Umbra pygmaea

Robert E. Schmidt & Robert A. Daniels, 2006, Hybridization in Umbridae in the Hudson River, New York, with Designation of Neotypes for Umbra limi and Umbra pygmaea., Zootaxa 1113, pp. 1-20 : 9-10

Designation of Neotypes for Umbra pygmaea and U. limi

Eschmeyer (1998) indicated that there is no known holotype for U. limi and that the type(s) of U. pygmaea are in the New York State collection, whereabouts unknown.

Recent collecting in the type locality, Sparkill Creek (Stevens and Schmidt 1993, J. Rosko, St. Thomas Aquinas College, pers. comm), has failed to locate U. pygmaea . The most recent specimens we have seen are from 1977 (NYSM 52430). Umbra pygmaea appears to be extirpated from the type locality, probably due to changes related to urbanization of the watershed.

Although we did not feel it necessary to examine types for this study, the original type specimens of both species are lost or their disposition is unknown. This study is the first alpha-level taxonomic paper to discuss both species and we felt that rectifying at least part of the issue of missing type specimens is appropriate here.

The original descriptions of both species (Kirtland 1840, DeKay 1842) are cursory and do not provide enough information to allow an objective appraisal or, for that matter, identification of either species. The discipline has regarded both species as distinct and identifiable because they were geographically isolated. The two species, which are similar in appearance, are now sympatric in the lower Hudson River drainage, New York, and they now hybridize. Therefore, we designate neotypes at this time because a clear description of each parental species is needed to fix the taxonomic status of both nominal taxa to current usage.