Fidia murina Glover 1868

Strother, M. S. & Staines, C. L., 2008, A revision of the New World genus Fidia Baly 1863 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Eumolpinae: Adoxini), Zootaxa 1798 (1), pp. 1-100 : 95-96

Fidia murina Glover 1868 , Nomen Dubium

Fidea murina Glover 1868: 71 (original description), (misspelling of generic name).

Glover (1868) mentioned a grape pest from Washington (= Washington, D.C. because Fidia does not occur west of the Rocky Mountains) using the name Fidea [sic] murina (Dej.) . He stated that this insect had frequently been mistaken for the scarab, Macrodactylus subspinosus (F.), and gave the following contrast, "[ F. murina ] is smaller, much browner in color, and not such a sprawling, long-legged insect." In addition, he included a small, unlabelled drawing which is clearly a specimen of Fidia . Although it was not his intention, Glover made the name, F. murina , available with his small drawing and brief comparison. Based on the locality of Washington, D.C., Glover's F. murina can only apply to either F. longipes or F. viticida . Neither his drawing nor the characters given in his comparison provides enough information to positively distinguish which of the two species Glover actually described. Unfortunately no type specimens of F. murina Glover exist. Howard (1930: 37) explains Glover's feelings with regards to museum specimens as follows, "One of Glover's unfortunate hobbies was his belief that a picture of an insect is of far more value than a cabinet specimen of the same species. Insects themselves, he always stated, are eaten by museum pests and are otherwise destroyed, but a picture, barring unlikely accidents, will live forever. Convinced of this, he commenced to figure in colour every species he procured, and cared nothing what became of the species after he had fixed their likeness on paper. Systematic and descriptive entomology he cared nothing about, and it was his boast that he had never described and named an insect". Fidia murina Glover must, therefore, be considered a nomen dubium.

Article75.5 of the Code (ICZN 1999) states that a neotype should be designated to clarify the application of a name when its continued existence as a nomen dubium threatens the stability of other names. In this case, however, no previous authors have recognized Glover's nomenclatural act, and the existence of F. murina as a nomen dubium does not affect the stability of F. longipes nor F. viticida . Likewise, the status of F. murina Crotch as a junior primary homonym of Glover's name is not affected, because the latter remains the valid senior homonym regardless of the taxon to which it is applied. Therefore, designation of a neotype is not deemed necessary to maintain the stability of any of the names involved.