M. phoebe var. uralensis Krulikovsky, 1897 [TL: District of Ufa, Russian Federation] a name subsequently replaced by M. phoebe ufensis Krulikovsky, 1902 (uralensis preoccupied by M. arduinna uralensis Eversmann, 1844). Higgins (1941: 343) equated this name to ornata Staudinger (an error of authority). This synonymy with M. ornata was accepted by Russell & Tennent (2016: 56, note 98); however, van Oorschot & Coutsis (2014: 60) placed it as a synonym of M. phoebe, possibly because they incorrectly synonymised M. ornata with M. phoebe; Hesselbarth et al. (1995) overlooked this name. It is known that both M. phoebe and M. ornata fly in the southern Urals (Russell & Tennent (2022), see Figs 1 & 2). Anikin et al. (2017: 522) and Kostjuk & Zolotuhin (2017: 446 & plate 24, fig 4) figured the ‘Typus’, a specimen taken at Ufa on 10 June 1894 (= 24 June in today’s Gregorian calendar, not adopted in Russia until February 1918), which they designated as the lectotype. The specimen is figured here with the labels (Figures 10A & B). From the underside of the specimen it can be seen that the submarginal black arches are slim and touch the intervening veins and the antenna are club-shaped rather than spatulate; thus the present authors consider that this specimen is M. phoebe rather than M. ornata. Krulikovsky probably considered this to be a variety due to its heavily marked and dark appearance.

Published as part of Russell, Peter J. C., Lukhtanov, Vladimir A. & Tennent, W. John, 2022, Reassessment of the status of some European and Asian Melitaea taxa described as subspecies of Melitaea phoebe ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775), with designations of lectotypes where appropriate (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), pp. 25-38 in Zootaxa 5141 (1) on page 28, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5141.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/6577627