Panorpa confusa Westwood

Stark, Bill P., Lago, Paul K., Harrison, Audrey B. & Smith, William E., 2016, A Preliminary Annotated Checklist of Mississippi Mecoptera (Insecta), Insecta Mundi 2016 (469), pp. 1-15 : 9

Panorpa confusa Westwood

Panorpa confusa Westwood, 1841: 190 . Massachusetts

Panorpa rufescens Rambur, 1842: 330 . Laurel Lake near Jacksonville, Vermont, syn. ( Somma 2011b)

Comments. Carpenter (1931), using an erroneous 1846 date for Westwood’s study, placed P. confusa as a junior synonym of P. rufescens . Subsequently, this species has been listed from Mississippi (and other areas) by various authors as P. rufescens , and Webb et al. (1975) shows its range overlapping the eastern boundary of the state in Fig. 181. Somma (2011b, 2012) corrected the publication date for Westwood’s article from 1846 to 1841 which established priority for P. confusa over P. rufescens . Byers (1993) proposed a new species name, P. ferruginea , for southeastern populations once included under P. rufescens (= P. confusa ). Accordingly, no valid specimens of P. confusa are known for the state, and those previously referred to as P. rufescens are listed as P. ferruginea .