''Melitaea'' is a genus of brush-footed butterflies (family (biology), family Nymphalidae). They are here placed in the tribe (biology), tribe Melitaeini of subfamily Nymphalinae; some authors elevate this tribe to subfamily rank. As delimited here, ''Melitaea'' includes the genus ''Mellicta'', making the subtribe Melitaeina monotypic (but see below). For long, it was believed that ''Mellicta'' was a junior objective synonym of ''Melitaea'', sharing the same type species (the Glanville fritillary, ''M. cinxia''). This was in error, however; the type species of ''Mellicta'' is actually the heath fritillary (''M. athalia''), making the two taxa junior subjective synonyms and thus eligible to be separated again. However, several other taxa are in fact objective synonyms (or at least have type specimens belonging to the same biological species) of ''Melitaea'' and ''Mellicta'' – ''Schoenis'' and the junior homonym, preoccupied ''Lucina'' and ''Melinaea'' for the former, ''Athaliaeformia'' for the latter.

Taxonomy

As noted above, ''Mellicta'' is considered to be a subgenus of ''Melitaea'' for the time being. The rationale is that even though the Melitaeina may not be monotypic, they do not seem to consist of just two genera (''Melitaea'' and ''Mellicta'') either, and recognition of ''Mellicta'' appears to leave ''Melitaea'' paraphyletic; 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 type species are annotated. In the ''sensu lato'' circumscription used here, ''Melitaea'' contains almost ninety species. 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'' Lionel George Higgins, Higgins, 1941 * ''Melitaea ambrisia'' Higgins, 1935 * ''Melitaea arduinna'' (Esper, 1783) – Freyer's fritillary * ''Melitaea athene'' Staudinger, 1881 * ''Melitaea avinovi'' Sheljuzhko, 1914 * ''Melitaea casta'' (Kollar, [1848]) * ''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, [1850] * ''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'' group * ''Melitaea amoenula'' C. & R.Felder, [1867] * ''Melitaea arcesia'' Bremer, 1861 – blackvein fritillary * ''Melitaea balbita'' Moore, 1874 * ''Melitaea bellona'' Leech, [1892] * ''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'' 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'' * ''Melitaea kunlunensis'' Kudrna & Mracek, 1994 * ''Melitaea oorschoti'' Eckweiler, 2008 * ''Melitaea paludani'' Clench & Shoumatoff, 1956 * ''Melitaea tangigharuensis'' de Freina, 1980 * ''Melitaea wiltshirei'' Higgins, 1941

Footnotes

References

* Fauna Europaea (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
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''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 Melitaea, Melitaeini Butterfly genera Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius