Zicrona caerulea

cuprea (Zicrona) Dallas 1851: 108. [Figs. 43–46]

Original data: “ ♁ ♀ ”; “a. Hudson’s Bay. Presented by G. Barnston, Esq.” [syntypes]

LECTOTYPE ♀ (designated by Thomas 1992: 129): purple-margined lectotype disc; red-margined type disc; “Hudson’s Bay / 44 17”; “3. ZICRONA CUPREA,”; “NHMUK 010592443”. Fourth and fifth right and left antennomeres, right middle and posterior legs, and left middle leg missing (Fig. 43).

PARALECTOTYPE ♀: blue-margined paralectotype disc; “Hudson’s Bay / 44 17”; “ Zicrona cuprea Walker’s catal.”; “NHMUK 010592444”. Fourth and fifth right antennomeres, fifth left antennomere, right anterior and middle legs, and left anterior leg missing (Fig. 44).

PARALECTOTYPE sex unknown: blue-margined paralectotype disc; “Hudson’s Bay / 44 17”; “ Zicrona cuprea Walker’s catal.”; “NHMUK 010592445”. Fourth and fifth right and left antennomeres, anterior and posterior legs, and abdomen missing (preventing the sex determination; it is presumably the male mentioned in the original description) (Fig. 45).

PARALECTOTYPE ♀: blue-margined paralectotype disc; “Hudson’s Bay / 44 17”; “108”; “ Zicrona cuprea Walker’s catal.”; “NHMUK 010592446”. Fourth and fifth right antennomeres missing (Fig. 46).

Current status: Zicrona caerulea (Linnaeus, 1758)

(synonymised by Uhler 1872: 395; see Schouteden 1907: 74).

Notes: Dallas had at least two specimens, since he listed male and female; Walker (1867a: 145) listed four specimens from the same provenance (Hudson’s Bay, Dr. Barnston). We have found them all. When Thomas (1992: 129) noted: “The type of Zicrona cuprea, a female, was located in the British Museum (Natural History). It is labeled: (a) “Type,” (b) “ Zicrona cuprea.””, he thereby “unambiguously selected [this] particular syntype to act as the unique name-bearing type of the taxon” (ICZN 1999, Art. 74.5). Burks (1975: 140) precised that, although the labels read “Hudson Bay”, Barnston actually collected his specimens at St Martin’s Falls on the Albany River, in Ontario, Canada. This locality is mentioned in the NHMUK Accessions Register. At least one specimen of this species was sent to the Museum of Victoria by Francis Walker (Walker 1985: 15). Indeed, Public Library, Museums and National Gallery (Vic.), et al. (1890: 52) listed one specimen (Number 52876) coming from Hudson’s Bay. It could be a specimen from the type series, perhaps the male mentioned in the original description? This needs to be further investigated.