Illustrated catalogue of Neotropical Ctenuchina, Euchromiina and Pericopina types (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini) described by Hans Zerny, with discussion on their taxonomic status
Author
Pinheiro, L. R.
Author
Gaal-Haszler, S.
text
Zootaxa
2015
3925
4
505
535
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3925.4.2
d1fa638c-0d0a-4c14-a3c8-7686c16e81af
1175-5326
240540
9DD2FEF8-6EB9-4561-9490-40C0ECFD7300
hilaris
Zerny, 1937
(
Fig. 49
)
Eurata herrichii
Hampson, 1898
;
Orfila, 1931
(misidentification of
E. herrichii
Butler, 1876
). Nine
syntypes
:
ARGENTINA
, Tapikiolé; Goya; Misiones to Buenos Aires. One male
syntype
with two labels “Tapikiolé-Arg. XII,
25-I.26
Lind. D. Chaco-Exped.”, and “Eurota
hilaris Zerny (Herricki Hmps.)
det. Zerny” (ZSM) [examined]. One male
syntype
with four labels: “Goya,
Brazil
, Perrens”;
Glaucopis sericaria Pert.
”; “Joicey bequest Brit. Mus. 1934-120”; and “BMNH(E) 1475644” (BMNH) [examined]. Seven
syntypes
of unknown sex and exact localities [not examined].
Eurota
[sic]
hilaris
Zerny, 1937
: 12
.
Current combination.
Eurata hilaris
Zerny, 1937
.
Condition of the
types
. ZMS
syntype
.
Wings partially eaten by pests. Right antenna broken.
BMNH
syntype
.
Left antenna broken near the tip. Wings sligthly worn. Left foreleg missing.
Remarks.
Eurota
is a misspelling of
Eurata
Herrich-Schäffer
, [1853]; the genus is currently considered to belong to
Euchromiina
.
The history of
Eurata hilaris
involves the history of other names in the genus: it was proposed by
Zerny (1937)
for Hampson’s (1898: 288) concept of
E. herrickii
, a misspelling of
E. herrichii
Butler, 1876
. Hence, according to
Zerny (1937)
,
E. herrickii
is both a misspelling and a misidentification of
E. herrichii
.
The latter, on the other hand, was proposed by
Butler (1876a)
for Herrich-Schäffer’s (1854) concept of
E. sericaria
(Perty, 1833)
.
The idea that
E. sericaria
and
E. herrichii
are distinct species was widely accepted until the article by
Zerny (1937)
, who was of the opinion not only that Hampson’s specimen was a different species, but also that the true concept of
E. herrichii
is, in fact, a junior synonym of
E. sericaria
(Perty, 1833)
.
Eurata herrichii
was described from an undetermined number of specimens from the Kaden collection, currently deposited at the ZIN. Only one was found by the first author, and the drawing provided by Herrich- Schäffer (1854) matches it perfectly. The
type
(s) of
Eurata sericaria
, on the other hand, is (are) lost (Axel Hausmann, personal communication), and no collection visited by the first author has specimens exactly matching Perty’s illustration.
The
type
series of
E. hilaris
is composed by all specimens mentioned in its original description, directly or by bibliographic evidence (ICZN, article 72.4.1).
Zerny (1937)
mentioned one specimen collected by Lindner, plus those mentioned by
Hampson (1898)
and
Orfila (1931)
. Hence, the
type
series is composed of all of them: the single specimen collected by Lindner, the single one misidentified by
Hampson (1898)
, plus the seven mentioned by
Orfila (1931)
from different Argentinian collections (four from Mus. Nac. Hist Nat., two from Col. Lab. Zool., Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales de Buenos Aires, and one from Col. Breyer, according to Orfila). The BMNH has two specimens from Goya, one with only this information on the label, the other, here considered the
syntype
mentioned by
Hampson (1898)
, with the information “Goya,
Brazil
, Perrens”. The mention to
Brazil
is erroneous, as this city is in the Argentinian province of Corrientes, close to the Brazilian border. The Argentinian collections could not be examined. The
type
status of Orfila’s specimens must be carefully evaluated, given that due to the circumstances of the description of
E. hilaris
, they will not have
type
labels.
Because all these taxonomic changes were proposed without examination of the
types
, but only through drawings and descriptions, the validity of all these names must be reevaluated, which should be done in a full revision of
Eurata
.