Melitaea tenuicula Verity, 1919

Zahiri, Reza, Nazari, Vazrick, Rajaei, Hossein, Wiemers, Martin, Fatahi, Maryam, Seidel, Matthias, Dalsgaard, Thure & Husemann, Martin, 2021, ? An illustrated catalogue of the type specimens of Lepidoptera housed in the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH): Part II. superfamily Papilionoidea, Evolutionary Systematics 5 (2), pp. 193-261 : 193

?110. Melitaea tenuicula Verity, 1919

Original combination.

" Melitaea athalia race tenuicula mihi" Verity, 1919 Ent. Rec. 31: 193-194.

Current combination.

Melitaea athalia tenuicula Verity, 1919.

Current status.

Valid subspecies.

Original material.

Labelled as “Type” 6?? (ZMH 833455-833460) (Fig. 110 ). " tenuicula Vrty" // helvetica Rühl” // "Marche / Bolognola / 28 VI 1937 / Querci." // [blank label] // "ZMH 833455"; " tenuicula Vrty" // helvetica Rühl” // "Marche / Bolognola / 15 VI 1937 / Querci." // [blank label] // "ZMH 833456"; " tenuicula Vrty" // "Marche / Bolognola / 17 VI 1937 / Querci." // [blank label] // "ZMH 833457"; " tenuicula Vrty" // helvetica Rühl” // "Marche / Bolognola / 18 VI 1937 / Querci." // [blank label] // "ZMH 833458"; " tenuicula Vrty" // "Marche / Bolognola / 28 VI 1937 / Querci." // [blank label] // "ZMH 833459"; " tenuicula Vrty" // "Marche / Bolognola / 27 VI 1937 / Querci." // [blank label] // "ZMH 833460 ".

Original locality.

Italy: "Bolognola in the Sibillini Mountains, 1200 m".

Remarks.

Verity (1919) proposed this name as a “race” of Melitaea athalia (Rottemburg, 1775). According to Kudrna (1983: 83-84), this name is available as subspecific. The year on the specimen labels (1937) indicate specimens were collected 18 years after description (1919) from the same location the original holotype material was collected. As a result, the black label of the specimens treated as “types” is erroneous. The specimen collected from the same geographical location from which the type specimen was collected is called topotype. According to ICZN (1999), a topotype has no formal standing and is not regulated by the Code. Therefore, these six specimens are erroneously labelled as types, should be annotated as "Not a Type" and are treated here as “Non-type” specimens

Figures

Plate 16. 110. Melitaea athalia tenuicula Verity, 1919; 111. Melitaea varia varissima Verity, 1914; 112. Melitaea cinxia riloensis Zuellich, 1936; 113. Melitaea deione ab. mediofasciata Bubacek, 1926; 114. Melitaea diamina ab. johni Stauder, 1922; 115. Melitaea trivia balcanica Zuellich, 1936; 116. Melitaea trivia catapelioides Stauder, 1918; 117. Melitaea trivia ignasiti de Sagarra, 1926. a. Dorsal view, b. ventral view.