Subspecies Philiris ziska titeus D'Abrera, 1971

Museums

Regional Maps

• Philiris ziska titeus D'Abrera, B. 1971. Butterflies of the Australasian Region. Melbourne : Landsdowne Press 415 pp. [373].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH B.M. Reg. No. 1966-587, 253 ♂, Claudie River, Cape York, Queensland.
  Paralectotype(s) BMNH B.M. Reg. No. 1966-587,255 ♂, same locality data as lectotype
  Comment: Braby (2009) designated a lectotype after examination of D’Abrera’s syntypes in the BMNH showed that R.I. Vane-Wright had earlier labelled one of the syntype males as ‘holotype’ and the two other specimens as ‘paratypes’; however, these designations are incorrect because D’Abrera (1971) designated neither a holotype nor a paratype.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Braby, M.F. 2009. Rectification of the type status for Philiris ziska titeus D'Abrera, 1971 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 25: 121–123 [122].

Introduction

"Samson and Johnson (2009) reinstated the subspecies Philiris ziska titeus D’Abrera, 1971, from Cape York Peninsula, Qld. Braby (2009) subsequently clarified the extent of the type series and provided further comparative notes on the distinction between P. ziska titeus and nominate P. ziska ziska (Grose-Smith, 1898) and P. nitens lucina Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914. In doing so, he designated a male lectotype in order to fix the nominal species group name for this taxon, and discussed and clarified previous incorrect designations of this specimen as a holotype. However, Braby (2009) overlooked the fact that B. D'Abrera had earlier prepared a loose sheet of errata, which included a note designating a ‘holotype’ male and ‘allotype’ female of P. ziska titeus, to accompany the first edition of his work on Australian butterflies published in 1971 (D'Abrera 1971). Although the precise date of publication of the second ‘corrigenda’ has not been ascertained, the page of errata appeared after the original publication (Moulds 1972): D'Abrera’s (1971) book was published on 17 November 1971, and the erratum was included in copies sent for review some time after this, at least until 29 November 1971 (E.D. Edwards, pers. comm.). However, the correction and D’Abrera’s typification was not incorporated into subsequent editions of Butterflies of the Australian Region published in 1977 and 1990. Hence, D’Abrera’s post-facto ‘fixation’ is not a valid type designation under the ICZN (1999) because it was not included in the original publication or in subsequent editions of the same publication, he incorrectly used the word ‘holotype’ instead of lectotype, and the loose sheet of errata was not “produced in an edition containing simultaneously obtainable copies by a method that assures numerous identical and durable copies” (Article 8.1.3)." (see Braby 2010)

Ecological Descriptors

Larva: herbivore.

General References

Braby, M.F. 2009. Rectification of the type status for Philiris ziska titeus D'Abrera, 1971 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 25: 121–123

Braby, M.F. 2010. The merging of taxonomy and conservation biology: a synthesis of Australian butterfly systematics (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea). Zootaxa 2707: 1-76 [Date published 3 Dec 2010]

Samson, P.R. & Johnson, S.J. 2009. The life history and adult morphology of Philiris ziska titeus D'Abrera (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Australian Entomologist 36: 113–118

Sands, D.P.A 2015. Review of Australian Philiris Röber (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), with notes on variation and descriptions of two new subspecies from Cape York Peninsula. Australian Entomologist 42(4): 219-252 [230]

History of changes