Lycaena pseudargiolus var. nigrescens Fletcher, 1903

LaBar, Caitlin C., Pelham, Jonathan P. & Kondla, Norbert G., 2022, A new species of Celastrina from the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada with a lectotype designation of Lycaena pseudargiolus var. nigrescens Fletcher (Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae), The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 10 (3), pp. 1-25 : 3

publication ID

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16420362

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F7F2600A-6690-4277-AFE7-F8DC85E1178F

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16420366

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C126C45A-9B1F-FFBF-4F0E-FC35FC0DD5BF

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Lycaena pseudargiolus var. nigrescens Fletcher, 1903
status

 

Designation of a lectotype for Lycaena pseudargiolus var. nigrescens Fletcher, 1903 View in CoL

( Figs. 1-8 View Figs )

In the original description of C. echo nigrescens , two specimens, a male and female, are illustrated and 16 total (8 males and 8 females) were stated as the types ( Fletcher, 1903). Per I.C.Z.N. Article 74.7, in the absence of a single, designated holotype, all specimens are thereby treated as syntypes. Eight of these specimens (4 males and 4 females) were located by David M. Wright in 2006 at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution ( Figs. 1-8 View Figs ). Of the four male specimens, one has a slightly dusky VHW margin ( Fig. 3b View Figs ) and two have heavier maculation on the VHW disc ( Figs. 1b and 8b View Figs ), but otherwise display characteristics typical of C. echo . All four females exhibit light ventral maculation, a dark blue DFW discal area bordered with a dark charcoal DFW margin extending almost to the median, a prominent black bar in the DFW cell bar, very little blue on the DHW, and mostly white fringes; all features typical of female C. echo , particularly on the eastern side of the Cascades. Fletcher (1903) described C. echo nigrescens as being distinct from other members of the species because of the “large amount of black on the upper surface of the females.” He described the males as having deep violet-blue dorsals and variably marked ventrals, with the VHW discal dark blotches being “most typical of the variety” according to J. W. Cockle, who provided the type specimens to Fletcher. There is no description of their habitat or details of exactly where each specimen was collected other than the vicinity of Kaslo, Kootenay Lake, British Columbia. Considering all this, the description of nigrescens appears to be primarily dependent on the females while the males are a mix of C. echo and an undescribed species. We designate the female specimen numbered ‘4’ in the photo plate as the lectotype for Celastrina echo nigrescens . Lectotype and paralectotype labels will be mailed to the curator of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution to be placed on the specimens of the type series.

Lectotype label is red, printed: / LECTOTYPE / Lycaena pseudargiolus / var. nigrescens Fletcher, 1903 / designated by / LaBar, Pelham & Kondla 2022 /. Paralectotype labels are yellow, printed: / PARALECTOTYPE / Lycaena pseudargiolus / var. nigrescens Fletcher, 1903 / designated by / LaBar, Pelham & Kondla 2022 / .

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Lycaenidae

SubFamily

Polyommatinae

Genus

Lycaena

GBIF Dataset (for parent article) Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF