The original name for the genus, Fidia, is taken from mythology.[7] The replacement name, Neofidia, refers to the fact it is a new name for Fidia Baly, 1863, as well as the distribution of the genus in the Nearctic and Neotropical realms.[1]
Taxonomic history
The name "Fidia" was first used in 1836 by the French entomologist Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean in his Catalogue des Coléoptères, listing two species from the New World, F. lurida and F. murina. Because no description or indication was given for either species, they are considered nomina nuda. Likewise, Fidia Dejean is also considered a nomen nudum.[2]
In 1861, Victor Motschulsky described a new species of beetle from Japan with the name Fidia atra. Motschulsky's species description, in combination with the generic name Fidia, constitutes an indication for the latter, thereby making the name Fidia available.[2]
In 1863, Joseph Sugar Baly provided a description of Dejean's Fidia and Fidia lurida, making both names available (and making Fidia Baly, 1863 a junior homonym of Fidia Motschulsky, 1861). In the same work, Baly also established the Old World genera Lypesthes, with Motschulsky's Fidia atra as the type species, and Leprotes, which was later treated as a junior synonym of Lypesthes. Following Baly's work, the name Lypesthes was consistently used for the Old World genus group based on Fidia atra, while Fidia was consistently used for the New World genus group based on Fidia lurida.[2][1]
An application to suppress Fidia Motschulsky, 1861 (with the year incorrectly given as "1860") and conserve usage of Fidia Baly, 1863 and Lypesthes Baly, 1863 was submitted to the ICZN in 2006. This proposal was rejected by the commission in 2009, upholding the priority of Fidia Motschulsky, 1861.[8] Following this ruling, Fidia Baly, 1863 was renamed to Neofidia in 2020.[1]
Species
There are 24 species currently recognised in the genus Neofidia:[2][1]
^"Fidia Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
^"Fidia Overview". Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
^Duponchel, P.A.J. (1844). "Fidia". In d'Orbigny, C. (ed.). Dictionnaire Universel d'Histoire Naturelle. Vol. 5. Paris: MM. Renard, Martinet et Cie. p. 625.
^Jacoby, M. (1890). "Eumolpidae". Insecta. Coleoptera, Supplement to Phytophaga. Biologia Centrali-Americana. Vol. 6. Published for the editors by R. H. Porter]. pp. 183–241.
Arnett, R. H. Jr.; Thomas, M. C.; Skelley, P. E.; Frank, J. H., eds. (21 June 2002). American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, Florida.
Arnett, Ross H. (2000). American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico. CRC Press.
White, Richard E. (1983). Peterson Field Guides: Beetles. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Riley, Edward G.; Clark, Shawn M.; Gilbert, Arthur J. (2001). "New records, nomenclatural changes, and taxonomic notes for select North American leaf beetles". Insecta Mundi. 15 (1): 1–17.