Hedone Scudder, 1872

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Opler, Paul A. & Grishin, Nick V., 2019, Changes to North American butterfly names, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 8 (2), pp. 1-12 : 8

Hedone Scudder, 1872 is a valid genus

We find that Polites Scudder, 1872 (type species Hesperia peckius W. Kirby, 1837 ) is paraphyletic with respect to Wallengrenia Berg, 1897 (type species Hesperia premnas Wallengren, 1860 ). Genetic divergence within Polites that includes Wallengrenia is too large compared to how most Hesperiidae genera are defined. Therefore, instead of including Wallengrenia into Polites , it makes sense to restore monophyly of these genera by splitting Polites into genera with divergence consistent with that of most other Hesperiidae genera. Previously a junior subjective synonym of Polites Scudder, 1872 (type species Hesperia peckius W. Kirby, 1837), Hedone Scudder, 1872 (type species Hesperia brettus Boisduval & Le Conte, [1837], a junior subjective synonym of Thymelicus vibex Geyer, 1832) forms a clade sister to the rest of Polites + Wallengrenia ( Fig. 14 ). Therefore, Hedone is a valid genus, and Hedone vibex (Geyer, 1832) is a revised combination. Due to morphological similarities, we additionally propose the following new combinations: Hedone bittiae (Lindsey, 1925), Hedone vibicoides (de Jong, 1983), and Hedone dictynna (Godman & Salvin, 1896).

Figures

Fig. 14. Polites, Wallengrenia, Hedone, and Limochores.