Taxonomy changes

[Pete Eeles]

The third update to 'Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles' has now been published in the Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation. Those changes have now been reflected on UKB and are:

• The High Brown Fritillary has changed genus and is now Fabriciana adippe (formerly Argynnis adippe).

• The Niobe Fritillary has changed genus and is now Fabriciana niobe (formerly Argynnis niobe).

• The Dark Green Fritillary has changed genus and is now Speyeria aglaja (formerly Argynnis aglaja).

• The Great Spangled Fritillary has changed genus and is now Speyeria cybele (formerly Argynnis cybele). This change has been inferred, and is NOT explicitly defined in the update.

• Also - we have a new adventive - a Lycaenid, Deudorix antalus - that goes by the vernacular name of 'Brown Playboy'.

The refinements in the Argynnis genus are thanks to work described in 'Interrelationships and diversification of Argynnis Fabricius and Speyeria Scudder butterflies':
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf ... syen.12236

... which has been adopted in 'An updated checklist of the European Butterflies':
https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/287 ... 3OK3zNBVu8

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Thanks for the Speyeria reference, Pete.I’m systematically updating all my own pages and began aglaja yesterday. I knew it would probably be Speyeria soon but couldn’t find the relevant paper online and I’m pretty sure that when I looked yesterday it was still Argynnis on UK Butterflies! It was also still Argynnis on the Fauna Europaea website. Interesting that Fabriciana has been reinstated too ...

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

I must admit, I do find the changes in taxonomy fascinating as we discover more about the lineage of each species. Many more changes to come, I'm sure!

With these most recent changes, then Speyeria cybele is out of place (see https://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/taxonomy.php) if the ordering is based on the checklist numbering. I can only conclude that the numbering is NOT intended to be used as a sequencing mechanism, although it did initially imply one, so I'll have to add our own sequencing in order to get things in the correct place.

Any thoughts welcome!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Well ... I've updated our own sequencing anyway (it was a quick fix) ... to ensure that we can place things in the correct taxonomic position, even if the checklist numbers become out of sequence (which they are, in a couple of places when it comes to the butterflies). Specifically:

1. Speyeria cybele (Great Spangled Fritillary) needs to be positioned next to Dark Green Fritillary, since they are in the same genus (although the allocation of Speyeria to cybele is not EXPLICITLY specified in the most recent update).

2. With the addition of Deudorix antalus (Brown Playboy), I've noticed that the Shy Saliana (Rapala manea) is in the same tribe (Deudorigini) and also moves its position.

Also, having our own sequence means that I can use the ACTUAL identifiers provided in the checklist (e.g. 'B42') for questionable records

Cheers,

- Pete

[aeshna5]

What's the story behind the Brown Playboy- did it come with imported plants or foodstuffs?

[Pete Eeles]

What's the story behind the Brown Playboy- did it come with imported plants or foodstuffs?

The record was published in the Bulletin of the AES, as shown here: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ite ... 4/mode/1up

Cheers,

- Pete

[aeshna5]

Many thanks for this, Pete.