Melitaea ignasiti de Sagarra, 1926

Zahiri, Reza, Nazari, Vazrick, Rajaei, Hossein, Wiemers, Martin, Fatahi, Maryam, Seidel, Matthias, Dalsgaard, Thure & Husemann, Martin, 2021, ? An illustrated catalogue of the type specimens of Lepidoptera housed in the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH): Part II. superfamily Papilionoidea, Evolutionary Systematics 5 (2), pp. 193-261 : 193

?117. Melitaea ignasiti de Sagarra, 1926

Original combination.

" Melitaea trivia Schiff., rassa ignasiti , nova rassa" de Sagarra, 1926 Butl. Inst. Catal. Hist. Nat. (2)6: 131.

Current combination.

Melitaea trivia ignasiti de Sagarra, 1926.

Current status.

Valid subspecies.

Type material.

Paralectotypes 1?1? (ZMH 827660-827661) (Fig. 117 ). "CATALONIA / Seva 700 m. / 3.8.25 Romei" // " M. trivia - Melitaea ignasiti Sag. / co-type ? Querci" // "ZMH 827660"; "CATALONIA / Seva 700 m. / 3.8.25 Romei" // "Sammlung / R. Jähnig / Eing. Nr.29,1949" // " M. trivia - Melitaea ignasiti Sag. / co-type ? Querci" // “L.28” // "ZMH 827661".

Type locality.

Spain: Catalonia, “Martorell”.

Remarks.

de Sagarra (1926) proposed this name as a "rassa = race" of M. trivia ([Denis & Schiffermullar], 1775). The term "rassa = race" which was employed by de Sagarra in 1926 was often used in the current sense of subspecies. As a result, the first line of article 45.6 ( ICZN 1999) - the rank denoted by a species-group name following a binomen is subspecific - is applied here, it is thus available as subspecific. Higgins (1941) synonymised it with M. trivia pseudodidyma Rebel, 1905 but he reconsidered it as a valid subspecies in his subsequent books. García-Barros et al. (2013) made a comment in Fauna Ibérica that "the orange color of the Iberian specimens is lighter than those from other European areas; those have been attributed to subspecies " Melitaea ignasiti de Sagarra, 1926", which, however, does not seem significantly different. Furthermore, it does not seem significantly differentiated from a genetic point of view (Wahlberg pers. comm.)." The taxon Melitaea ignasiti was reinstated as a valid species by van Oorschot and Coutsis (2014), and this was accepted by Macia et al. (2015) who designated lectotype and paralectotypes. Therefore, specimens at ZMH are by default paralectotypes. However, most other recent authors (e.g., Kudrna 2019) treat this taxon as a synonym to M. trivia , because there is no evidence for species status. Even Oorschot and Coutsis (2014) mention intermediates indicating hybridisation. It should be noted that the species name is not mentioned in the latest European checklist ( Wiemers et al. 2018).

Figures

Plate 16. 110. Melitaea athalia tenuicula Verity, 1919; 111. Melitaea varia varissima Verity, 1914; 112. Melitaea cinxia riloensis Zuellich, 1936; 113. Melitaea deione ab. mediofasciata Bubacek, 1926; 114. Melitaea diamina ab. johni Stauder, 1922; 115. Melitaea trivia balcanica Zuellich, 1936; 116. Melitaea trivia catapelioides Stauder, 1918; 117. Melitaea trivia ignasiti de Sagarra, 1926. a. Dorsal view, b. ventral view.