Pyrgus philetas W. H. Edwards, 1881
(Desert Checkered-Skipper)

Type Specimens
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Pinned Specimens
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Pinned Specimens
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Live Adults
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Immatures
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Larval Foodplants and Habitats
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Genitalia photo collection:

Distribution and Larval Foodplants:
 

Synonymy

(From: A Catalogue of the Butterflies of the United States and Canada, Jonathan P. Pelham)

  Genus Pyrgus Hübner, [1819]

Verz. bekannt. Schmett. (7): 109. Type-species: Papilio alveolus Hübner, [1803], Samml. europ. Schmett. 1: pl. 92, figs. 466, 467 (= Papilio malvae Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1: 485, no. 167; synonym), by designation of Westwood [1841], in: Brit. Butts. Transf. (ed. 1): 123. I.C.Z.N. Opinion 278 placed this name on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology as name no. 706. As a result of the erroneous type-species designation of Hesperia Fabricius, 1793, by Scudder (1875), Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci., Boston 10(2): 187-189, most of what is now known as Pyrgus was previously called Hesperia. The action of Plötz (1879), Stettiner Entomol. Ztg. 40(4-6): 179, of citing malvae as the type-species of Carcharodus Hübner, [1819], Verz. bekannt. Schmett. (7): 110, further confused the issue surrounding the identity of Pyrgus. The situation was explained by Hemming (1967), Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Entomol. Suppl. 9: 94-95. Carcharodus does not occur in the Nearctic.

      =    ‡Urbanus Hübner, [1806]

Tentamen: [1]. Type-species: Papilio malvae Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1: 485, no. 167, by monotypy. The Tentamen was suppressed by I.C.Z.N. Opinion 97. Opinion 278 placed Urbanus Hübner [1806] on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names in Zoology as name no. 86.

=    Syrichtus Boisduval, [1834]

Icon. Hist. Lépid. Europ. 1(23): 230. Type-species: Papilio malvae Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1: 485, no. 167, by designation of Blanchard (1845), Hist. Ins. 2: 348.

=    Scelotrix Rambur, 1858

Cat. Syst. Lépid. Andal.: 63. Type-species: Papilio carthami Hübner, [1813], Samml. europ. Schmett. 1: pl. 143, figs. 726 [actually 720], 723 [not figs. 721-722] (= Papilio fritillarius Poda, 1761, Ins. Mus. graec.: 79, no. 53, as defined by the specimen on pl. 10, fig. 7; synonym), by designation of E. Watson (1893), Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1893(1): 64.

      =    ‡Bremeria Tutt, 1906

Nat. Hist. Brit. Butts. 1(10/11): 296. Type-species: Syrichtus bieti Oberthür, 1886, Étud. Entomol. 11: 26, pl. 6, fig. 50, by designation of Lindsey (1921), Bull. Labs. Nat. Hist. St. Univ. Iowa 9(4): 37. Preoccupied by Bremeria Alpheraky, 1892, in: Romanoff, Mém. Lépid. 6: 7, and Bremeria Moore, 1896, Lepid. Ind. 3(25): 9.

      =    ‡Teleomorpha B. Warren, 1926

Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 74(1): 18, 46, pl. 10, fig. 7. Type-species: Papilio carthami Hübner, [1813], Samml. europ. Schmett.: pl. Pap. 143, figs. 726 [actually 720] ♂, 723 ♂ [not figs. 721-722] (= Papilio fritillarius Poda, 1761, Ins. Mus. graec.: 79, as defined by the specimen on pl. 10, fig. 7), by designation of Hemming (1934), Stylops 3(6): 143. A junior objective synonym of Scelotrix Rambur, 1858.

      =    ‡Hemiteleomorpha B. Warren, 1926

Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 74(1): 19, 72. Type-species: Papilio malvae Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1: 485, no. 167, by designation of Hemming (1934), Stylops, 3(6): 143. A junior objective synonym of Syrichtus Boisduval, [1834].

=    Ateleomorpha B. Warren, 1926

Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 74(1): 19, 87. Type-species: Hesperia onopordi Rambur, [1842], Faune Entomol. Andal. 2(6): 319, pl. 8, fig. 13, by designation of Hemming (1934), Stylops 3(6): 143.

Pyrgus philetas W. H. Edwards, 1881

Papilio 1(4): 43, 46-47, no. 4.

Original Combination: Pyrgus philetas

Type Locality: “Western Texas”; defined as “Archer County” by F. Brown and L. Miller (1975), Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 101(4): 623.

Types: Holotype in CMNH, figured by W. Holland (1931), Butt. Book (rev. ed.): pl. 50, fig. 24 ♀ [not ♂] D and F. Brown and L. Miller (1975), Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 101(4): fig. 13 ♀ D&V.

Evans (1953), Cat. Am. Hesp. Brit. Mus. (3): 222, considered this taxon a subspecies of oileus. Burns and Kendall (1969), Psyche 76(1): 42-43, demonstrated that philetas and P oileus are distinct species.

Bibliography

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