WILLIAM D. FIE Butterflies of the Genus Vanessa and of • the Resurrected Genera . Bassaris and Cynthia , (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ZOOLOGY NUMBER 84 SERIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION The emphasis upon publications as a means of diffusing knowledge was expressed by the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. In his formal plan for the Insti- tution, Joseph Henry articulated a program that included the following statement: "It is proposed to publish a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of knowledge." This keynote of basic research has been adhered to over the years in the issuance of thousands of titles in serial publications under the Smithsonian imprint, com- mencing with Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge in 1848 and continuing with the following active series: Smithsonian Annals of Flight Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics Smithsonian Contributions to Botany Smithsonian Contributions to the Earth Sciences Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology In these series, the Institution publishes original articles and monographs dealing with the research and collections of its several museums and offices and of professional colleagues at other institutions of learning. These papers report newly acquired facts, synoptic interpretations of data, or original theory in specialized fields. These pub- lications are distributed by mailing lists to libraries, laboratories, and other interested institutions and specialists throughout the world. Individual copies may be obtained from the Smithsonian Institution Press as long as stocks are available. S. DILLON RIPLEY Secretary Smithsonian Institution SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ZOOLOGY NUMBER 84 William D. Field Butterflies of the Genus Vanessa and of the Resurrected Genera Bassaris and Cynthia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS CITY OF WASHINGTON 1971 ABSTRACT Field, William D. Butterflies of the Genus Vanessa and of the Resurrected Gen- era Bassaris and Cynthia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Smithsonian Contribu- tions to Zoology, number 84, 105 pages, 1971.—The genus Cynthia with nine species (including C. annabella, new species) and the genus Bassaris with two species are recognized as separate from the genus Vanessa, with five species re- maining. All taxa are keyed and redefined with characters, including the male and female genitalia, tarsi, and wing habitus. Knowledge of the distribution and biology of most species is extensive and is given herein (for distribution) or cited (known food plants are listed and references to the literature of the biology are given). Unusual modified setae on the ovipositors are described for five Cynthia species. Official publication date is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1971 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $1.50 (paper cover) William D. Field Butterflies of the Genus Vanessa and of the Resurrected Genera Bassaris and Cynthia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) Introduction The eggs of all species have not been described, but from those that have been we can say that they In this paper the genera Cynthia and Bassaris are are barrel shaped, broad at the base, short, and resurrected and removed from the genus Vanessa ovate with prominent laminate ribs that increase and all three genera are redefined on the basis of in height to the summit, where they end abruptly. characters in male and female genitalia, tarsi, and In Cynthia eggs, there are from fourteen to nineteen habitus. of these ribs, in Bassaris there are eight (B. itea) These butterflies collectively are found nearly all or nine (B. gonerilla), and in Vanessa there are over the world. The genus Vanessa contains five nine. species and is mainly, and was perhaps originally, The eggs are laid singly on the underside of the an Old World genus. One Vanessa species is, how- leaves of the food plant in Bassaris and usually on ever, Holarctic; another is distributed over a great the upper side of the leaves in Vanessa and Cynthia. part of Asia and even occurs in southeast Europe, In four species of Cynthia (C. virginiensis, C. Madeira, and the Canary Islands; and the three altissima, C. braziliensis, and C. myrinna) the ovi- remaining species are found in limited island areas positors contain a number of greatly modified, of the Old World. The genus Cynthia contains nine cephalically directed, teethlike setae (Figures 26- species and is mainly New World except for one 30). These modified setae (shown enlarged in Fig- nearly cosmopolitan species and for one which ure 26a) may be an aid in stabilizing or anchoring occurs in Australia. The genus Bassaris, on the the ovipositor as it is worked carefully through the other hand, is confined to Australia and New thickly matted hairs on the surface of the leaf of Zealand and a few islands in the southern Pacific the host plant prior to the laying of the egg under region. this carpet of hairs. Scudder (1889, p. 464) describes There is a considerable amount of available in- this peculiarity of egg laying for C. virginiensis, but formation concerning the immature stages and the apparently was not aware of structures that could life histories of the genera treated in this paper. aid in this careful procedure. No such attempt at egg concealment has been William D. Field, Department of Entomology, National Mu- seum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washing- described for species of Vanessa or Bassaris, nor for ton, D.C. 20560. other Cynthia species; I would, however, expect C. 1 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ZOOLOGY altissima, C. braziliensis, and C. myrinna to act "names" crossing subspecific and specific lines be similarly to C. virginiensis. used in the genus Parnassius. This would mean The ovipositor setae of Cynthia kershawi (Figure that each species and subspecies of Parnassius could 25) are slightly modified in having their apical receive sixty-six of these "names." Brown goes on portions bent at nearly right angles and with these to say that these "names are purely descriptive and bent portions cephalically directed. The purpose of when used do not take an author's name. They this modification is not known, and nothing pecu- have no nomenclatorial status." If students of vari- liar about its egg laying has been reported. ation wish to adopt such a system, I certainly have The caterpillars of Bassaris and Vanessa species no objection as long as its users realize that they feed almost exclusively upon the Urticaceae, while are really using names as terms to help write about those of Cynthia prefer the Compositae and Mal- variation within the various species and subspecies. vaceae. In the genera Vanessa, Bassaris, and Cynthia, as As far as is known, the caterpillars of all three well as in almost all other Rhopalocera, no such genera are solitary, living usually in vertical nests system has ever been proposed or used, and so we made of leaves tied together with silken strands. In are confronted with the problem of what to do Vanessa and one species of Bassaris (B. itea) the about the numerous names given to individual vari- nests are made of a single leaf, and feeding takes ations. Fortunately aberrational and other infra- place in this nest until the leaf is completely de- subspecific names were removed from our formal voured. In Cynthia and the other species of Bassaris nomenclature by the International Code of Zoo- (B. gonerilla), the caterpillars construct nests com- logical Nomenclature Adopted by the XV Interna- posed of several leaves and in Cynthia at least they tional Congress of Zoology. Article 1 of the Code feed only on the upper surface of these leaves. states that "This Code is concerned with such The most troublesome taxonomic problem that names" (i.e., scientific names) "in the family-, a worker faces in revisionary work on many popular genus-, and species-groups" and that "names given groups of butterflies is the question of how to deal to ... infrasubspecific forms as such . are ex- with the vast horde of infrasubspecific names. cluded" from zoological nomenclature. Article 5 Because this was a major problem in the present states that "the name of a species consists of two study, I wish to discuss it further in order to explain words (binomen) and that of a subspecies of three the various decisions which were adopted. words (trinomen); in each case the first word is Over the past fifty years there has been a con- the generic name, the second word is the specific siderable amount of controversy among taxonomists, name, and the third word, when applicable, is the particularly lepidopterists, as to the value of giving subspecific name." Article 45 (a) states that "the names to various types of taxons below the rank of species-group for the purposes of this Code, includes subspecies. Thousands of such names have been the categories species and subspecies." given to "aberrations," "seasonal forms," "color It could hardly be stated more clearly than it is forms," "sexual forms," and the like. For example, stated in the Code, but to emphasize this point, forty-seven names have been proposed for forms and the Code recognizes names for categories only down aberrations of Vanessa atalanta, and Cynthia cardui to and including the subspecies and since subspecies has received nearly the same number of such names. names are necessarily in the form of trinomials, all The record for this kind of name proposing is quadrinomials are excluded as well as all infrasub- probably held by Lysandra coridon (Poda) (Lyca- specific names. Names proposed for "sub-subspecies" enidae), which has received some seven hundred or "forms" of subspecies are not recognized.