Chlosyne whitneyi (Behr, 1863)

Chlosyne whitneyi (Behr, 1863)
(Sierra Nevada Checkerspot)

Distribution and Larval Foodplants:

Asteraceae: Erigeron pygmaeus (Gray) Greene, Solidago multiradiata var. scopulorum Gray

Genus Chlosyne Butler, 1870

Cist. Entomol. 1(3): 38, no. 37. Type-species: Papilio janais Drury, 1782, Ill. Nat. Hist., 3: 22, index, pl. 17, figs. 5, 6, as replacement name. Proposed to replace Synchloe E. Doubleday, 1844, preoccupied (Code Articles 60.3, 67.8). The synonymy for this genus follows Wahlberg and Zimmerman (2000), Cladistics 16(4): 347-363.

= ‡Morpheis Geyer, [1833]

In: Hübner, Samml. exot. Schmett. 3: pl [5], figs. 1-4. Type-species: Morpheis ehrenbergii Geyer, [1833], in: Hübner, Samml. exot. Schmett., 3: pl [5], figs. 1-4, by monotypy. Preoccupied by Morpheis Hübner, [1820], Verz. bekannt. Schmett., 13: 196.

= ‡Synchloe E. Doubleday, [1845]

List Spec. Lepid. Brit. Mus. 1: 76. Type-species: Papilio janais Drury, 1782, Ill. Nat. Hist. 3: 22, index, pl. 17, figs. 5, 6, by designation of Scudder (1875), Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci., Boston 10(2): 141, no. 253. Preoccupied by Synchloe Hübner, 1818, Zutr. Samml. exot. Schmett. 1: 26.

= ‡Coatlantona W. F. Kirby, 1871

Syn. Cat. diurn. Lepid.: 178. Type-species: Papilio janais Drury, 1782, Ill. Nat. Hist. 3: 22, index, pl. 17, figs. 5, 6, as replacement name. Proposed to replace Synchloe E. Doubleday, 1844, preoccupied (Code Articles 60.3, 67.8). A junior objective synonym of Chlosyne Butler, 1870.

= Anemeca W. F. Kirby, 1871

Syn. Cat. diurn. Lepid.: 179. Type-species: Morpheis ehrenbergii Geyer, [1833], in: Hübner, Samml. exot. Schmett. 3: pl [5], figs. 1-4, as replacement name. Proposed to replace Morpheis Geyer, [1833], in: Hübner, Samml. exot. Schmett. 3: pl [5], figs. 1-4, preoccupied (Code Articles 60.3, 67.8).

= Charidryas Scudder, 1872

4th Ann. Rept. Peabody Acad. Sci. (1871): 47. Type-species: Melitaea nycteis E. Doubleday, 1847, in: Gen. diurn. Lepid. (1)(12): pl. 23, fig. 3; (21): 181, no. 23 (1848), by original designation.

= ‡Limnaecia Scudder, 1872

4th Ann. Rept. Peabody Acad. Sci. (1871): 47. Type-species: Melitaea harrisii Scudder, 1863, Proc. Essex Inst. 3: 167-168, no. 36, by original designation. Preoccupied by Limnaecia Stainton, 1851, Suppl. Cat. Brit. Pteroph.: 4.

= Thessalia Scudder, 1875

Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sci. 2(4): 238, 265, no. 49. Type-species: Melitaea leanira C. Felder & R. Felder, 1860, Wien. Entomol. Montaschr. 4(4): 106, no. 64, by original designation.

Chlosyne whitneyi (Behr, 1863)

Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. [1]3(6): 88-89, no. 2.

Original Combination: Melitaea Whitneyi

Type Locality: “California” implied from the title of the paper, “the headwaters of the Tuolumne River...in the elevated and uninhabited regions” from the description; neotype from “north slope of Mt. Dana, at lower end of Glacier Canyon, 11,000' elevation, Mono County, California.”

Types: Type(s) destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire; neotype in CAS, designated by J. Emmel et al. (1998), Syst. W. N. Am. Butts. (6): 98, figs. 16 ♂ D, 17 ♂ V.

This name has long been used for the high-elevation populations of C. palla in the Sierra Nevada, now called C. p. altasierra J. Emmel, T. Emmel and Mattoon (1998) (e.g., Bauer (1975), in: Howe, Butts. N. Am.: 155, and L. Miller and F. Brown (1981), Mem. Lepid. Soc. (2): 156). The original description, locality and habitat of whitneyi suggest that it is a senior synonym of malcolmi; the recently designated neotype confirms this.

= malcolmi (J. A. Comstock, 1926)

Bull. South. Calif. Acad. Sci. 25(1): 33; figured by J. A. Comstock (1927), Butts. Calif.: pl. 36, figs. 10 ♂ D (holotype), 11 ♀ D, 12 ♂ V.

Original Combination: Melitaea malcolmi

Type Locality: “Near Mammoth Camp, Mono County, Calif.” [California]

Types: Holotype in LACM.

Bibliography

Behr, Hans Herman. 1863. On Californian Lepidoptera--No. III. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 3(1)([sig.]6): 84-93. {Dec 1863} [description of Melitaea Whitneyi]

Comstock, John Adams. 1926. Studies in Pacific Coast Lepidoptera (continued). Thirteen new species or aberrations of California butterflies. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 25(1): 29-34, 48 {Jan-Apr, 30 Mar 1926} [description of Melitaea malcolmi]

Comstock, John Adams. 1927. Butterflies of California. A popular guide to a knowledge of the butterflies of California embracing all of the 477 species and varieties at present recorded from the state. Author, Los Angeles, California. 334 pp., 63 pls. {1927}

Davenport, Kenneth E. 2004. The Yosemite butterflies. The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 5(1): 1-75, figs. {29 Dec 2004}

Davenport, Kenneth E., Norbert G. Kondla, Charles Grisham and C. Howard Grisham. 2007. The Yosemite butterflies: color plates. The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 5(2): 1-83, color figs. {15 Mar 2007}

Emmel, John F., Thomas Chadbourne Emmel and Sterling O. Mattoon. 1998. 6. The types of California butterflies named by Herman Behr: designations of neotypes and fixation of type localities. Pp. 95-114, 78 figs., in: T. C. Emmel (Ed.), Systematics of western North American Butterflies. Gainesville; Mariposa Press; {[18] Dec 1998}

Higgins, Lionel George. 1960. A revision of the melitaeine genus Chlosyne and allied species (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 112(14): 381-467, 134 figs. {31 Dec 1960}

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