Designation of Neotype of Hemileuca maia (Drury, 1773) and Refinement of Its Type Locality (Bombycoidea, Saturniidae, Hemileucinae)

Authors

Harry Pavulaan, intlepsurvey@gmail.comFollow

Date of this Version

2-10-2020

Document Type

Article

Citation

Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey (February 10, 2020) 8(4): 1-11

Also available at https://lepsurvey.carolinanature.com/ttr/ttr-8-4.pdf

Also available at the Internet Archive, the Biodiversity Library, at Zobodat

ZooBank registration: http://zoobank.org/References/6A0BCEEB-F6E2-4FC6-BFB8-BD116194AFA0

Comments

Copyright 2020, International Lepidoptera Survey. Open access material

License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-SA-NC 4.0 International)

Abstract

The present paper defines the original type locality of Hemileuca maia (Drury, 1773) as Edgewood, New York, in the Long Island Pine Barrens. It has been locally known as the “Coastal Pine Barrens Buckmoth” and its range may be confined entirely to Long Island, though populations throughout southeastern coastal New England and offshore islands may be considered the same nominotypical taxon. In analyzing historical events, there are questions regarding the geographic location, and source and eventual disposition of the specimen illustrated by artist Moses Harris in Drury (1773). While there is ample evidence that Drury’s specimen of maia came from a Mr. Thomas James of Brooklyn, New York, it is not clear whether the illustrated specimen was actually obtained by, and in the possession of, Dr. John Fothergill at the time the specimen was illustrated. Drury’s illustrated specimen perhaps found its way to various collections and is believed to now be lost or unidentifiable. A neotype is designated from the Edgewood Scrub Oak Plains, near present day Brentwood, New York, to agree with a possible collecting location used by Thomas James.