Centuria Insectorum

Centuria Insectorum is a 1763 taxonomic work by Carl Linnaeus, and defended as a thesis by Boas Johansson; which of the two men should for taxonomic purposes be credited with its authorship has been the subject of some controversy. It includes descriptions of 102 new insect and crustacean species that had been sent to Linnaeus from British America, Suriname, Java and other locations. Most of the new names included in Centuria Insectorum are still in use, although a few have been sunk into synonymy, and one was the result of a hoax: a common brimstone butterfly with spots painted on was described as the new "species" Papilio ecclipsis.

Publications

The contents of the work were published twice, under two slightly different titles. Centuria Insectorum Rariorum was published as a standalone thesis, while Centuria Insectorum was published as part of Linnaeus' series of Amoenitates Academicæ. Both bear the date June 23, 1763, although the latter was printed later, in September 1763.

Authorship

Since Centuria Insectorum Rariorum was a thesis presented and defended by one of Linnaeus' students, Boas Johansson from Kalmar, it has been argued that authorship of the taxa named in it should be assigned to Johansson. The authorship, however, has been the subject of some controversy.
Several lines of argument have been used to suggest that Linnaeus should be considered the author. The role of the person defending the thesis at Swedish universities at the time was to prove his command of Latin, and responsibility for the text of the thesis rested mainly, if not entirely, with the professor. Linnaeus appeared to consider himself the author, referring in his later works to Amoenitates Academicæ without including an abbreviation for the author, as he did for works written by other people. Works presented by students of other taxonomists of the era are generally credited to their supervisors, and not the students themselves. Finally, most zoologists, and "Scandinavian authorities on Linnaeana" consider Linnaeus the author; in the interests of nomenclatural stability, it is preferable to continue doing so. The issue was raised in a petition to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and, although a large majority voted in favour of recognising Linnaeus as the author, the one dissenting vote caused the commission to defer its decision.

The dissertation begins by discussing improvements that the Linnaean system of taxonomy has brought to the study of insects, before describing the new species.

Brimstone hoax

One of the species described in Centuria Insectorum was "Papilio ecclipsis". This was based on a specimen sent by William Charlton to James Petiver in 1702, who wrote: "It exactly resembles our English Brimstone Butterfly, were it not for those black spots and apparent blue moons on the lower wings. This is the only one I have seen." Carl Linnaeus examined the butterfly, and named it Papilio ecclipsis in Centuria Insectorum Rariorum, including it in his Systema Naturae from the 12th edition onwards. It was not until 1793 that the hoax was discovered by Johan Christian Fabricius, who recognised that the dark patches had been painted on, and that the specimen was a common brimstone butterfly. Although the curator at the British Museum "indignantly stamped the specimen to pieces" when he found out, William Jones created two replicas to replace the lost specimen.

Species

The 102 species described in Centuria Insectorum were divided into seven sections, broadly corresponding with modern insect orders. Exceptions are that thrips, mantises and Orthoptera were included in the Hemiptera, dragonflies were included in the Neuroptera, and the section called "Aptera" contains crustaceans rather than insects in the modern sense. Most of the names introduced in Centuria Insectorum are still in use, albeit in different genera; in a few cases, it is not clear what animal the name refers to.

Coleoptera

No.	Name in Centuria...	Status	Current name
1	SCARABÆUS Tityus	valid	Dynastes tityus
2	SCARABÆUS Molosſus	valid	Catharsius molossus
3	SCARABÆUS ſurinamus	synonym	Rutela lineola
4	SCARABÆUS capreolus	valid	Lucanus capreolus
5	DERMESTES Gleditſiæ	valid	Caryobruchus gleditsiae
6	DERMESTES bactris	valid	Pachymerus bactris
7	CASSIDA ſpinifex	valid	Acromis spinifex
8	CASSIDA bipuſtulata	junior synonym	Stolas discoides
9	CASSIDA bicornis	valid	Omocerus bicornis
10	CASSIDA leucophæa
11	COCCINELLA ſangvinea	valid	Cycloneda sanguinea
12	COCCINELLA ſurinamenſis	junior synonym	Aegithus clavicornis
13	CHRYSOMELA gibboſa	valid	Gibbifer gibbosus
14	CHRYSOMELA undulata	valid	Phyllocharis undulata
15	CHRYSOMELA caſtanea
16	CHRYSOMELA Gorteriæ	valid	Cryptocephalus gorteriae
17	CHRYSOMELA octopunctata
18	CHRYSOMELA punctatiſſima
19	CURCULIO oryza	valid	Sitophilus oryzae
20	CURCULIO ſurinamenſis	valid	Curculio surinamensis
21	CANTHARIS bicolor	valid	Thonalmus bicolor
22	CICINDELA æquinoctialis	valid	Pheropsophus aequinoctialis
23	CICINDELA carolina	valid	Tetracha carolina
24	ELATER ligneus	valid	Semiotus ligneus
25	MELOE Chryſomeloides	valid	Nemognatha chrysomeloides
26	TENEBRIO Gigas

Hemiptera

No.	Name in Centuria...	Status	Current name
27	GRYLLUS unicornis	synonym	Empusa pennicornis
28	GRYLLUS carolinus	valid	Stagmomantis carolina
29	GRYLLUS irroratus	synonym	Stagmomantis carolina
30	GRYLLUS Lunus	valid	Monachidium lunum
31	GRYLLUS Cinerarius	synonym	Pterochroza ocellata
32	GRYLLUS brachypterus / GRYLLUS necydaloides	valid / junior synonym	Pseudophasma brachypterum
33	GRYLLUS javanus	junior synonym	Mecopoda elongata
34	GRYLLUS perſpicillatus	valid	Ommatolampis perspicillata
35	GRYLLUS ſpinuloſus	valid	Eugaster spinulosa
36	GRYLLUS ſuccinctus	valid	Nomadacris succincta
37	GRYLLUS brevicornis	valid	Metaleptea brevicornis
38	GRYLLUS convolutus	valid	Miogryllus convolutus
39	CICADA flammea	valid	Zanna flammea
40	CICADA truncata	valid	Oryxa truncata
41	CIMEX ictericus	valid	Euschistus ictericus
42	CIMEX criſtatus	valid	Arilus cristatus
43	CIMEX ſcaber	valid	Acanthocoris scaber
44	CIMEX ſuccinctus	valid	Largus succinctus
45	CIMEX hæmorrhous	valid	Leptoscelis haemorrhous
46	CIMEX nobilis	valid	Calliphara nobilis
47	COCCUS capenſis	valid	Conchaspis capensis
48	TRIPS paradoxa	valid	Thrips paradoxa

Lepidoptera

No.	Name in Centuria...	Status	Current name
49	PAPILIO Ægiſthus	junior synonym	Graphium agamemnon
50	PAPILIO Polydorus	valid	Atrophaneura polydorus
51	PAPILIO Orontes	valid	Alcides orontes
52	PAPILIO Phidippus	valid	Amathusia phidippus
53	PAPILIO Medon	valid	Euphaedra medon
54	PAPILIO Mneme	valid	Melinaea mneme
55	PAPILIO Ædea	valid	Eterusia aedea
56	PAPILIO Melite	valid	Enantia melite
57	PAPILIO Scylla	valid	Catopsilia scylla
58	PAPILIO Polybe	valid	Atlides polybe
59	PAPILIO Philea	valid	Phoebis philea
60	PAPILIO Philomela	valid	Ypthima philomela
61	PAPILIO Electo	valid	Colias electo
62	PAPILIO Helcita	valid	Aletis helcita
63	PAPILIO Idea	valid	Idea idea
64	PAPILIO Strilidore	nomen dubium	unknown
65	PAPILIO Eurydice	valid	Satyrodes eurydice
66	PAPILIO Demophile	valid	Itaballia demophile
67	PAPILIO ecclipſis	hoax	Gonepteryx rhamni
68	PAPILIO Canace	valid	Kaniska canace
69	PAPILIO Hypermneſtra	valid	Elymnias hypermnestra
70	PAPILIO Talaus	junior synonym	Entheus priassus
71	PAPILIO Ariadne	valid	Ariadne ariadne
72	PAPILIO Atlites	valid	Junonia atlites
73	PAPILIO Jatrophæ	valid	Anartia jatrophae
74	PAPILIO Dido	valid	Philaethria dido
75	PAPILIO Hyperbius	valid	Argynnis hyperbius
76	PAPILIO Cydippe	junior homonym; rejected	Cethosia cydippe
77	PAPILIO Peleus	junior synonym	Entheus priassus
78	PAPILIO Actorion	valid	Bia actorion
79	PAPILIO Arcius	valid	Rhetus arcius
80	PAPILIO Augias	valid	Telicota augias
81	SPHINX ſexta	valid	Manduca sexta
82	PHALÆNA gangis	valid	Creatonotos gangis
83	PHALÆNA Phalonia	valid	Eudocima phalonia
84	PHALÆNA heteroclita	nomen dubium	Enantia melite?

Neuroptera

No.	Name in Centuria...	Status	Current name
85	LIBELLULA carolina	valid	Tramea carolina
86	LIBELLULA variegata	valid	Rhyothemis variegata
87	HEMEROBIUS pectinicornis	valid	Chauliodes pectinicornis

Hymenoptera

No.	Name in Centuria...	Status	Current name
88	SIREX columba	valid	Tremex columba
89	SPHEX pensylvanica	valid	Sphex pensylvanicus
90	SPHEX cærulea	junior homonym of Sphex caerulea Linnaeus, 1758	Chalybion californicum
91	VESPA maculata	valid	Dolichovespula maculata
92	VESPA quadridens	valid	Monobia quadridens
93	VESPA annularis	valid	Polistes annularis
94	FORMICA binodis	junior synonym	Tetramorium caespitum

Diptera

No.	Name in Centuria...	Status	Current name
95	ASILUS æſtuans	valid	Efferia aestuans

Aptera

No.	Name in Centuria...	Status	Current name
96	CANCER Dormia	valid	Dromia dormia
97	CANCER Vocans	valid	Uca vocans
98	CANCER cordatus	valid	Ucides cordatus
99	CANCER epheliticus	valid	Hepatus epheliticus
100	CANCER paraſiticus	nomen dubium	Tumidotheres maculatus?
101	CANCER filiformis	nomen dubium	Caprella lobata?
102	ONISCUS linearis	valid	Idotea linearis