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Hemming (1967) stated:-
Scudder (1875, Proc. amer. Acad. Arts Sci., Boston 10 : 108), who was an adherent of the so-called "principle of elimination" sought incorrectly to set aside Boisduval's valid selection of Thecla narada in 1870, arguing that that species was ineligible as type-species owing to a "restriction" made by Westwood in [1852] (in Doubleday, Gen. diurn. Lep. (2) : 477) ; Scudder thereupon sought to select Papilio apidanus Cramer, [1777] (Uit. Kapellen 2 (12) : 63, pl. 137, figs F. G). Many years later Riley (1922, Entomologist 55 : 25) advanced a new argument in favour of Scudder's attempted selection of Papilio apidanus as the type-species of this genus, pointing out that, when discussing (: III) his new nominal genus Amblypodia, Horsfield had said (: III) of the third of the five sections into which he divided that taxon, that he considered the third as being "typical" of Amblypodia. From this Riley argued that whatever species might be selected as the type-species of Amblypodia, it could only be one of those included by Horsfield in this third section and further that, as Papilio apidamus had been selected as the type-species by Scudder and was a member of that Section, Scudder's selection of that species as type-species was perfectly valid. Riley recognised that, if this view were to be accepted, it would be necessary to transfer the name Amblypodia to the genus long known as Arhopala Boisduval, 1832 and that, as Arhopala would become a junior subjective synonym of Amblypodia, a new name would be needed for the genus hitherto known as Arhopala ; this was supplied by Riley who then introduced the name Horsfieldia with Thecla narada as type-species. Fortunately, the argument advanced by Riley was invalid, depending upon the same so-called "restriction" principles that recognised by Scudder in 1875 but never recognised in the International Code, for Horsfield's third section comprised four species and it is not possible for the author of a generic name, while not designating a type-species, to indicate that on some - in this case, four of the included species shall be eligible for selection as type-species by a later author.
The position is therefore (a) that Thecla narada Horsfield is the valid type-species of Amblypodia Horsfield by selection by Boisduval in 1870, and (b) that the name Horsfieldia Riley, 1922, of which also the above species is type-species (by original designation) is invalid as a junior objective synonym of Amblypodia Horsfield. The normal species Papilio apidanus Cramer, the pseudotype of Amblypodia adopted by Scudder in 1875 and again by Riley in 1922, belongs to the large group of species habitually treated until recently as belonging to the genus Arhopala Boisduval. Under a revision of the Arhopala-Group made by Evans in 1957 (Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist., (Ent.) 5 : 85-141) the species hitherto placed in Arhopala were re-arranged to form a number of genera, the greater number being placed in Narathura Moore, [1879] ; one of the existing genera then accepted by Evans as taxonomically required was Flos Doherty, 1889, which had till then been treated as a junior subjective synonym of Arhopala Boisduval, according to the view taken as to the type-species of Amblypodia, as a junior subjective synonym of that generic name). The type-species of Flos Doherty is (by original designation) Papilio apidanus Cramer, the one-time pseudotype of Amblypodia Horsfield.
Amblypodiini Doherty, 1886, was downgraded from Amblypodiinae Doherty, 1886 by Eliot, 1973, Bulletin Br. Mus. nat. hist. (Ent.) 28 (6) : 432.
The higher classification used here follows Lamas (2008).
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