Catocala hermia ssp. francisca H. Edwards

Gall, Lawrence & Hawks, David, 2010, Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) IV. Nomenclatorial stabilization of the Nearctic fauna, with a revised synonymic check list, ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 37-83 : 53-54

Catocala hermia ssp. francisca H. Edwards , stat. n.

Fig. 17 (lectotype)

Catocala mariana var. francisca H. Edwards, 1880b: 57

Catocala francisca ; Barnes and McDunnough 1918: 25

Catocala francisca ; McDunnough 1938: 116

Catocala francisca ; Franclemont and Todd 1983: 128

Type material. Catocala mariana var. francisca: Th e original description states “Humboldt Co., Cal. 2 ♁. Type, coll. Hy. Edwards.” Beutenmüller (1892: 191) lists the C. francisca types as being at the AMNH, and a male type is there but bears Mendocino County, California locality labels. At the USNM is a male labeled “Type 2” [examined], also from Mendocino County. Although the county on these labels conflicts with the original description, Barnes and McDunnough (1918: 24- 25) have already noted that errors in locality data do occur with type specimens of the dark-forewinged western Catocala . Mendocino and Humboldt counties are adjacent to one another, and the county indicated on the label is the only information we have that might otherwise disqualify the two aforementioned C. francisca males as syntypes. With deference to Beutenmüller and Barnes and McDunnough’s judgments, we consider it likely that a mislabeling occurred, and designate the AMNH male as lectotype to clarify application of the name francisca . Th e lectotype bears the labels “Mendocino Co./ California ”, “7299”, “No. 11889 / Collection / Hy. Edwards.”, “Type / No. / A.M.N.H.”, “ Cat. mariana / v. francisca / Type. Hy. Edw.” From rearing work and analysis of museum specimens, we have concluded that C. francisca is neither a full species nor conspecific with C. californica Edwards, 1864 (= C. mariana Strecker, 1874 ), but rather is a coastal Californian subspecies of C. hermia H. Edwards, 1880 with uniform, dark greenish-black forewings. Type Locality: hereby amended to Mendocino Co[unty], California, [ USA] on the basis of the lectotype label.