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Satyrium pruni
Black hairstreak
Pflaumenzipfelfalter
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Subspecies
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Synonyms
Papilio pruni Linnaeus, 1758
Thecla pruni (Linnaeus, 1758)
Strymon pruni (Linnaeus, 1758)
Nordmannia pruni (Linnaeus, 1758)
Satyrium pruni (Linnaeus, 1758)
Strymonidia pruni (Linnaeus, 1758)
Fixsenia pruni (Linnaeus, 1758)


Note: The genus Satyrium has previously been divided into a number of genera of doubtful monophyly (e.g. Strymonidia, Nordmannia). Based on the morphology of the genitalia (mainly the presence or absence of a ventral keel of the aedeagus) Clench (1978) synonymized most of these genera with Satyrium. Only the genus Fixsenia was retained for the present species and a few other hairstreak species. The hairstreaks are a group of Lycaenid butterflies of insufficiently studied relationships and no comprehensive phylogeny is available. They thus have a history of frustratingly unstable taxonomy illustrated by the multiple genus assignments of most species and a lacking consensus among authors on the correct genus placement of most species.
I think it is of paramount importance to bring about nomenclatural stability for this group of animals. In the unfortunate absence of a modern study of hairstreak phylogeny that uses all available methods and data, I will recognize only genera that have a high likelihood of being a monophyletic grouping, and therefore, in all likelihood, will not have to be changed after future phylogenetic studies. Fixsenia might be a monophyletic taxon, but there is no comprehensive test so far. In addition, the species Satyrium spini is in many external characters intermediate between typical "Satyrium" and typical "Fixsenia" (e.g. the black band on the hindwing underside is partially resolved into black spots and the anal angle has a large field of blue scales) and I suspect that these similarities that mediate between the "genera" are indications of a paraphyletic nature of Fixsenia. Therefore, I regard both genus names as synonyms and place all species in a hopefully monophyletic genus Satyrium.



Additional German name: Pflaumen-Zipfelfalter.


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Distribution
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Biology
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Specimen photographed in Frankfurt am Main (Hessen) on May 21, 2011.





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This page has been updated on January 22, 2014
This site is online since May 31, 2005
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