Insect Classification Exercise

There are certain "rules" to follow when you write a species name:

• The Genus must begin with a capital letter and be italicized;
• The species epithet is written in lowercase and also italicized
• You should always include the author's last name, which begins in uppercase and is NOT italicized. If the species name will be used many times in the same publication, it is acceptable to omit the author's name after the first full citation. You may also include the year of the description and page(s) in journal where published for completeness, but often this information is hard to locate.

As an example;

Calosoma scrutator (Fabricius) 1775: 239

If we refer to Calosoma scrutator by itself, it says nothing about the author, and thus does not refer to any particular species description. In this case the parentheses mean that Fabricius described scrutator in another genus (in this case the genus Carabus), but it was later moved to Calosoma. The date (1775) refers to date of of publication of psecies description, and 239 refers to page in a publication on which the description began. You will soon see how challenging it may be to find the author's name, date of publication, page, and journal citation for species descriptions. For the moment, use the following information to complete this exercise.

In order for a species name be recognized a description must have been properly published. Modern descriptions frequently include illustrations of the holotype specimen as well as drawings of morphological characters including genitalia. Older species descriptions were far less comprehensive. Here is an original description in its entirety. After you have looked at it, determine and write down a complete species citation from the information given below. Enter the citation in the text box, and submit it to me. This form will use email to send your answer. Be sure to copy your citation before sending it in case the submission fails. In that event, send the citation as message content in email to me.

"14. Leptogaster tenuipes nov. sp. . Badius, subopacus, vittis thoracis tribus confluentibus atris, abdomine apicem versus fusco, antennis nigris, pedibus gracilibus, dilutissime testaceis, femoribus tibiisque fusco lineatis, alis hyalinus, cellulâ sunmarginali secundâ pedunculo aequali, cellularum posteriorum secundâ valde elongatâ, quartâ pedunculata. - Long. corp. 4 2/3 lin., Long. al. 3 1/6 lin.

Facies alba, mystace concolore. Antennae nigrae, articulis duobus primis fuscis. Thorax ex rufo badius, polline albido subopacus, vittis tribus dorsalibus atris in maculam permagnam atram connatis. Abdomen ex fusco badium, apicem versus obscure fuscum. Pedes gracilies, dilutissime testacei, antico femorum tibiarumque latere fusco, primis tarsorum articulis in apice, sequentibus totis ex nigro fuscis; femora postica apicem versus paulo crassiora, tibiae posticae tenues. Alae hyalinae, venis ex nigro fuscis; cellula submarginalis secunda pedunculo aequalis; cellularum posticarum secunda valde elongata, quarta pedunculata; cellula analis apicem versus non angustata. -

Nota. Foeminam abdomine toto obscure fusco et triente basali alarum infuscato diversam. Leptogastri tenuipedis, cui in reliquis similima est, foeminam esse suspicor. (District Columbia; Osten - Sacken.)" p. 62.

Loew, H. 1862. Diptera Americae septentrionalis indigena - Descripsit. Centuria secunda. Berl. Ent. Ztschr. 6: 55-102.