Types of Balkan Pieridae in The Natural History Museum, London
(Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea: Pieridae)

ABBREVIATIONS

BMNH — The Natural History Museum, London
MHNP — Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris
MZSF — Museo Zoologico de la Specola, Firenze
NHMW — Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien
NMNH — National Museum of Natural History, Sofia
ZMHB — Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin


INTRODUCTION

Taxonomic studies of any group of animals (including Lepidoptera) are very important and serve as a basis for future investigations. Of special importance in any taxonomic study is the good knowledge on the type material of the taxa applied. As far as name-bearing types (holotypes, syntypes) serve as a standard of nominal species group taxa, it is important to know all the data which can help in their subsequent recognition (including labels descriptions), and publishing lists of such types housed at certain institutions is even recommended (ICZN, 1999: 72F.4).

The Natural History Museum, London is well known as a depository of the largest and most important collection of type material of World Lepidoptera, including 125 000 types, and more than 40% primary type representation (Ackery, 1999: 2). The present building (Fig. 1) was fully occupied in 1954 (Ackery, 1999: 5). Here the butterfly collection occupies several floors and is usually housed in standard 20-drawer cabinets (Main Collection) and units of a 40-drawer cabinet as a base with a 26-drawer cabinet placed above (Rothschild Collection). At the moment traditional card-indexes down to infra-subspecific level are used to facilitate taxon-level access to the Lepidoptera collection.
For the purpose of the current work the study area has been expanded outside the geographical boundaries of the Balkan Peninsula and includes all the territory of the former Yugoslavia and Greek islands.
This publication is a result of my research visit to The Natural History Museum, London during 12 November—14 December 2001. During this period each (examined) specimen was supplied with individual number and electronically indexed.
A revision of the butterfly collection of The Natural History Museum, London allowed to find type material of 4 nominal species group taxa (23 specimens) of Pieridae described from the Balkan Peninsula.
The species group taxa names are arranged in systematic order. Each entry includes the species group name, followed by the original combination quoted from the original publication, type locality (containing a quotation from the original publication or subsequent fixation due to lectotype designation), type specimens as specified with their labels and notes about the type material and current taxonomic status. All extensions of abbreviations or remarks used are enclosed in square brackets ‘[ ]’.
The text of the label is quoted in double quotation marks (to assist better recognition, each label is provided with characteristics of the paper). Each line in the text of the label is separated by a vertical line ‘|’. In quotations of combined labels (handwritten on printed forms) the handwritten text is reproduced in italics; completely handwritten and completely printed labels are quoted in a plain character face.

[— page 16]


PIERIDAE

Colias [Fabricius in Illiger], 1807 [cf Taeger & Gaedike, 2001]

C. caucasica Staudinger, 1871

balcanica Rebel, 1901
‘Colias Myrmidone Esp. v. Balcanica Rbl.’ Rebel, H., 1901 (In: Staudinger, O. & H. Rebel, Nachträge (Addenda) zum Theil I.: 250). Type locality: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Vucja Bara (Rebel, 1904: 139, 142: ‘Vucija bara, Hochtal (1246 [m]) zwischen der ‘Bjelasica, Berg (1867 [m]) südwestl. von Gacko’ und der ‘Baba (Djed), Berg (1737 [m]) westl. von Gacko’’); UTM grid reference 34TBN88.

Syntype [male] with labels:

— (1) printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Bosn. Rbl. | Trebevic | 5.VII.98’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘Elwes Coll. | 1902-85’; (3) printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper, double framed) ‘SYNTYPE [male] | Colias | myrmidone | balcanica | [line] | Dr S. Abadjiev det. 2001’; (4) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662123’.

Additional type material (syntypes) exists in the collections of NHMW and NMNH. Lectotype not designated (cf Hesselbarth, van Oorschot & Wagener, 1995: 328) by Abadjiev (1992). This taxon is treated as a different subspecies, Colias caucasica balcanica Rebel, 1901 (Wagener, 1990: 59), endemic for the Balkan Peninsula.


Anthocharis Boisduval, Rambur, Duméril & Graslin, [1833]

A. gruneri Herrich-Schäffer, [1851]

parnassia Bernardi, 1970
‘A.[nthocharis] gruneri parnassia subsp. nov.’ Bernardi, G., 1970 (La variation géographique de l’Anthocharis gruneri Herrich Schaffer [sic] — Lambilionea 70 (1—4) (25.IV.1970): 2). Type locality: ‘Graecia, Parnassus’ (l.c.: 4).

Paratypes 14 [males], 5 [females] with labels:

[1 male] (1) printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Parnassus. | Greece. | 21V.1900 | H. J. Elwes.’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662059’;

[— page 17]

[2 male] (1) printed (on white paper) ‘Morea. | V.1900 | H. J. Elwes.’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662060’;
[3 male] (1) printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Morea. | 14V.1900 | H. J. Elwes.’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662061’;
[4 male] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662062’;
[5 male] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662063’;
[6 male] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662064’;
[7 male] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662065’;
[8 male] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662066’;
[9 male] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662067’;
[10 male] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662068’;
[11 male] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662069’;
[12 male] (1) handwritten (on white paper) ‘Euchloe Gruneri [male] Var’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662070’;
[13 male] (1) handwritten (on white paper) ‘Euchloe Gruneri [male]’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662071’;
[14 male] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662072’;
[15 female] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662073’;
[16 female] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662074’;
[17 female] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662075’;
[18 female] (1) printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Morea. | 16V.1900 | H. J. Elwes.’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662076’;
[19 female] printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662077’;
— Paratypes 1—4 and 15—18 with additional printed (on white paper) ‘Elwes Coll. | 1902-85’; 4—6 and 17 with printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Morea. | 15V.1900 | H. J. Elwes.’; 5 and 6 with (1) printed (on white paper) ‘Ex Coll. | H. J. Elwes, | 1920.’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘Joicey | Bequest. | Brit.Mus. | 1934-120.’; 7, 8 and 19 with (1) printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Parnass | 10 4 65.’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘Greece | Merlin Coll. | 96—275’; 9 and 10 with printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘GREECE: | Kaseniani. | 13.IV.1935 | R.A.Denne. | B M. 1935-300’; 11—14 with printed (on white paper) ‘GREECE: | Kaseniani. | 23.III.1935 | R.A.Denne. | B M. 1935-300’; 15 and 16 with printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Morea. | 13V.1900 | H. J. Elwes.’; all the paratypes with printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on red paper), double framed ‘PARATYPE [male] [female respectively] | Anthocharis | gruneri parnassia | [line] Dr. S. Abadjiev det. 2001’.

The originally stated (Bernardi, 1970: 4) type material in the BMNH (1 [male]: Parnassus 10.IV.1965 (Coll. Berlin [right Merlin]); 1 [male]: Parnassus 21.V.1900 (Coll. Elwes); 2 [males]: Kaseniani, Greece, 31.III.1935 [right 23.III.1935], 13.IV.1935 (Denne); 1 [male], 1 [female]: Morea (Coll. Elwes)) has not been labelled properly and differs both in number of specimens and label contents. Additional type material exists in the collections of MHNP (holotype [male], paratypes) and ZMHB. Treated as a junior subjective synonym of Anthocharis gruneri gruneri Herrich-Schäffer, [1851] (Hesselbarth, van Oorschot & Wagener, 1995: 362).


Pieris Schrank, 1801

P. rapae (Linnaeus, 1758)

atomaria Fruhstorfer, 1909
‘P. rapae forma atomaria nova... oder subsp. nova’ Fruhstorfer, H., 1909 (Neues über Pieris manni [sic]. — Ent. Z. 23 (8) (22.V.1909): 42). Type locality: ‘Dalmatien’ (l.c.: 42).

[— page 18]

Syntypes 2 [females] with labels:

[1] (1) printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Dalmatia | Spalato | 22.4.1908 | [on the left] H. STAUDER’; (2) handwritten (on white paper, framed) ‘fa | atomaria | Fruhst.’; (3) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662220’;
[2] (1) printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Dalmatia | Spalato | 20.5.08 | [on the left] H. STAUDER’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662221’;
— Both syntypes with (1) printed (on red paper) ‘Type’; (2) printed (on white paper) ‘Fruhstorfer Coll. | B.M. 1937-285.’.

Type material originally not stated. Omitted by Kudrna (1985). A junior subjective synonym of Papilio rapae rapae Linnaeus, 1758 (Hesselbarth, van Oorschot & Wagener, 1995: 402).


P. ergane (Geyer, [1828])

stefanellii Verity, [1908]
‘Pieris ergane gen. vern. var. stefanellii’ Verity, R., [1908] (Rhopalocera Palaearctica... : 153 (31.I.1908); Pl. XXXIII (30.XI.1908): Fig. 32—36; Pl. XXXIV (30.VI.1908): Fig. 1 [erroneously as underside of Pl. XXXIII: Fig. 23; right 32]). Type locality: ‘Gréce’ (l.c.: Pl. XXXIII: Fig. 32).

Syntype [female] with labels:

—(1) printed (on white paper), framed ‘ExMuseo | A KUWERT | [on the right] 1894’; (2) handwritten (on gray paper), framed ‘Pieris | Ergane | [female] | Griechenland’; (3) circle printed (on white paper with red frame) ‘Type | A T’; (4) handwritten (on white paper) ‘stefanellii | Verity | [female] Allotype’; (5) printed with handwritten inscriptions [here italicized] (on white paper) ‘Figuré par R. Verity | RHOPAL. PALAEARCTICA | Pl. XXXIII fig. 34’; (6) printed (on white paper) ‘Ex Oberthür Coll. | Brit.Mus.1927—3.’; (7) printed (on white paper) ‘BMNH(E) # 662227’.

Additional type material (13 [males]) in MZSF (Kudrna, 1983: 61); syntypes from Greece: Attica (8 [males]) with uncertain status (l.c.: 61). Treated as an infrasubspecific taxon (l.c.: 61).


REFERENCES

Abadjiev, S. (1992): Butterflies of Bulgaria, Part 1, Papilionidae & Pieridae. — Veren Publishers, Sofia, 91 pp.
Ackery, R. R. (1999): The Lepidoptera Collections at the Natural History Museum (BMNH), in South Kensington, London. — Holarctic Lepidoptera 6 (1) (30.VI.1999): 1—9.
Bernardi, G. (1970): La variation géographique de l’Anthocharis gruneri Herrich Schaffer [sic] — Lambilionea 70 (1—4) (25.IV.1970): 1—13.
Fruhstorfer, H. (1909): Neues über Pieris manni [sic]. — Ent. Z. 23 (8) (22.V.1909): 41—42.
Hesselbarth, G., van Oorschot, H. & S. Wagener (1995): Die Tagfalter der Türkei unter Berücksichtigung der angrenzenden Länder. — Selbstverlag Sigbert Wagener, Bocholt, Bd. 1—3: 1354 + 847 pp.
ICZN — International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999): Fourth edition, adopted by the International Union of Biological Sciences. — International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, c/o The Natural History Museum, London, xxx+306 pp.
Kudrna, O. (1983): An Annotated Catalogue of the Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) Named by Roger Verity. — J. Res. Lep. 21 (15.VII.1983): 1—106.
Kudrna, O. (1985): European butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) named by Hans Fruhstorfer. — Nachr. ent. Ver. Apollo, Suppl. 5 (XII.1985): 1—60.
Rebel, H. (1901): Nachträge (Addenda) zum Theil I. In: Staudinger, O. & H. Rebel, Catalog der Lepidopteren des palaearctischen Faunengebietes. — Friedländer & Sohn, Berlin: 249—256.
Rebel, H. (1904): Studien über die Lepidopterenfauna der Balkanländer. II. Teil. Bosnien und Herzegowina. — Annln naturh. Mus. Wien 19: 97—377, Taf. IV—V.
Taeger, A. & R. Gaedike (2001): On the papers ‘Systema Glossatorum...’ of Fabricius (1807) and ‘Die neueste Gattungs-Eintheilung der Schmetterlinge...’ of Illiger (1807) and the consequences for authorship of several generic names. — Nota lepid. 24 (1/2) (10.VIII.2001): 85—88.
Verity, R. (1905—1911): Rhopalocera palaearctica. [1.] Papilionidae et Pieridae. — Published by the author, Firenze, 86+368 pp., 2+12+72 pls. [on the dates of publication see Kudrna, 1983].
Wagener, S. (1990): Colias caucasica balcanica Rebel, 1901 (comb. nov., stat. nov.) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). — Phegea 18 (2) (1.VI.1990): 59—63.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, I must acknowledge, with grateful thanks, the Improving Human Potential (IHP) Programme of the European Union for providing the necessary funding for this project thus enabling it to be undertaken. I would like to thank Miss Lyanne Houseago, Research and Consulting Office, The Natural History Museum, London for the invaluable help on administrative matters. I am very grateful to my colleagues in the Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum, London. Mr Phillip Ackery was really the perfect scientific host. Despite his administrative and scientific pressure of work he was wonderfully efficient in many difficult cases, even if the work necessitated ‘floor climbing’ (sometimes using a lift) to find a certain specimen or ‘body-building’ in carrying heavy books. His good humor was unforgettable and infectious. Mr Jim Reynolds and Mr Campbell Smith guided me on general matters and on queries over several species. Mrs Kim Goodger was really very kind to forward all the messages designed for me. I thank the staff of the Entomology Library at The Natural History Museum, London and especially Ms Joanna Kapusta, Assistant Librarian, for the help with my enquires. I must record my special gratitude to Dr Harish Gaonkar, Copenhagen for sharing impressions and for fascinating discussions concerning butterflies, types, nomenclature. I am very obliged to Dr Ulf Eitschberger, Marktleuthen who kindly assisted with literature and for the publication of the original variant of this lengthy paper.