Oeneis melissa, (FABRICIUS, 1775)

Guppy, Crispin S., 2019, Designation of a Neotype for Oeneis melissa (Fabricius, 1775) and a Lectotype for Oeneis polixenes (Fabricius, 1775) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae), The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 8 (3), pp. 1-10 : 5-6

4. DESIGNATION OF A VALID NEOTYPE FOR OENEIS MELISSA ( FABRICIUS, 1775)

The original type specimen(s) of Oeneis melissa ( Fabricius, 1775) did not originate from the nominal type locality of Newfoundland and could have come from various locations. The type (s) came from somewhere along the Labrador coast, but the exact location cannot be determined (see previous sections). A name-bearing type of Oeneis melissa ( Fabricius, 1775) is necessary to define the nominal taxon objectively to allow a taxonomic review of the species, and I have determined that there are no extant specimens identifiable as the type (s) of Oeneis melissa (ICZN Articles 75.1, 75.2, 75.3.4).

The vicinity of Nain, Labrador is a reasonable choice for the type locality, and is at least as probable as any other location along the northern Labrador coast (ICZN Article 75.3.6). I therefore select a specimen as neotype with the specific locality data of “Nain, Labr.”, which is as near as practical to the original type locality (ICZN Article 75.3.6) as discussed above.

The selected location of Nain, Labrador for the neotype is consistent with the selection of Hopedale, Labrador for the neotype of Oeneis taygete Geyer, [1830] by dos Passos (1949). Nain and Hopedale are only 150 km apart on the coast of Labrador with similar ecological characteristics. However, Hopedale was founded after the description of O. melissa , and therefore is very unlikely to be the source of the type(s).

The neotype specimen (a female) and its data labels are illustrated in Figure 5 . The neotype specimen is in the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Arthropods (CNC), Ottawa , Canada (ICZN Article 75.3.7). The neotype corresponds to the original description of melissa (ICZN Article 75.3.5) in having wing fringes of alternating patches of white and brown scales (“dentate”), the overall colour of the upperside is “dark brown” and “unspotted”, and the underside of the hindwings is “gray-marbled” / “white and black variegated”. The data label reads “Nain Labr July 8, 1970 ”; the collector is unknown.

The distinguishing characters for the taxon (ICZN Article 75.3.2) are the dark brown, unspotted colour of the dorsum and the “gray-marbled” / “white and black variegated” ventral hindwings. The ‘barcode’ mtDNA nucleotide sequence is also provided in Figure 5. I submitted one leg of the neotype specimen to the Barcode of Life laboratory at the University of Guelph to obtain the ‘barcode’ - a 658 base pair portion of the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) mtDNA gene, and the data is available through the public BOLD database. The ‘barcode’ structure is apparently unique to the species “ Oeneis melissa ”, although the structure may be present in more than one subspecies (C.S. Guppy, in prep.).

Figures

Fig. 5. Neotype of Oeneis melissa Fabricius, 1775