Subspecific Status of Southeastern U.S. Megathymus cofaqui and M. yuccae: Renaming of the Florida Subspecies of M. cofaqui

Authors

Ronald R. Gatrele, International Lepidoptera Survey

Date of this Version

1-1-1999

Document Type

Article

Citation

Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey (January 1, 1999) 1(4): 1-6

Also available at https://lepsurvey.carolinanature.com/ttr/ttr-1-4.pdf

Comments

Copyright 1999, International Lepidoptera Survey. Open access material

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

Abstract

Megathymus cofaqui and M. yuccae are both represented in the southeastern United States by two subspecies. The type locality of both M. y. yuccae and M. c. cofaqui is the area of Burke/Screven counties Georgia. Each of their subspecies are primarily Floridian, with M. y. buchholzi extending along the immediate coast of Georgia into southern South Carolina. Topotypes of M. cofaqui from Burke County, Georgia, and Aiken County, South Carolina are phenotypically indistinguishable from both the holotype of M. cofaqui and topotypes of M. c. harrisi. Thus, M. c. harrisi is synonymous with M. c. cofaqui. This leaves the Florida subspecies of M. cofaqui without a valid name. Megathymus cofaqui slotteni is proposed as a new name for the Florida subspecies. The holotype of M. c. slotteni is deposited in the Florida State Collection of Arthropods, Gainesville, Florida, United States.