Panorpa confusa, Westwood, 1841

Dickson, Kathryn, 2024, Catalogue of the Family Panorpidae (Mecoptera) in Canada, México and the United States, Zootaxa 5559 (1), pp. 1-63 : 16

confusa Westwood, 1841

Panorpa confusa Westwood 1841:190 (description); Walker 1852: 463 (description); Hagen 1861: 244 (description); Banks 1892: 362 (NA species list, confusa present in MA, NY); Hine 1901: 251 (new records from DC, IL, MA, MI, NC, OH, PA, VA), fig 13 (♂ forewing), fig 27 (♀ forewing), fig 34 (♂ genital bulb); Banks 1907: 33 (updated NA species list, confusa found in “eastern US ”); Banks 1908: 154 (NC species list); Sherman 1908: 52 (early-mid season species in NC); Engelhardt 1915: 109 (checklist of species from the eastern US); Esben-Petersen 1915: 224 (list of American species); Esben-Petersen 1921: 64 (description); Carpenter 1931: 237 (as junior synonym of rufescens ); Byers 1962a: 468 (lectotype designation); Somma 2011: 61 (1841 is the correct year of publication of the description of confusa , making it the senior synonym of rufescens Rambur, 1842 ); Flint, et al. 2020: 8 (key), 9 (VA seasonal and locality records), fig 25 (wings), fig 49 (♂ genital bulb), map 14 (distribution in VA); Wang & Hua, 2021: 546 (morphological evidence for polyphyly of Panorpa ).

Lectotype ♂: OUMNH, labels read as Byers (1962a) described them; a square label reading “30, ♂ ”, “ Panorpa fasciata F., ♂ ♀, Massach. T. W. Harris,” “ P. confusa Westw. ”, and a blue label with the letter W”. In addition, a recent photo showed that there is a rectangular label from Oxford, reading “Mecop. No 1, ½” and a red label indicating the specimen to be the lectotype.

Panorpa venosa Westwood 1841: 190 (description); Byers 1962a: 473 (synonymy with rufescens , establishment of venosa lectotype); Penny & Byers 1979: 380 (as junior synonym of rufescens ), Byers 1993: 88 (resurrection of venosa ).

Panorpa rufescens Rambur 1842: 330 (description); Walker 1852: 459 (suggested the species might be a variety of the European communis ); Hagen 1861: 241 (description, distribution NY, DC, QC); Pettit 1874: 45 (collected in ON); Brodie & White 1883: 65 (checklist of the Dominion of Canada); Banks 1892: 362 (NA species list, rufescens found in the Atlantic states); Felt 1895: 463 (appearance, reproductive behavior, eggs, larvae— although Byers 1963: 142 believed a larvae described by Felt was debilis ), fig 23 (wing venation); Smith 1900: 59 (present in NJ); Hine 1901: 251 (additional description), fig 10 (♂ genital bulb), fig 11 (♀ forewing), fig 31 (♂ side view of terminal abdominal segments); Banks 1907: 33 (updated NA species list, distribution described as eastern US); Banks 1908: 154 (NC species list); Sherman 1908: 53 (ruficens (sic) mid- and late season species in NC); Esben-Petersen 1915: 224 (list of American species); Britton 1920: 30 (checklist for CT); Esben-Petersen 1921: 63 (description), fig 68 (♂ genital bulb); Engelhardt 1915: 109 (checklist of species from the eastern US); Carpenter 1931: 236 (additional description), fig 20 (♂ genital bulb), fig 58 (♀ genital plate), 83 (forewing); Frost & Brown 1955: 56 (PA checklist); Byers 1962a: 471 (lectotype designation), fig 2 (genital bulb of ♂ lectotype); Thornhill & Johnson 1974: 50 (key, distribution and habitat in MI), fig 10 (♂ genital bulb), fig 36 (♀ genital plate), fig 55 (map of distribution in MI); Webb et al. 1975: 305 (description, distribution), fig 84 (forewing), fig 122 (♂ genital bulb), fig 123 (♂ ventral paramere), fig 155 (♀ genital plate), fig 181 (distribution); Penny & Byers 1979: 380 (synonymy with confusa ); Byers 1993: 77 (identification of two geographically distinct forms, determination that all syntypes are lost (following Carpenter, 1939: 163), revocation of the lectotype identified in 1962a since designated specimen determined not to be a syntype (see ICZN (1993 Art. 74.2)), restriction of the name rufescens to the northeastern form from which a neotype was designated, leaving the distinct former southeastern “form” to be described as ferruginea Byers, 1993 ), figs 63–64 (features of ♂ genital bulb); Somma 2011: 61 ( confusa is the senior synonym); Pothier 1997: 1 (presence in QC).

Neotype ♂: SEMC [#10111]. USA. VT, Wyndham Co., Laurel Lake , 10.viii.1978, H. D. Pratt.

Published misidentifications: Byers 1962a reviewed misidentifications of confusa . He noted that Hine 1901: 251 and figs 13, 27, 34 probably represented elaborata , which was later shown to be synonymous with, and junior to the senior synonym, consuetudinis Snodgrass 1927 ( Byers 1974: 23). He further noted that Esben-Petersen 1921: 63, fig 69 specimens probably were also consuetudinis ( Byers 1962a) .

Distribution: Canada; QC. USA; CT, DC, MA, MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, VT.