Melitaea phoebe ogygia postogygia Verity, 1938, 1908

Melitaea phoebe ogygia postogygia Verity, 1938 View in CoL

[TL: uncertain - three syntypes from two different localities in Greece: Salonica (= Thessalonica), Macedonia @ 1000 ft. (= circa 300 m) and Olympus, bordering Thessaly/Macedonia @ 2500 ft. (= circa 750 m)]. Although the name postogygia has no formal nomenclatural standing as part of a quadrinomial, it is considered here because of its association with the names ogygia and nigrogygia , which are associated with M. ornata (cf above, and RUSSELL & BARTOLOZZI, 2019). Verity’s description (1938: (16)) indicated that the name was proposed for a second generation of “ M. phoebe ogygia ”. This is unusual: M. ornata is generally univoltine ( RUSSELL & PATEMAN, 2011), although second generations occur when rearing the species in the U.K., if the larvae are exposed to very wet conditions ( RUSSELL & PATEMAN, 2013).

Examination of the photographs of the three syntypes and their associated labels revealed that the two syntypic males from Salonica, taken 12 and 13 August 1936 are almost certainly M. ornata ( Figs 16a, b, c); whereas a female from Olympus taken on “Aug[ust]. 17, 1935”, is M. phoebe ( Figs 17a, b & c). All three specimens were captured by Romei. These identifications, admittedly based only on antenna and wing morphology, were agreed by John Coutsis and Jim Pateman. (See Acknowledgements). The designation of a lectotype in this case is not relevant because the name postogygia is part of a quadrinomial (infrasubspecific) and thus not nomenclaturally significant.