 8 NP, U. K.
Author
Lukhtanov, Vladimir A.
Department of Karyosystematics, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Author
Tennent, W. John
Scientific Associate, Division of Insects, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW 7 5 BD, U. K. & Honorary Associate, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford OX 1 3 PW, U. K
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-05-24
5141
1
25
38
journal article
56757
10.11646/zootaxa.5141.1.2
f0bcd63f-20f7-438b-b72b-77d49b944722
1175-5326
6577627
F1B8B140-4A7C-4AAA-97C6-A0DAA259C8E3
M. phoebe var. saturata
Staudinger, 1892
[TL: Kentai Mountains,
Mongolia
] A large and brightly coloured form typical of ‘mountain forms’ (
Higgins 1941: 342
).
Van Oorschot & Coutsis (2014
: plate 12, fig. 25) figured a brightly coloured male
syntype
from the Staudinger collection in Zoologisches Museum der Humboldt Universität, Berlin. Both authors synonymised this
variety with
M. phoebe
, as did
Russell & Tennent (2016: 53
, note 80). On the internet www.funet.fi (accessed
26.10.2020
) has a photograph (© Kosterin) of the underside of a female(?), from the Iskitim District, Novosibirst Province, Western Siberia,
Russian Federation
on
21
st
June 1997
; this shows clearly the wing markings and antennae distinctive of
M. phoebe
rather than of
M. ornata
. We confirm that the name
saturata
is referable to
M. phoebe
.