Smerinthus

Smerinthus
Smerinthus ocellatus type species for the genus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Subfamily:	Smerinthinae
Genus:	Smerinthus Latreille, 1802
Synonyms
Bebroptera Sodoffsky, 1837 Bellia Tutt, 1902 Bellinca Strand, 1943 Copismerinthus Grote, 1892 Daddia Tutt, 1902 Dilina Dalman, 1816 Eusmerinthus Grote, 1877 Merinthus Meigen, 1830 Nicholsonia Tutt, 1902 Niia Strand, 1943

Smerinthus is a Holarctic genus of hawkmoths in the family Sphingidae. It was described by Latreille in 1802. Adults have conspicuous eye spots on the hind wings.

Species

• (Smerinthus atlanticus) - Austaut, 1890
• Smerinthus caecus - Menetries, 1857
• Smerinthus cerisyi - Kirby, 1837
• Smerinthus jamaicensis - (Drury, 1773)
• Smerinthus kindermannii - Lederer, 1853
• Smerinthus minor - Mell, 1937
• Smerinthus ocellatus - (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Smerinthus ophthalmicus - Boisduval, 1855
• Smerinthus planus - Walker, 1856
• Smerinthus saliceti - Boisduval, 1875
• Smerinthus szechuanus - (Clark, 1938)
• Smerinthus tokyonis - Matsumura, 1921
• Smerinthus visinskasi - Zolotuhin & Saldaitis, 2009

Nomenclatural Note

The name Smerinthus is apparently derived from the Greek feminine noun 'Merinthos', but has been Latinised with the masculine -us ending and is thus, according to the ICZN article 30.1.3,^[1] masculine.^[2] As the ICZN rules that species names that are adjectives should agree in gender with the genus name, the common use of Smerinthus ocellata for the widespread European species Smerinthus ocellatus is incorrect.

References

1. International Code for Zoological nomenclature, 4th Edition, 1999, Article 30.1.3. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted-sites/iczn/code/index.jsp
2. Paclt, J. 1978. The Nomenclature in an important British checklist (1972): part 4: correct gender for some other generic names. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 17: 24-26. http://lepidopteraresearchfoundation.org/journals/17/PDF17/17-024.pdf