Zygaena filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi Borkhausen, 1789.
Jan 20, 2017 13:26:29 GMT
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Zygaena filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi Borkhausen, 1789. Zygaeninae.
Dr Walter Tremewan (2014), wrote the following on the discovery of an example of Zygaena filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi in North Staffordshire, England, during 2012. "This is an extremely rare morph of Zygaena filipendulae (Linnaeus, 1758) and is known as chrysanthemi (Borkhausen, 1789); in fact, it is one of the rarest colour morphs to be found in Burnet moths and I would give anything to have found that specimen myself'! It is unlikely that you will ever see such a rare morph again. It is the sort of thing that one only sees once in a lifetime and then only if one is extremely lucky".
Tremewan, a leading specialist on the European Zygaena, states that in the females of ab. chrysanthemi "the greenish sheen is always stronger than that found in the male – of course, it also depends on the population".
The German naturalist, Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen (1760-1806) named a melanic Zygaena, Sphinx chrysanthemi in Naturgeschichte der Europäischen Schmetterlinge Vol 2, 1789, he had obtained the specimen from Schneider who took it at Stralsund several years in succession, flying among the typical Zygaena filipendulae (Tutt 1899). The collector of the Stralsund specimens may have been the German naturalist Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider (1750–1822).
Shortly after Borkhausen had described Sphinx chrysanthemi, Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper (1742-1910), figured a specimen in Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur, which had been given to him by Schneider (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Sphinx chrysanthemi figured by Esper, in Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur (1789). Plate XXXVII, Fig 1.
Zygaena filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi Borkhausen, 1789 in Britain.
In the British Isles, Z. filipendulae is represented by the subspecies stephensi Dupont, 1900 ; the commonest species of the genus Zygaena that is found throughout Britain, but in the North it is mainly found in coastal areas. The larvae foodplant of this day-flying moth is usually Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus).
Figure 2. A typical specimen of Z. filipendulae stephensi Dupont, 1900. Ireland.
Barrett (1895) recorded that a specimen of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi was in the collection of Mr Roberson from Liverpool that he had captured c1850. In the Entomologist's Record for 1899, James Tutt described a melanic aberration of Zygaena trifolii as ab. obscura. Sydney Webb (1891) recorded there was a specimen of Z. trifolii ab. obscura in the possession of Roberson and this may be the specimen that Barrett referred to as Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi.
During 1864, Edward Cooper visited two brothers named Leslie at St Leonard's-on-Sea in Sussex, when looking at their collection, he noticed a specimen of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi that was bred from a larva collected in the vicinity of that town.
Collecting in Wyre Forest near Bewdley in Worcestershire, in the July of 1881, J. E. Nowers recorded that he took " a remarkable variety" of Z. filipendulae. Nowers specimen of ab. chrysanthemi was acquired by Dr. Philip Brookes Mason ; later during the sale of the extensive collection of Mason at J.C. Stevens Auction Rooms in 1905, the specimen was purchased by Charles William Dale. (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. Bewdley, Wyre Forest. Ex J.E. & T. Nowers coll. Ex P.B. Mason coll. J. C. & C. W. Dale coll. OUMNH.
The population of Z. filipendulae occurring on the sand-dunes between Fleetwood and St Annes-on-Sea (Lytham St Annes) on the Lancashire coast in Northern England, produced a number of specimens of ab. chrysanthemi. Two specimens were reared from pupa during the spring of 1888 from larvae collected at Fleetwood ; the collector was the fortunate T. Baxter of St Annes-on-Sea, he kept one specimen and gave the other to Richard South, the editor of The Entomologist. In 1915, Baxter would have the good fortune to secure another specimen of ab. chrysanthemi at St Anne's-on-sea (Figure 4). A. Murray had taken a specimen in 1913 at the same locality (Figure 5).
Figure 4. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. Lancs Coast, St Annes-on-Sea. August 1915. T. Baxter. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
Figure 5. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. St Annes-on-Sea 1913, A. Murray. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
The Lancashire coast continued to produce specimens of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi ; during 1914, Baxter's friend W. Yates captured another specimen at Fleetwood (Figure 6) and took a second specimen in the same region a year later (Figure 7). Robert Adkin exhibited a specimen at the South London Entomological Society in November 1920, that he had bred from a larva collected on the Lancashire coast in 1918.
Figure 6. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. Fleetwood, August 1914, W. Yates. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
Figure 7. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. Labelled Fylde, the name of the Lancashire coastal plain, W. Yates, August 1915. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
On the 15 July 1890, Herbert Gross of Surrey was collecting in the New Forest near Rhinefield with a botanist friend George Bryant who was busy gathering the rare and beautiful Gladiolus illyricus, when he noticed crawling up a stem of grass a freshly emerged female of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi (Figure 8). Gross thought it remarkable that it was the only specimen of this species seen during his entire stay in the forest. This is perhaps one of the finest specimens in collections and the capture was recorded by Charles Barrett in volume two of The Lepidoptera of the British Islands, published in 1895.
Figure 8. Female specimen of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi, New Forest, 15 July 1890, H. Gross. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
At Hastings in Sussex on the South Coast of England, C.A. Bird of Hammersmith of London was spending a hot summers day in 1892, collecting in fields where Z. filipendulae was swarming ; among the multitude he boxed a melanic specimen. Bird reported his find in The Entomologist of that year and the journal's editor, Richard South, congratulated him on his capture of ab. chrysanthemi.
1892 seems to have been a very good year for Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi, two further specimens were exhibited at the Entomological Society exhibition, one taken by B.G. Rye at Lancing in Sussex and the other at Riddlesdown near Croydon in Surrey by Mr M. Holmes (Tutt, 1895). Charles Barrett (1895) figured the specimen taken by B.G. Rye in his The Lepidoptera of the British Islands, Vol 2 (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Plate 60 from Charles Golding Barrett's, Lepidoptera of the British Islands. Vol 2, Fig 1b. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi taken by B.G. Rye during 1892 at Lancing in Sussex.
Charles Bartlett.
Charles Bartlett's very fine and extensive collection of British Lepidoptera was given by his wife to the Bristol City Museum in 1945. Bartlett, a resident of the Bristol area, died in 1940, it is very fortunate that his collection did not arrive at the museum until after the Second World War. The original museum building and almost its entire collections were sadly destroyed by a bomb during an air raid in 1940. Bartlett himself a field collector, visited J. C. Stevens auctions rooms in London to buy a number of rare British aberrations and extinct species to enrich his collection. The Bristol collector seems to have had a great passion for Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi ; many of the specimens shown in the article are from his collection and they are perhaps, the single largest series of this rare aberration in any collection.
The Specimens of T.H.L. Grovesnor.
Between 1921 & 1923, T. H. L. Grovesnor, the Vice-president of the South London Entomological Society found a Zygaena population at an undisclosed location in Sussex, which produced a remarkable number of melanic aberrations. There seems to have been some confusion regarding the determination of his specimens. A specimen placed among Bartlett's series of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi collected by T.H.L. Grovesnor may be referable to Z. trifolii ab. obscura, Tutt (Figure 10).
Figure 10. A specimen in the C. Bartlett collection among a series of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi, perhaps referable to Z. trifolii ab. obscura Tutt. Captured by T. H. L. Grosvenor on the 3 August 1920 in Sussex. BCM coll.
There are two melanic specimens of Zygaena captured in Sussex by T. H. L. Grosvenor in the entomology collections at the OUMNH. One specimen has been placed among the series of Z. trifolii with a large question mark beneath the specimen (Figure 11). The other Grosvenor specimen, a female has been placed among the series of Z. filipendulae and as therefore would be ab chrysanthemi Borkhausen (Figure 12). At the South London Entomological Society meeting on September 8th 1921, T. H. L. Grosvenor exhibited five specimens of Z. trifolii ab. obscura from the Sussex locality.
Figure 11. A specimen determined as Z. trifolii ab. obscura Tutt. Captured by T. H. L. Grosvenor 25 June 1921, Sussex. OUMNH collections.
Figure 12. A specimen placed in the series Z. filipendulae at OUMNH. Captured by T. H. L. Grosvenor on the 19 June 1921, Sussex.
At the November 1921 exhibition at the Royal Entomological Society of London, G.T. Bethune-Baker exhibited a series of specimens of Z. filipendulae ab.chrysanthemi, which he had obtained near Birmingham. In the collection of C.S.H. Blathwayt housed in the Bristol City Museum, there is a specimen of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi taken at Street in Somerset. (Figure 13). This article is not an exhaustive account of all the British specimens of this rare aberration ; there are no doubt specimens in the British Museum and elsewhere.
Figure 13. Z. filipendulae ab.chrysanthemi taken at Street in Somerset by C.S.H. Blathwayt, 16. July 1934.
Today, Zygaena filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi and Z. trifolii ab. obscura are very rarely encountered in Britain, and the sighting of these rare aberrations is quite an entomological event. Historically, the populations of Z. filipendulae on the Lancashire and Sussex coasts have produced the highest number of ab. chrysanthemi specimens. The female of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi, found and photographed feeding with typical adults in North Staffordshire during 2012, can be seen at this link.
www.flickr.com/photos/jeanniedee/15853730762
Acknowledgments. James Hogan of the Entomology Department, OUMNH and Rhian Rowson at the Bristol City Museum for permission to access and photograph specimens.
References.
Adkin R. (1920) Proceedings of the South London Entomological & Natural History Society. Exhibit of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. p. 84.
Barrett. C. G. (1895) The Lepidoptera of the British Islands. Vol 2.
Baxter T. (1890) Black var of Zygaena filipendulae. The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation. Vol 1, p 240.
Bethune-Baker (1922) Transactions of the Entomological Society of London. p.38.
Bird C.A. (1892) Zygaena filipendulae var chrysanthemi. Entomologist. Vol 25, p. 194.
Borkhausen B.M. (1789) Naturgeschichte der Europäischen Schmetterlinge. Vol 2, p. 166.
Cooper E. (1864) Variation of Zygaena filipendulae. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. Vol, 1 p. 148.
Esper E. J. C. (1789) Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen.
Gross H. (1890) Melanic Variety of Zygaena filipendulae. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. Vol 26, p. 247.
Grosvenor T. H. L. (1921) Proceedings of the South London Entomological & Natural History. p.52.
Nowers J.E. (1882) Zygaena filipendulae Variety. Entomologist. Vol 15, p 39.
Tutt J.W. (1899) A Natural History of the British Lepidoptera : a text-book for students and collectors. Vol 1.
Walker J.J. (1907) Some Notes on the Lepidoptera of the Dale Collection of British Insects, now in the Oxford University Museum. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. Vol 43, p 155.
Webb S. (1891) Notes on Collecting. The Entomological Record and Journal of Variation. Vol 1, p. 331.
Dr Walter Tremewan (2014), wrote the following on the discovery of an example of Zygaena filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi in North Staffordshire, England, during 2012. "This is an extremely rare morph of Zygaena filipendulae (Linnaeus, 1758) and is known as chrysanthemi (Borkhausen, 1789); in fact, it is one of the rarest colour morphs to be found in Burnet moths and I would give anything to have found that specimen myself'! It is unlikely that you will ever see such a rare morph again. It is the sort of thing that one only sees once in a lifetime and then only if one is extremely lucky".
Tremewan, a leading specialist on the European Zygaena, states that in the females of ab. chrysanthemi "the greenish sheen is always stronger than that found in the male – of course, it also depends on the population".
The German naturalist, Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen (1760-1806) named a melanic Zygaena, Sphinx chrysanthemi in Naturgeschichte der Europäischen Schmetterlinge Vol 2, 1789, he had obtained the specimen from Schneider who took it at Stralsund several years in succession, flying among the typical Zygaena filipendulae (Tutt 1899). The collector of the Stralsund specimens may have been the German naturalist Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider (1750–1822).
Shortly after Borkhausen had described Sphinx chrysanthemi, Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper (1742-1910), figured a specimen in Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur, which had been given to him by Schneider (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Sphinx chrysanthemi figured by Esper, in Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur (1789). Plate XXXVII, Fig 1.
Zygaena filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi Borkhausen, 1789 in Britain.
In the British Isles, Z. filipendulae is represented by the subspecies stephensi Dupont, 1900 ; the commonest species of the genus Zygaena that is found throughout Britain, but in the North it is mainly found in coastal areas. The larvae foodplant of this day-flying moth is usually Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus).
Figure 2. A typical specimen of Z. filipendulae stephensi Dupont, 1900. Ireland.
Barrett (1895) recorded that a specimen of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi was in the collection of Mr Roberson from Liverpool that he had captured c1850. In the Entomologist's Record for 1899, James Tutt described a melanic aberration of Zygaena trifolii as ab. obscura. Sydney Webb (1891) recorded there was a specimen of Z. trifolii ab. obscura in the possession of Roberson and this may be the specimen that Barrett referred to as Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi.
During 1864, Edward Cooper visited two brothers named Leslie at St Leonard's-on-Sea in Sussex, when looking at their collection, he noticed a specimen of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi that was bred from a larva collected in the vicinity of that town.
Collecting in Wyre Forest near Bewdley in Worcestershire, in the July of 1881, J. E. Nowers recorded that he took " a remarkable variety" of Z. filipendulae. Nowers specimen of ab. chrysanthemi was acquired by Dr. Philip Brookes Mason ; later during the sale of the extensive collection of Mason at J.C. Stevens Auction Rooms in 1905, the specimen was purchased by Charles William Dale. (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. Bewdley, Wyre Forest. Ex J.E. & T. Nowers coll. Ex P.B. Mason coll. J. C. & C. W. Dale coll. OUMNH.
The population of Z. filipendulae occurring on the sand-dunes between Fleetwood and St Annes-on-Sea (Lytham St Annes) on the Lancashire coast in Northern England, produced a number of specimens of ab. chrysanthemi. Two specimens were reared from pupa during the spring of 1888 from larvae collected at Fleetwood ; the collector was the fortunate T. Baxter of St Annes-on-Sea, he kept one specimen and gave the other to Richard South, the editor of The Entomologist. In 1915, Baxter would have the good fortune to secure another specimen of ab. chrysanthemi at St Anne's-on-sea (Figure 4). A. Murray had taken a specimen in 1913 at the same locality (Figure 5).
Figure 4. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. Lancs Coast, St Annes-on-Sea. August 1915. T. Baxter. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
Figure 5. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. St Annes-on-Sea 1913, A. Murray. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
The Lancashire coast continued to produce specimens of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi ; during 1914, Baxter's friend W. Yates captured another specimen at Fleetwood (Figure 6) and took a second specimen in the same region a year later (Figure 7). Robert Adkin exhibited a specimen at the South London Entomological Society in November 1920, that he had bred from a larva collected on the Lancashire coast in 1918.
Figure 6. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. Fleetwood, August 1914, W. Yates. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
Figure 7. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. Labelled Fylde, the name of the Lancashire coastal plain, W. Yates, August 1915. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
On the 15 July 1890, Herbert Gross of Surrey was collecting in the New Forest near Rhinefield with a botanist friend George Bryant who was busy gathering the rare and beautiful Gladiolus illyricus, when he noticed crawling up a stem of grass a freshly emerged female of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi (Figure 8). Gross thought it remarkable that it was the only specimen of this species seen during his entire stay in the forest. This is perhaps one of the finest specimens in collections and the capture was recorded by Charles Barrett in volume two of The Lepidoptera of the British Islands, published in 1895.
Figure 8. Female specimen of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi, New Forest, 15 July 1890, H. Gross. C. Bartlett coll. BCM collection.
At Hastings in Sussex on the South Coast of England, C.A. Bird of Hammersmith of London was spending a hot summers day in 1892, collecting in fields where Z. filipendulae was swarming ; among the multitude he boxed a melanic specimen. Bird reported his find in The Entomologist of that year and the journal's editor, Richard South, congratulated him on his capture of ab. chrysanthemi.
1892 seems to have been a very good year for Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi, two further specimens were exhibited at the Entomological Society exhibition, one taken by B.G. Rye at Lancing in Sussex and the other at Riddlesdown near Croydon in Surrey by Mr M. Holmes (Tutt, 1895). Charles Barrett (1895) figured the specimen taken by B.G. Rye in his The Lepidoptera of the British Islands, Vol 2 (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Plate 60 from Charles Golding Barrett's, Lepidoptera of the British Islands. Vol 2, Fig 1b. Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi taken by B.G. Rye during 1892 at Lancing in Sussex.
Charles Bartlett.
Charles Bartlett's very fine and extensive collection of British Lepidoptera was given by his wife to the Bristol City Museum in 1945. Bartlett, a resident of the Bristol area, died in 1940, it is very fortunate that his collection did not arrive at the museum until after the Second World War. The original museum building and almost its entire collections were sadly destroyed by a bomb during an air raid in 1940. Bartlett himself a field collector, visited J. C. Stevens auctions rooms in London to buy a number of rare British aberrations and extinct species to enrich his collection. The Bristol collector seems to have had a great passion for Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi ; many of the specimens shown in the article are from his collection and they are perhaps, the single largest series of this rare aberration in any collection.
The Specimens of T.H.L. Grovesnor.
Between 1921 & 1923, T. H. L. Grovesnor, the Vice-president of the South London Entomological Society found a Zygaena population at an undisclosed location in Sussex, which produced a remarkable number of melanic aberrations. There seems to have been some confusion regarding the determination of his specimens. A specimen placed among Bartlett's series of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi collected by T.H.L. Grovesnor may be referable to Z. trifolii ab. obscura, Tutt (Figure 10).
Figure 10. A specimen in the C. Bartlett collection among a series of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi, perhaps referable to Z. trifolii ab. obscura Tutt. Captured by T. H. L. Grosvenor on the 3 August 1920 in Sussex. BCM coll.
There are two melanic specimens of Zygaena captured in Sussex by T. H. L. Grosvenor in the entomology collections at the OUMNH. One specimen has been placed among the series of Z. trifolii with a large question mark beneath the specimen (Figure 11). The other Grosvenor specimen, a female has been placed among the series of Z. filipendulae and as therefore would be ab chrysanthemi Borkhausen (Figure 12). At the South London Entomological Society meeting on September 8th 1921, T. H. L. Grosvenor exhibited five specimens of Z. trifolii ab. obscura from the Sussex locality.
Figure 11. A specimen determined as Z. trifolii ab. obscura Tutt. Captured by T. H. L. Grosvenor 25 June 1921, Sussex. OUMNH collections.
Figure 12. A specimen placed in the series Z. filipendulae at OUMNH. Captured by T. H. L. Grosvenor on the 19 June 1921, Sussex.
At the November 1921 exhibition at the Royal Entomological Society of London, G.T. Bethune-Baker exhibited a series of specimens of Z. filipendulae ab.chrysanthemi, which he had obtained near Birmingham. In the collection of C.S.H. Blathwayt housed in the Bristol City Museum, there is a specimen of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi taken at Street in Somerset. (Figure 13). This article is not an exhaustive account of all the British specimens of this rare aberration ; there are no doubt specimens in the British Museum and elsewhere.
Figure 13. Z. filipendulae ab.chrysanthemi taken at Street in Somerset by C.S.H. Blathwayt, 16. July 1934.
Today, Zygaena filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi and Z. trifolii ab. obscura are very rarely encountered in Britain, and the sighting of these rare aberrations is quite an entomological event. Historically, the populations of Z. filipendulae on the Lancashire and Sussex coasts have produced the highest number of ab. chrysanthemi specimens. The female of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi, found and photographed feeding with typical adults in North Staffordshire during 2012, can be seen at this link.
www.flickr.com/photos/jeanniedee/15853730762
Acknowledgments. James Hogan of the Entomology Department, OUMNH and Rhian Rowson at the Bristol City Museum for permission to access and photograph specimens.
References.
Adkin R. (1920) Proceedings of the South London Entomological & Natural History Society. Exhibit of Z. filipendulae ab. chrysanthemi. p. 84.
Barrett. C. G. (1895) The Lepidoptera of the British Islands. Vol 2.
Baxter T. (1890) Black var of Zygaena filipendulae. The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation. Vol 1, p 240.
Bethune-Baker (1922) Transactions of the Entomological Society of London. p.38.
Bird C.A. (1892) Zygaena filipendulae var chrysanthemi. Entomologist. Vol 25, p. 194.
Borkhausen B.M. (1789) Naturgeschichte der Europäischen Schmetterlinge. Vol 2, p. 166.
Cooper E. (1864) Variation of Zygaena filipendulae. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. Vol, 1 p. 148.
Esper E. J. C. (1789) Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen.
Gross H. (1890) Melanic Variety of Zygaena filipendulae. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. Vol 26, p. 247.
Grosvenor T. H. L. (1921) Proceedings of the South London Entomological & Natural History. p.52.
Nowers J.E. (1882) Zygaena filipendulae Variety. Entomologist. Vol 15, p 39.
Tutt J.W. (1899) A Natural History of the British Lepidoptera : a text-book for students and collectors. Vol 1.
Walker J.J. (1907) Some Notes on the Lepidoptera of the Dale Collection of British Insects, now in the Oxford University Museum. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. Vol 43, p 155.
Webb S. (1891) Notes on Collecting. The Entomological Record and Journal of Variation. Vol 1, p. 331.
