Published May 24, 2022 | Version v1

Melitaea phoebe

  • 1. Oakmeadow, Wessex Avenue, East Wittering, West Sussex PO 20 8 NP, U. K.
  • 2. Department of Karyosystematics, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia.
  • 3. Scientific Associate, Division of Insects, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW 7 5 BD, U. K. & Honorary Associate, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford OX 1 3 PW, U. K

Description

M. phoebe ab. tatara Krulikovsky, 1891

[TL: circa Kazan, Russian Federation] was considered by Krulikovsky to be a hybrid. In 1897 Krulikovsky said: 'Earlier I mentioned that I caught M. phoebe (male) in copula with M. arduinna (female). I suspect that ab. tatara, which was shown by me in Bull. de Moscou, 1890, pl VIII, f. g, perhaps is a hybrid between M. phoebe and M. athalia, Rott. ’.[Translation by G. Kuznetsov] [The species mentioned refer to M. arduinna (Esper, 1783) and M. athalia (Rottemburg, 1775).] Unfortunately the search by Kostjuk & Zolotuhin (2017: 445–446) in the collections of the Zoologisches Museum of Shevchenko University, Kyiv failed to find the holotype. The habitat was ‘swampy meadows’ unsuitable for M. ornata but acceptable to both M. phoebe and M. athalia; also Kazan is outside the known distribution of M. ornata. Hybrids between Melitaea species are known to occur (Russell et al. 2014; Pazhenkova & Lukhtanov 2021); also numerous interspecific, intergeneric and even intersubfamily copulations have been observed (Russell 2012a, b). In the absence of the specimen the authors can only provide a copy of Krulikovsky’s figure of this aberration or hybrid(?) (Fig. 8).

Notes

Published as part of Russell, Peter J. C., Lukhtanov, Vladimir A. & Tennent, W. John, 2022, Reassessment of the status of some European and Asian Melitaea taxa described as subspecies of Melitaea phoebe ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775), with designations of lectotypes where appropriate (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), pp. 25-38 in Zootaxa 5141 (1) on page 28, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5141.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/6577627

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

References

  • Krulikovsky, A. (1891) Experimental catalogue of Lepidoptera of Kazakh Province. Bullitin de la Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou (New Series) 4, 200 - 251. [In Russian, colour pls. I - VIII]
  • Esper, E. J. C. (1783) Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen. Theil I: Die Tagschmetterlinge. Fortsetzung. Band 2 (7), 141 - 156, plates 81, 82, (8), 157 - 172, plates 83 - 88.
  • Rottemburg, S. A. (1775) Unmertungen zu den Hufnagelifchen Tabellen der Schmitterlinge Der Naturforscher, 6, 1 - 34.
  • Kostjuk I. Y. & Zolotuhin V. V. (2017) The types of moths and butterflies described from the Volga-Ural Region by Leonid Krulikowsky (Krulikovsky). Part 2. Macrolepidoptera. In: Anikin V. V., Sachkov S. A., Zolotuhin, V. V. (Eds.), Fauna lepidopterologica Volgo-Uralensis: from P. Pallas to present days. Munich-Vilnius. Proceedings of the Museum Witt. Munich, 7, 443 - 450, 586 - 593.
  • Russell, P. J. C., Pateman, J. & Verovnik, R. (2014) First record of M. ornata Christoph, 1893, from Slovenia, with notes on its confirmed distribution and hybridisation with M. phoebe ([Denis & Schiffermuller], 1775). Entomologist's Gazette, 65, 135 - 153.
  • Pazhenkova, E. A. & Lukhtanov, V. A. (2021) Genomic introgression from a distant congener in the Levant fritillary butterfly, Melitaea acentria. Molecular Ecology, 30 (19), 4819 - 4832. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / mec. 16085
  • Russell, P. J. C. (2012 a) Intergeneric pairings involving Maniola jurtina L. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae): are sight and smell overridden by this butterfly's sex drive? Entomologists' Gazette, 64, 11 - 17.