Home > Phylum selection > Arthropoda > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
Home How to cite this site Terms & conditions Disclaimer Contact Site tutorial / Help Links	Quercusia quercus Purple hairstreak Blauer Eichenzipfelfalter Subspecies Original description Synonyms Papilio quercus Linnaeus, 1758 Quercusia quercus (Linnaeus, 1758) Neozephyrus quercus (Linnaeus, 1758) Favonius quercus (Linnaeus, 1758) Thecla quercus (Linnaeus, 1758) Zephyrus quercus (Linnaeus, 1758) Zephyrius quercus (Linnaeus, 1758) Note: this species has a long and chaotic history of nomenclatural instability. It has been placed for a long time in the genus Zephyrus, but this is a objective synonym of Thecla. Verity has placed it in its own monotypic genus Quercusia. However, several authors have recognized the close relationship between Quercusia and several Asian hairstreak genera like Neozephyrus, Chrysozephyrus and Favonius. It is still placed in Neozephyrus or Favonius by most current authors. However, there is no recent phylogenetic analysis to support these assignments. So far, generic assignments and synonymies are solely based on subjective superficial similarities between the species. By contrast, the most recent phylogenetic analysis of this group of hairstreaks (Theclini) based on morphological characters (Hsu 1994) shows that a lumping of only Quercusia and Favonius creates a paraphyletic group. Only the lumping of Quercusia, Favonius, Sibataniozephyrus, Austrozephyrus, Neozephyrus, Chrysozephyrus and Thermozephyrus under the oldest names Favonius or Neozephyrus (both published in 1942) would create a monophyletic group. Most authors however agree that these genera are separate, thus a lumping is not supported. Therefore, taking all available phylogenetic information into account, Quercusia must be retained as a monotypic genus name for the present species to preserve the monophyly of all involved taxa. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis is urgently required to resolve the relationships of the many doubtful genera of the Theclini. Identification Distribution Biology This page has been updated on June 24, 2012 This site is online since May 31, 2005 Copyright © by Nikola-Michael Prpic. All rights reserved.	Related information: Subspecies Original description Synonyms Identification Distribution Biology References