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Hi
I’m trying to understand the Subgenus Aricia a little better. It’s the variation ab. snellini that has me confused. Please correct me if I have understood it wrongly but can this ab.”Snellini” be a variation of both Aricia artaxerxes and Aricia agestis .
I have the book Variations in British Butterflies where Russwurm shows it as a variant of artaxerxes , but I have seen a picture of an identical Butterfly taken in Hampshire and described as Aricia agestis ab. Snellini . It just seems that an identical Butterfly with an identical aberration name can belong to two different species. I have certainly misunderstood this and would be grateful for any advice.
Thanks.

Hi cjs,

I've come across this before too - the use of "lanceolata" for aberrations of both Ringlet and Large Heath.

There may be some historical reason for this (i.e. the fact that artaxerxes and agestis were once considered the same species). But, given the example above, it would seem that it's "OK" to use the same name - presumably to describe a similar aberration.

Given the finite set of names available, I suspect there must be overlaps of species names too.

In all cases - I suspect one needs to understand the context within which a name is used. For example, Coenonympha tullia ab. lanceolata is different to Aphantopus hyperantus ab. lanceolata.

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Pete
Thanks for the reply.

Hi CJS,

The latin name given to an aberration could easily be applied to more than one species.

Usually the aberration name is descriptive of the feature that makes the specimen aberrant.

To use Pete's example of lanceolata, the adjective lanceolate means tapering from a rounded base toward an apex; lance-shaped. The name lanceolata could therefore be applied to any aberration where ordinarily round or ovoid wing markings take this shape, regardless of the species.

Hope this helps, best regards,

Felix.

Hi Felix
Thats very interesting thanks.

He He He.... howz about this then....





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