Capys (butterfly)

Capys
Papilio alphaeus, figs E and F (bottom left and right), the type species of this genus; plate CLXXXII (182) from Cramer and Stoll Uitlandsche kapellen
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Capys
Hewitson, [1865]
Type species
Papilio alphaeus Cramer, 1777
Synonyms
  • Scoptes Hübner, 1819

Capys is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. The members (species) of this genus are found in the Afrotropic ecozone.

Conservation of the name

In 1819, Jacob Hübner published the generic name Scoptes, including 3 species but without designating a type.[1] The generic name was more or less forgotten afterwards.[2] In 1966, Norman Denbigh Riley, for practical reasons, selected Papilio alphaeus Cramer, 1777, as the type species of Scoptes, by which Scoptes became an objective synonym of Capys, and started a case to suppress the name Scoptes for purposes of priority.[2] In 1986, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature suppressed the name Scoptes (for the Principle of Priority not Principle of Homonymy) in order to conserve the name Capys Hewitson.[3]

Species

External links

Media related to Capys (butterfly) at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Capys at Wikispecies

References

  1. ↑ Hübner, J. (1819). Verzeichniss bekannter Schmettlinge: 111
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Riley, N.D. (1966). Scoptes Hübner [1819] v. Capys Hewitson 1864 (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), a case of a forgotten name. Z.N.(S.) 1748. Bulletin of zoological nomenclature 23(4): 165
  3. ↑ Tubbs, P.K. (1986). Opinion 1398, Capys Hewitson, [1865] (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae): conserved. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 43(2): 152