Synonymy of Biston betularia betularia:

Phalaena betularia Linnaeus, 1758
Biston betularia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Biston betularia betularia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Biston betularius (Linnaeus, 1758)
Biston betularius betularius (Linnaeus, 1758)
Phalaena p-graecum Poda, 1761
[genus?] marmoraria Sepp, 1792
Phalaena ulmaria Borkhausen, 1794
Amphidasys betularia doubledayaria Milliere, 1870
Biston cognataria alexandrina Wehrli (in Seitz), 1941
Biston betularia alexandrinus (Wehrli (in Seitz), 1941)
f. insularia
f. carbonaria


Note: Biston is the name of the son of Ares and Kallirrhoe in Greek mythology. It is therefore of masculine gender and all adjectival species-group names combined with it must take the masculine form as well (e.g. the species-group name sibiricus). However, the formula-like species-group names in the Geometridae ending in "-aria" are of an unclear nature and their adjectival use is debated. The species-group name "betularia" is based on the Latin name of the birch ("betula"), but is not a proper Latin form. Therefore, I do not regard it as an adjective or an adjectival form, but as a form comparable to Roman cognomina. These were also formed irregularly from a basic word (e. g. "Cicero" formed from the word "cicer" (chickpea) as the cognomen for Marcus Tullio Cicero). Most importantly, although the cognomina usually agreed in gender with the name-bearer, this was not a requirement: several cognomina did not agree in gender (as implied by the cognomen ending) with the bearer of the cognomen, e.g. Publius Cornelius Arvina, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, or Lucius Sergius Catilina. Thus, I regard "betularia" as a noun in apposition that does not change its form when combined with different genera.

Note: all species-group names based on specimens from America (e.g. cognataria, fortitaria, mesle, swettaria, contrasta) are not synonyms of the nominate subspecies, although some authors erroneously list these names in the synonymy of the nominate form.