Niphonympha Meyrick, 1914

Genus Niphonympha Meyrick, 1914 View in CoL

Niphonympha Meyrick, 1914: 174 View in CoL .

Calantica Zeller, 1847: 812 View in CoL (nom. praeocc., non Gray, 1825).

Type species: Calantica albella Zeller, 1847 ( = dealbatella Zeller, 1847 ), by subsequent designation ( Busck, 1912).

DISTRIBUTION. South Europe; Russia ( Far East), first record; South Korea; China ( Tianjin, Gansu, Xizang, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui, Guizhou, Hainan); Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu) ( Moriuti, 1977; Zaguljaev, 1981; Agassiz & Friese, 1996; Yu & Li, 2002; Jin & Li, 2012; Hirowatari, 2013).

REMARKS. Nomenclatural acts. The generic name Niphonympha is established as an objective replacement name for Calantica Zeller, 1847 , which turned out to be a junior homonym of Calantica Gray, 1825 in Crustacea ( Meyrick, 1914a). The species albella is indicated as type species of the genus with authorships of Zeller following its designation for genus Calantica by Busck (1912).

Originally, Zeller introduced the names Calantica and albella with reference to Heyden: “ Calantica v. Heyden, in litt.” and “ albella v. Heyden, in litt.”. However, the species albella was never described by von Heyden, as this fact is correctly noted by Lewis & Sohn (2015). But they are incorrectly stated that “ Calantica dealbatella by Zeller is … the type of the genus [ Niphonympha ]”, and that nomenclatural changes of Friese (1960) and followers “has led to the perpetuation of the error”.

Zeller described a new species Calantica dealbatella in 1847 based on specimens he collected in Italy and Sicily. At the end of the description he compared his new species with three specimens of albella obtained from Mr. von Heyden and indicated the differences between them. Furthermore, Zeller in his work indicated the diagnosis in Latin and provided a description of the genus Calantica , which, as albella , had also never been described before. Therefore, the generic name Calantica and the species name albella should be considered available with Zeller's author name, who first published them ( Zeller, 1847), and the date of publication of his work in accordance with the Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN, 1999: Arts 10, 21 and 50). Later both species dealbatella and albella were indicated as valid in series publications at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th centuries ( Herrich-Schaffer, 1855; Stainton, 1869; Hainemann, 1870; Rebel, 1901; Meyrick, 1914b).

Although the species dealbatella ( Zeller, 1847: 811) was described in detail unlike albella (ibid.: 812), Busck (1912) chose the albella as type species for the genus Calantica Zeller. Thus, Busck was the first reviser, who designed a type species for the genus and, as a result, no later designation can be valid ( ICZN, 1999: Arts 24.2, 69.1). The fixation of the type species for Calantica automatically determined the type species for the replacement name Niphonympha Meyrick ( ICZN, 1999: Art. 67.8). Therefore, the subsequent designation of Calantica dealbatella Zeller, 1847 as the type species for Niphonympha Meyrick by Fletcher (1929) cannot be accepted. However, in the mentioned work, Fletcher was the first reviser, who established precedence of the name dealbatella over the name albella and synonymised them ( ICZN, 1999: Art. 24.2.1). Therefore, the Calantica albella Zeller, 1847 is a type species of the genus Niphonympha Meyrick, 1914 and a junior objective synonym of Calantica dealbatella Zeller, 1847 ( ICZN, 1999: Art. 24.2.2).

The indications dealbatella Zeller, 1847 as a junior synonym of albella Zeller, 1847 by Friese (1960), Leraut (1980), Zaguljaev (1981) and Agassiz & Friese (1996) are erroneous.

SPECIES INCLUDED. The composition of the genus Niphonympha was substantially revised in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. For the three species oxydelta Meyrick, 1913, duplicata Meyrick, 1913 and devota Meyrick, 1913, originally described within Calantica (= Niphonympha ), the genus Anthonympha Moriuti, 1971 was established in the family Plutellidae ( Moriuti, 1971) . The genus Trisophista Meyrick, 1924 with type species doctissima Meyrick, 1924, previously synonymised with Niphonympha by Gershenzon & Ulenberg (1998), was restored by Agassiz (2019). The species pauli Viette, 1967, originally described in the genus Trisophista , and later included in the genus Niphonympha (Lewis & Sohn, 2015) , was transferred to the genus Yponomeuta Latreille, [1796] and synonymised with Y. strigillata Zeller, 1852 ( Agassiz, 2019). Until now, the taxonomic position of the Central American species argentella Busck, 1912 is doubtful, since the morphology of its genitalia has not been studied. However, Freese had previously indicated that this species certainly does not belong to this genus ( Friese, 1960). Thus, the genus Niphonympha reliably includes six species – one European N. dealbatella Zeller, 1847 and four East Asian N. vera Moriuti, 1963 ; N. longispina Yu et Li, 2002 ; N. varivera Yu et Li, 2002 and N. wuzhishana Jin et Li, 2012 .