Purple Hairstreak

[Guy_VdP at t-online.de]

Hello again,

Trevor Boyd schrieb:
> why it had to be changed.  Did Linnaeus give it two names 
> in 1758?  Another 

As all names Linnaeus made up in 1758, the name he gave that species 
consisted of two parts: Papilio quercus. 
Papilio because it is Latin for butterfly;
quercus because it is Latin for oak.
He put all butterflies (not the moths) in the same genus Papilio (names 
of genera allways begin with capital). 
This is why it is called the binominal system.
Later, when the need to pinpoint particular populations or groups 
within that species arose, a third name was added: for the subspecies. 
In a same way you can subdivide the Genus (= group of related species) 
into subgenera, to make relationships clearer (use the system to give 
more information). Still later, other ranks were added with the same 
meaning, these are however very seldom used (e.g. superspecies, 
supergenus). 
Some examples:
Pieris (Artogeia) napi napi (Linnaeus, 1758).
Pieris (Artogeia) napi britannica Verity, 1911 in Verity, 1905-11.
Pieris (Artogeia) rapae rapae (Linnaeus, 1758).
Pieris (Pieris) brassicae (Linnaeus, 1758).
P. napi napi is the nominotypical subspecies from mainland Europe - the 
reason for the brackets around Linnaeus, 1758 is that he described it 
in a different genus (Papilio, remember). 
P. n. britannica is the name Verity gave to the populations flying in 
(Western) England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. He described it under 
Pieris so has no brackets around his name. 
P. rapae is closely related to napi.
P. brassicae is not so closely related to napi.
BUT
> name that mystifies me is Pieris or Artogeia (genus) for 
> the white species. 
> Can anyone throw light on that one?

Artogeia was erected and got napi as the type-species (napi serves as a 
kind of example), to differentiate the smaller species from the 'true' 
Pieris (brassicae - TS of Pieris, cheiranthi - Canary Islands endemic, 
..?). 
However, within that group of smaller species there are greater 
differences than between Artogeia and Pieris. E.g., P. krueperi 
Staudinger, 1860 is very different from all other Pieris or Artogeia. 
Therefor some authors put the species all in the genus Pieris, and than 
use the subgenus level - names between brackets - to differentiate. 
This is no solution either, as you still have the same differences. 
Some new (sub)genera should be formed for the rapae- and 
krueperi-groups of species. Somebody should investigate the exact 
relationships between these species. 
The last revisor of the napi-group (Eitschberger, [1984]) put them all 
under Pieris for the above reasons, and regarded Artogeia as a synonym 
of it. 
A lot of people still use Artogeia, probably because they are not 
familiar with the relationships between the species. I heard, however, 
only one good reason to use it from a Russian colleague: "Artogeia is 
easier to pronounce for an English-speaking person". 

Guy.

> 
> Trevor Boyd
> Butterfly Conservation Northern Ireland
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Guy_VdP at t-online.de>
> To: <boyd at glade12.fsnet.co.uk>
> Cc: "Leps-L" <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 9:22 PM
> Subject: Re: Purple Hairstreak
> 
> 
> > Hi,
> >
> > Leraut, 1997 (Systematic and Synonymic List of the 
> Butterflies of 
> > France, Belgium and Corsica - 2nd Ed.) lists it as 
> Neozephyrus quercus 
> > Linnaeus, 1758.
> > Neozephyrus was erected by Sibatani & Ito, 1942.
> > In many books you will still find it as Quercusia 
> quercus Linnaeus, 
> > 1758.
> > Quercusia was erected by Verity, 1943 (Later than 
> Neozephyrus => it is 
> > a synonym).
> >
> > Guy.
> >
> > Guy Van de Poel
> > Guy_VdP at t-online.de
> >
> > Trevor Boyd schrieb:
> > > Can someone please tell me what is the current 
> accepted 
> > > scientific name for the Purple Hairstreak?  Is it 
> Quercus 
> > > quercusia or Q. neozephyrus?, and if the latter, who
> > > named it and when?
> > >
> > > Trevor Boyd
> > > Butterfly Conservation Northern Ireland
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> 
> 
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