Abstract
In 1841, T. W. Harris published “A Report on the Insects of Massachusetts, Injurious to Vegetation,” a seminal work in North American Entomology and one of the first New World publications to describe Lepidoptera species. Although appearing in several subsequent editions, the eight family-group names proposed by Harris were largely overlooked. In summarizing Harris’ family-group names, we show that authorship for two Noctuidae names in current usage require changes: Acronictinae Harris, 1841 (originally as Acronyctadae) has priority over Heinemann, 1859, and Agrotini Harris, 1841 (as Agrotitidae) has priority over Rambur, 1848. Mamestradae Harris, 1841 is also a senior synonym of Mamestrinae Hampson, 1902 (Type genus: Mamestra Ochsenheimer, 1816), an available name that is currently a junior subjective synonym of Noctuidae: Noctuinae: Hadenini Guenée, 1837 (Type genus: Hadena Schrank, 1802). Geometridae: Ennominae: Hyberniini Harris, 1841 (as Hyberniadae), based on Erranis Hübner, [1825] (= Hybernia Berthold, 1827), has precedence over two family-group names with long-standing usage, Bistonini Stephens, 1850 and Boarmiini Duponchel, 1845, and a reversal of precedence for the latter two names over Hyberniini is proposed under ICZN guidelines.
Highlights
In one of the earliest compendia of North American entomology, Thaddeus William Harris’ “A Report on the Insects of Massachusetts, Injurious to Vegetation” describes the life histories of hundreds of insect species, often in extensive detail
Authorship for two family-group names in current usage should be attributed to Harris in accordance with publication priority, viz. Acronictinae Harris, 1841
Hyberniini was used by Bruand (1846), Stephens (1850) and Guenée (1857), but has apparently not been used as a family-group name after 1899 and meets requirement 23.9.1.1 for “Reversal of Precedence” under ICZN rules. Both Boarmiini and Bistonini have long-standing usage in the literature, summarized in Table 1, and thereby meet the second requirement (23.9.1.2) for “Reversal of Precedence” (ICZN), which states that the name in question should be cited in at least 25 works, published by at least 10 authors in the immediately preceding 50 years and encompassing a span of not less than 10 years
Summary
In one of the earliest compendia of North American entomology, Thaddeus William Harris’ “A Report on the Insects of Massachusetts, Injurious to Vegetation” describes the life histories of hundreds of insect species, often in extensive detail. Harris described over 50 new taxa, 40 of which are currently valid species names. Less well-known are the family-group names proposed by Harris in 1841, only two of which are currently attributed to him – Lasiocampidae (Lasiocampoidea) and Ceratocampinae (Bombycoidea: Saturniidae).
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