Capys (butterfly)

Capys
Figures E and F, Papilio alphaeus, the type species of this genus, from Cramer and Stoll's De Uitlandsche Kapellen
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Tribe:	Deudorigini
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 species of this genus are found in the Afrotropical realm.

Conservation of the name

In 1819, Jacob Hübner published the generic name Scoptes, including three 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

• Capys alpheus (Cramer, [1777])
• Capys bamendanus Schultze, 1909
• Capys bamptoni Henning & Henning, 1988
• Capys brunneus Aurivillius, 1916
• Capys calpurnia Henning & Henning, 1988
• Capys catharus Riley, 1932
• Capys collinsi Henning & Henning, 1988
• Capys connexivus Butler, 1897 (but see protonym connexiva)
• Capys cupreus Henning & Henning, 1988
• Capys disjunctus Trimen, 1895
• Capys hermes Henning & Henning, 1988
• Capys juliae Henning & Henning, 1988
• Capys meruensis Henning & Henning, 1988
• Capys penningtoni Riley, 1932
• Capys stuarti Collins & Larsen, 2000
• Capys usambarae Congdon & Collins, 1998
• Capys vorgasi Larsen & Collins, 2003

References

1. Hübner, J. (1819). Verzeichniss bekannter Schmettlinge: 111
2. 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

External links

• Media related to Capys at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Capys at Wikispecies
• "Capys Hewitson, 1865" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms