''Melitaea'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

brush-footed butterflies The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have ...

(

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Nymphalidae). They are here placed in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Melitaeini Melitaeini are a group of brush-footed butterflies. Usually classified as a tribe of the Nymphalinae, they are sometimes raised to subfamily status as Melitaeinae. Common names include the highly ambiguous fritillaries (also used for some Helic ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Nymphalinae The Nymphalinae are a subfamily of brush-footed butterflies (family (biology), family Nymphalidae). Sometimes, the subfamilies Limenitidinae, and Biblidinae are included here as subordinate tribe (biology), tribe(s), while the tribe Melitaeini is ...

; some authors elevate this tribe to subfamily rank. As delimited here, ''Melitaea'' includes the genus ''Mellicta'', making the

subtribe Subtribe is a taxonomic category ranking which is below the rank of tribe and above genus. The standard suffix for a subtribe is -ina (in animals) or -inae (in plants). The first use of this word dates back to the late 19th century. An example of ...

Melitaeina

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

(but see below). For long, it was believed that ''Mellicta'' was a

junior objective synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of ''Melitaea'', sharing the same

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

(the

Glanville fritillary The Glanville fritillary (''Melitaea cinxia'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is named for Eleanor Glanville, the naturalist who discovered it, and the checkerboard pattern on its wings. These butterflies live in almost all of Eur ...

, ''M. cinxia''). This was in error, however; the type species of ''Mellicta'' is actually the heath fritillary (''M. athalia''), making the two

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

junior subjective synonyms and thus eligible to be separated again. However, several other taxa are in fact objective synonyms (or at least have

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

s belonging to the same biological species) of ''Melitaea'' and ''Mellicta'' – ''Schoenis'' and the

preoccupied In biology, a homonym is a name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another such name, that belongs to a different taxon. The rule in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is that the first such name to be published is the s ...

''Lucina'' and ''Melinaea'' for the former, ''Athaliaeformia'' for the latter.

Taxonomy

As noted above, ''Mellicta'' is considered to be a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

of ''Melitaea'' for the time being. The rationale is that even though the Melitaeina may not be

, they do not seem to consist of just two genera (''Melitaea'' and ''Mellicta'') either, and recognition of ''Mellicta'' appears to leave ''Melitaea''

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

; consequently, other lineages would need elevation to distinct genus status also. As long as it is not fully known which species groups and/or subgenera warrant recognition as full genera, they are all retained in the present genus.

Species

In the following list, species-group/subgenus affiliation and

are annotated. In the ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' circumscription used here, ''Melitaea'' contains almost ninety

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

. Most being assignable to one of the five groups/subgenera, there are a few that cannot be clearly placed with one of these at present:See references in Haaramo (2010, 2011)

''didyma/Didymaeformia'' group * '' Melitaea abyssinica'' Oberthür, 1909 * '' Melitaea acraeina'' (Staudinger, 1886) * '' Melitaea agar'' Oberthür, 1888 * '' Melitaea ala'' Staudinger, 1881 * '' Melitaea alraschid'' Higgins, 1941 * '' Melitaea ambrisia'' Higgins, 1935 * '' Melitaea arduinna'' (Esper, 1783) – Freyer's fritillary * '' Melitaea athene'' Staudinger, 1881 * '' Melitaea avinovi'' Sheljuzhko, 1914 * '' Melitaea casta'' (Kollar,

848 __NOTOC__ Year 848 ( DCCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Bordeaux, capital of Aquitaine, falls into the hands of Viking raiders. King Charles the Bald sends a ...

* '' Melitaea chitralensis'' Moore, 1901 * '' Melitaea deserticola'' Oberthür, 1909 – desert fritillary * '' Melitaea didyma'' (Esper, 1778) – spotted fritillary, red-band fritillary (type of ''Didymaeformis'') * '' Melitaea didymina'' Staudinger, 1895 * '' Melitaea didymoides'' Eversmann, 1847 * '' Melitaea enarea'' Fruhstorfer, 1917 * '' Melitaea fergana'' Staudinger, 1882 * '' Melitaea infernalis'' Grum-Grshimailo, 1891 * '' Melitaea interrupta'' Kolenati, 1846 * '' Melitaea jitka'' Weiss & Major, 2000 * '' Melitaea kotshubeji'' Sheljuzhko, 1929 * '' Melitaea latonigena'' Eversmann, 1847 * '' Melitaea lunulata'' Staudinger, 1901 * '' Melitaea lutko'' Evans, 1932 * '' Melitaea meherparvari'' Carbonell, 2007 * '' Melitaea mimetica'' Higgins, 1940 * '' Melitaea mixta'' Evans, 1912 * '' Melitaea ninae'' Sheljuzhko, 1935 * '' Melitaea persea'' Kollar,

850 __NOTOC__ Year 850 ( DCCCL) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * February 1 – King Ramiro I dies in his palace at Santa María del Naranco (near Oviedo), after an 8-year reign ...

/small> * '' Melitaea pseudoala'' Sheljuzhko, 1928 * '' Melitaea robertsi'' Butler, 1880 – Baluchi fritillary * '' Melitaea romanovi'' Grum-Grshimailo, 1891 * '' Melitaea sarvistana'' Wiltshire, 1941 * '' Melitaea saxatilis'' Christoff, 1876 * '' Melitaea shandura'' Evans, 1924 * '' Melitaea sutschana'' Staudinger, 1892 * '' Melitaea trivia'' Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 – lesser spotted fritillary, desert fritillary * '' Melitaea yuenty'' Oberthür, 1888 ''cinxia/Melitaea

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

'' group * '' Melitaea amoenula'' C. & R.Felder, 867/small> * '' Melitaea arcesia'' Bremer, 1861 – blackvein fritillary * '' Melitaea balbita'' Moore, 1874 * '' Melitaea bellona'' Leech,

892 Year 892 (Roman numerals, DCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 892nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 892nd year of the 1st millennium, the 92nd year of the 9th century, a ...

/small> * '' Melitaea cinxia'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – Glanville fritillary (type of ''Melitaea'') * '' Melitaea diamina'' (Lang, 1789) – false-heath fritillary * '' Melitaea jezabel'' Oberthür, 1888 * '' Melitaea protomedia'' Ménétriés, 1859 * '' Melitaea sindura'' Moore, 1865 ''minerva'' group * '' Melitaea asteroidea'' Staudinger, 1881 * '' Melitaea balba'' Evans, 1912 * '' Melitaea elisabethae'' Avinoff, 1910 * '' Melitaea ludmilla'' Churkin, Kolesnichenko & Tuzov, 2000 * '' Melitaea minerva'' Staudinger, 1881 * '' Melitaea pallas'' Staudinger, 1886 * '' Melitaea solona'' Alphéraky, 1881 * '' Melitaea sultanensis'' Staudinger, 1886 * '' Melitaea turanica'' Erschoff, 1874 ''phoebe/Cinclidia'' group * '' Melitaea aetherie'' (Hübner, 1826) – aetherie fritillary * '' Melitaea collina'' Lederer, 1861 * '' Melitaea consulis'' Wiltshire, 1941 * '' Melitaea gina'' Higgins, 1941 * '' Melitaea kuchi'' Wyatt, 1961 * '' Melitaea phoebe'' Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 – knapweed fritillary (type of ''Cinclidia'') * '' Melitaea pseudosibina'' Alberti, 1969 * '' Melitaea punica'' Oberthür, 1876 * '' Melitaea scotosia'' Butler, 1878 * '' Melitaea sibina'' Alphéraky, 1881 * '' Melitaea telona'' Christoph, 1893 (formerly in ''M. phoebe'' or ''M. punica'') * '' Melitaea turkmanica'' Higgins, 1940

''Mellicta'' group Melitaea centralasiae - Seitz

* '' Melitaea alatauica'' Staudinger, 1881 * ''

Melitaea ambigua ''Melitaea'' is a genus of brush-footed butterflies (family Nymphalidae). They are here placed in the tribe Melitaeini of subfamily Nymphalinae; some authors elevate this tribe to subfamily rank. As delimited here, ''Melitaea'' includes the ge ...

'' Ménétriés in Schrenck, 1859 * '' Melitaea asteria'' (Freyer, 1828) – little fritillary * '' Melitaea athalia'' (Rottemburg, 1775) – heath fritillary (type of ''Mellicta'') * '' Melitaea aurelia'' Nickerl, 1850 – Nickerl's fritillary * '' Melitaea britomartis'' Assmann, 1847 – Assmann's fritillary * '' Melitaea caucasogenita'' Verity, 1930 * '' Melitaea centralasiae'' (Wnukowsky, 1929) (sometimes in ''M. menetriesi'') * '' Melitaea deione'' Geyer, 1832 – Provençal fritillary * '' Melitaea menetriesi'' Caradja, 1895 * '' Melitaea nevadensis'' Oberthür, 1904 * '' Melitaea parthenoides'' Keferstein, 1851 – European meadow fritillary, meadow fritillary * '' Melitaea plotina'' Bremer, 1861 * '' Melitaea rebeli'' Wnukowsky, 1929 * '' Melitaea varia'' (Meyer-Dür, 1851) – Grisons fritillary * '' Melitaea westsibirica'' (Dubatolov, 1998)

Incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

'' * '' Melitaea kunlunensis'' Kudrna & Mracek, 1994 * '' Melitaea oorschoti'' Eckweiler, 2008 * '' Melitaea paludani'' Clench & Shoumatoff, 1956 * ''

Melitaea tangigharuensis ''Melitaea'' is a genus of brush-footed butterflies (family Nymphalidae). They are here placed in the tribe Melitaeini of subfamily Nymphalinae; some authors elevate this tribe to subfamily rank. As delimited here, ''Melitaea'' includes the ge ...

'' de Freina, 1980 * '' Melitaea wiltshirei'' Higgins, 1941

Footnotes

References

Fauna Europaea Fauna Europaea is a database of the scientific names and distribution of all living multicellular European land and fresh-water animals. It serves as a standard taxonomic source for animal taxonomy within the Pan-European Species directories Infr ...

(FE) (2009)
''Melitaea''
Version 2.1, 22 December 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2011. * Pitkin, Brian & Jenkins, Paul (2004a)
Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species
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''Melitaea''
Version of 5 November 2004. Retrieved 9 February 2011. * Pitkin, Brian & Jenkins, Paul (2004b)
Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species
�
''Mellicta''
Version of 5 November 2004. Retrieved 9 February 2011. * Savela, Markku (2009): Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' �

Version of 17 August 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2011. * Savela, Markku (2010): Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' �

Version of 2 May 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2011. {{Authority control Melitaeini Butterfly genera Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius