www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

The most recent checklist update has one change concerning Butterflies - which is that the genus Maculinea has been replaced by Phengaris.

For my entire life, the Large Blue has been known as Maculinea arion, so it is with a heavy heart that I’ve amended UKB accordingly.

Cheers,

- Pete

Latest I've heard, Pete, is that the argynnis fritillaries are about to undergo a generic name change.

It had to happen, Pete. The ICZN was asked to rule, as you know, and really had no choice but to enforce the change: Maculinea is not cladal, so to allow it would have compromised the integrity of the whole nomenclatural system. I for one was glad, though I know many felt like you and there was a very strong petition for turning a blind eye and retaining Maculinea.

I didn't know Argynnis was currently under threat, David. I presume Speyeria is threatening to engulf it ...

Guy

Padfield wrote:It had to happen, Pete. The ICZN was asked to rule, as you know, and really had no choice but to enforce the change: Maculinea is not cladal, so to allow it would have compromised the integrity of the whole nomenclatural system. I for one was glad, though I know many felt like you and there was a very strong petition for turning a blind eye and retaining Maculinea.

I didn't know Argynnis was currently under threat, David. I presume Speyeria is threatening to engulf it ...

Guy

According to the all knowing Wikipedia, Speyeria are now a subgenus to Argynnis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyeria

Padfield wrote:I didn't know Argynnis was currently under threat, David. I presume Speyeria is threatening to engulf it ...

Not sure about any replacement, Guy. It was just murmurings I heard at the BCE AGM a few weeks ago.

The taxonomists are busy right now it seems....

Looks like Dark Green and High Brown Fritillaries have already been changed from Argynnis, to, respectively Speyeria aglaja and Fabriciana adippe - see https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/28712/list/4/ (published 31st Dec 2018)

It could almost give you a headache...

Good find, Pete.

Looks like we've had to cede to north American interests:

In addition, four species formerly placed in the genus Argynnis were transferred into the genera Fabriciana and Speyeria, based on the study by De Moya et al. (2017). The former genus name had already been used previously for the same species, whereas the latter seems new to European lepidopterists, but is commonly used in North America. Although it could be argued that the change was avoidable by keeping a larger genus Argynnis, a solution originally also favoured by Simonsen et al. (2006), this would have meant to rename a large number of North American butterflies currently placed in the genus Speyeria, and was rejected by North American lepidopterists. Therefore, the recommended changes appear to cause the least changes on a global level and will hopefully contribute to a more consistent taxonomy of Holarctic Argynnini.

petesmith wrote:Looks like Dark Green and High Brown Fritillaries have already been changed from Argynnis, to, respectively Speyeria aglaja and Fabriciana adippe - see https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/28712/list/4/ (published 31st Dec 2018)

It could almost give you a headache...

And Lysandra has been promoted back up to full genus level. Looks like a fight between the lumpers and splitters in the taxonomic world is afoot

Yes, it's hard to keep up, BB, although some changes are more welcome than others!

Good job we have some stability with the vernacular names On a related note, we seem to have two checklists:

1. Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles
2. The European checklist

Does anyone know how these are related or not? For example, they place the families in a different sequence!

Cheers,

- Pete

Name changing, splitting, combining, is not confined to wildlife. If the United Kingdom breaks up as a consequence of political upheavals - and groan if you’ve heard this before - then what we know today as the UK will become the Former UK or FUK

Jack Harrison wrote:Name changing, splitting, combining, is not confined to wildlife. If the United Kingdom breaks up as a consequence of political upheavals - and groan if you’ve heard this before - then what we know today as the UK will become the Former UK or FUK

Only you, Jack.....

......they may run into problems with the French Connection chain regarding the new acronym though!