Speyeria hesperis greyi Moeck, 1950

Dunford, James C., 2009, Taxonomic overview of the greater fritillary genus Speyeria Scudder and the atlantis - hesperis species complexes, with species accounts, type images, and relevant literature (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), Insecta Mundi 2009 (90), pp. 1-74 : 33-34

Speyeria hesperis greyi Moeck, 1950

( Figure 31 )

Speyeria atlantis greyi Moeck, 1950: 61 .

Speyeria electa greyi Moeck [ Howe 1975].

Speyeria hesperis greyi Moeck [ Scott et al. 1998].

Common name. Grey’s fritillary.

Type deposited. Holotype at American Museum of Natural History ( Figure 31 ).

Type locality. Lamoille Canyon, Ruby Mountains, Elko County, Nevada ( Figure 49 ).

Type label data. “ Speyeria atlantis greyi , n. ssp. Holotype [male]; Lamoille Canyon 8- 8500’- July 24, 1949 (Moeck) Ruby Mts. , Nevada ”. [ Austin 1998 provided additional type specimen data] .

Identification, taxonomy, and variation. Both sexes bear a light reddish buff ground color, similar to Speyeria hesperis chitone . Their appearance overall is pale, and lacks the red hues of other S. hesperis and S. atlantis forms. Adult wingspan ranges from 45-50 mm. Authors (e.g., Hodges 1983; Austin 1998; Scott et al. 1998) inadvertently included parentheses around the describer Moeck, suggesting this species was originally described in another genus. This has been perpetuated in the literature; however, ‘ greyi ’ was originally described as Speyeria and the parentheses were in error ( Dunford and Austin 2007).

Range. Restricted to the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldt Range, Elko County, Nevada.

Life history. I observed adults flying low to the ground in aspen stands located in Lamoille Canyon, Nevada.

Figures

Figure 31-35. Type images for Speyeria spp.; dorsal, ventral, and label images. 31) Speyeria hesperis greyi holotype, described as Speyeria atlantis greyi, male, AMNH. 32) Speyeria hesperis lurana holotype, described as Speyeria atlantis lurana, male, AMNH. 33) Speyeria hesperis irene lectotype, described as Argynnis irene, female, NMNH. 34) Speyeria hesperis hanseni holotype, described as Speyeria atlantis hanseni, male, LACM. 35) Speyeria hesperis dodgei holotype, described as Argynnis dodgei, male, AMNH. Images 31-32 and 35 by James C. Dunford; 33 by Robert Robbins; 34 by Weiping Xie.

Figure 49-52. Habitat pictures by James C. Dunford. 49) Lamoille Canyon, Ruby Mountains, Nevada. 50) Hospital Flat, near Mt. Graham, Pinaleño Mountains, Arizona. 51) Open glade in Sandia Mountains, New Mexico. 52) Roadside flowers, Capitan Mountains, New Mexico.