Zygaena (AGRUMENIA), Huebner, [1819]

Efetov, Konstantin A., Hofmann, Axel, Tarmann, Gerhard M. & Tremewan, Walter Gerald, 2014, Taxonomic comments on the treatment of the Zygaenidae (Lepidoptera) in volume 3 of Moths of Europe, Zygaenids, Pyralids 1 and Brachodids (2012), Nota Lepidopterologica 37 (2), pp. 123-133 : 125

Subgenus AGRUMENIA Huebner, [1819]

Agrumenia Hübner, [1819], Verzeichniss bekannter Schmettlinge: 116. Type-species: Sphinx onobrychis [Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775, by subsequent designation, Tremewan, 1961, The Entomologist’s Record and Journal of Variation 73: 202.

Epizygaena Jordan, [1907], in Seitz, Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 2: 31. Type-species: Zygaena afghana Moore, [1860], by subsequent designation, Fletcher, 1925, Catalogue of Indian Insects part 9: 21. Syn. rev.

Coelestina Holik, 1953, Entomologische Zeitschrift 63: 15. Type-species: Zygaena sedi Fabricius, 1787, by original designation. Syn. rev.

Lictoria Burgeff, 1926, in Strand, Lepidopterorum Catalogus 4 (33): 20. Type-species: Sphinx achilleae Esper, 1780, by subsequent designation, Holik, 1938, Entomologische Rundschau 55: 352. Syn. rev.

Subspecies.

In their systematic catalogue of the Zygaeninae , Hofmann and Tremewan (1996) attempted to provide a classification in which some rationale could be brought to the genus Zygaena Fabricius, 1777, with reference to subspecies; hence an enormous number of subspecific taxa were placed as synonyms. It would appear that the classification in that catalogue has largely been ignored, as Leraut reinstated two subspecific taxa as valid and newly described four within Zygaena . While this would have been acceptable during the first half of the 20th century, the description of new subspecies in the genus Zygaena from mainland Europe at the present time neither reflects current thinking nor the presently accepted concept of a subspecies and is reminiscent of the taxonomy practised in the 1920s and 1930s (e.g. Verity (1925, 1926) described and named three ‘subspecies’ of Zygaena trifolii from England, based on single colonies). Mayr (1969: 41) contended that a subspecies is 'an aggregate of phenotypically similar populations of a species, inhabiting a geographic subdivision of the range of a species, and differing taxonomically from other populations of the species’ and that it may consist of many local populations all of which, though very similar, are slightly different from each other genetically and phenotypically. In contrast to the reinstatement of two subspecies, Leraut (2012) synonymised four without providing justification. All of these nominal subspecific taxa are discussed in detail below. As with the subgenera, the full synonymy of the subspecies can be found in Hofmann and Tremewan (1996) and only those relevant to the field guide ( Leraut 2012) are listed below.