Melitaea
Melitaea is a genus of brush-footed butterflies. They are here placed in the tribe Melitaeini of subfamily Nymphalinae; some authors elevate this tribe to subfamily rank.
As delimited here, Melitaea includes the genus Mellicta, making the subtribe Melitaeina monotypic. For long, it was believed that Mellicta was a junior objective synonym of Melitaea, sharing the same type species. This was in error, however; the type species of Mellicta is actually the heath fritillary, making the two taxa junior subjective synonyms and thus eligible to be separated again. However, several other taxa are in fact objective synonyms of Melitaea and Mellicta – Schoenis and the preoccupied Lucina and Melinaea for the former, Athaliaeformia for the latter.
Taxonomy
As noted above, Mellicta is considered to be a subgenus of Melitaea for the time being. The rationale is that even though the Melitaeina may not be monotypic, they do not seem to consist of just two genera either, and recognition of Mellicta appears to leave Melitaea paraphyletic; consequently, other lineages would need elevation to distinct genus status also. As long as it is not fully known which species groups and/or subgenera warrant recognition as full genera, they are all retained in the present genus.Species
In the following list, species-group/subgenus affiliation and type species are annotated. In the sensu lato circumscription used here, Melitaea contains almost ninety species. Most being assignable to one of the five groups/subgenera, there are a few that cannot be clearly placed with one of these at present:didyma/Didymaeformia groupMelitaea abyssinica Oberthür, 1909Melitaea acraeina Melitaea agar Oberthür, 1888Melitaea ala Staudinger, 1881Melitaea alraschid Higgins, 1941Melitaea ambrisia Higgins, 1935Melitaea arduinna – Freyer's fritillaryMelitaea athene Staudinger, 1881Melitaea avinovi Sheljuzhko, 1914Melitaea casta Melitaea chitralensis Moore, 1901Melitaea deserticola Oberthür, 1909 – desert fritillaryMelitaea didyma – spotted fritillary, red-band fritillary Melitaea didymina Staudinger, 1895Melitaea didymoides Eversmann, 1847Melitaea enarea Fruhstorfer, 1917Melitaea fergana Staudinger, 1882Melitaea infernalis Grum-Grshimailo, 1891Melitaea interrupta Kolenati, 1846Melitaea jitka Weiss & Major, 2000Melitaea kotshubeji Sheljuzhko, 1929Melitaea latonigena Eversmann, 1847Melitaea lunulata Staudinger, 1901Melitaea lutko Evans, 1932Melitaea meherparvari Carbonell, 2007Melitaea mimetica Higgins, 1940Melitaea mixta Evans, 1912Melitaea ninae Sheljuzhko, 1935Melitaea persea Kollar, Melitaea pseudoala Sheljuzhko, 1928Melitaea robertsi Butler, 1880 – Baluchi fritillaryMelitaea romanovi Grum-Grshimailo, 1891Melitaea sarvistana Wiltshire, 1941Melitaea saxatilis Christoff, 1876Melitaea shandura Evans, 1924Melitaea sutschana Staudinger, 1892Melitaea trivia Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 – lesser spotted fritillary, desert fritillaryMelitaea yuenty Oberthür, 1888
cinxia/Melitaea sensu stricto groupMelitaea amoenula C. & R.Felder, Melitaea arcesia Bremer, 1861 – blackvein fritillaryMelitaea balbita Moore, 1874Melitaea bellona Leech, Melitaea cinxia – Glanville fritillary Melitaea diamina – false-heath fritillaryMelitaea jezabel Oberthür, 1888Melitaea protomedia Ménétriés, 1859Melitaea sindura Moore, 1865
minerva groupMelitaea asteroidea Staudinger, 1881Melitaea balba Evans, 1912Melitaea elisabethae Avinoff, 1910Melitaea ludmilla Churkin, Kolesnichenko & Tuzov, 2000Melitaea minerva Staudinger, 1881Melitaea pallas Staudinger, 1886Melitaea solona Alphéraky, 1881Melitaea sultanensis Staudinger, 1886Melitaea turanica Erschoff, 1874
phoebe/Cinclidia groupMelitaea aetherie – aetherie fritillaryMelitaea collina Lederer, 1861Melitaea consulis Wiltshire, 1941Melitaea gina Higgins, 1941Melitaea kuchi Wyatt, 1961Melitaea phoebe Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 – knapweed fritillary Melitaea pseudosibina Alberti, 1969Melitaea punica Oberthür, 1876Melitaea scotosia Butler, 1878Melitaea sibina Alphéraky, 1881Melitaea telona Christoph, 1893 Melitaea turkmanica Higgins, 1940
Mellicta group
Melitaea alatauica Staudinger, 1881Melitaea ambigua Ménétriés in Schrenck, 1859Melitaea asteria – little fritillaryMelitaea athalia – heath fritillary Melitaea aurelia Nickerl, 1850 – Nickerl's fritillaryMelitaea britomartis Assmann, 1847 – Assmann's fritillaryMelitaea caucasogenita Verity, 1930Melitaea centralasiae Melitaea deione Geyer, 1832 – Provençal fritillaryMelitaea menetriesi Caradja, 1895Melitaea nevadensis Oberthür, 1904Melitaea parthenoides Keferstein, 1851 – European meadow fritillary, meadow fritillaryMelitaea plotina Bremer, 1861Melitaea rebeli Wnukowsky, 1929Melitaea varia – Grisons fritillaryMelitaea westsibirica
Incertae sedisMelitaea kunlunensis Kudrna & Mracek, 1994Melitaea oorschoti Eckweiler, 2008Melitaea paludani Clench & Shoumatoff, 1956Melitaea tangigharuensis de Freina, 1980Melitaea wiltshirei Higgins, 1941