(Latin, "one hundred insects") is a 1763 taxonomic work by Carl Linnaeus, and defended as a thesis by Boas Johansson; which of the two men should for taxonomic purposes be credited with its authorship has been the subject of some controversy. It includes descriptions of 102 new insect and crustacean species that had been sent to Linnaeus from British America, Suriname, Java and other locations. Most of the new names included in Centuria Insectorum are still in use, although a few have been sunk into synonymy, and one was the result of a hoax: a common brimstone butterfly with spots painted on was described as the new "species" Papilio ecclipsis.

Publications

The contents of the work were published twice, under two slightly different titles. ("one hundred rare insects") was published as a standalone thesis, while was published as part of Linnaeus' series of ("academic delights"). Both bear the date June 23, 1763, although the latter was printed later, in September 1763.

Authorship

Since was a thesis presented and defended by one of Linnaeus' students, Boas Johansson (1742–1809) from Kalmar, it has been argued that authorship of the taxa named in it should be assigned to Johansson. The authorship, however, has been the subject of some controversy.

Several lines of argument have been used to suggest that Linnaeus should be considered the author. The role of the person defending the thesis at Swedish universities at the time was to prove his command of Latin, and responsibility for the text of the thesis rested mainly, if not entirely, with the professor. Linnaeus appeared to consider himself the author, referring in his later works to without including an abbreviation for the author, as he did for works written by other people. Works presented by students of other taxonomists of the era (such as Carl Peter Thunberg, Adam Afzelius and Elias Magnus Fries) are generally credited to their supervisors, and not the students themselves. Finally, most zoologists, and "Scandinavian authorities on Linnaeana" consider Linnaeus the author; in the interests of nomenclatural stability, it is preferable to continue doing so. The issue was raised in a petition to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and, although a large majority voted in favour of recognising Linnaeus as the author, the one dissenting vote caused the commission to defer its decision.

Sources

The specimens used by Linnaeus or Johansson in writing include some provided by Dr Alexander Garden, a horticulturist from Charles Town in the Province of South Carolina, by Carl Gustav Dahlberg in Suriname, by Hans Johan Nordgren in Java, and from the collection of Baron Charles De Geer from the Province of Pennsylvania.

Contents

The dissertation begins by discussing improvements that the Linnaean system of taxonomy has brought to the study of insects, before describing the new species.

Brimstone hoax

One of the species described in was "Papilio ecclipsis". This was based on a specimen sent by William Charlton to James Petiver in 1702, who wrote: "It exactly resembles our English Brimstone Butterfly (R. Rhamni), were it not for those black spots and apparent blue moons on the lower wings. This is the only one I have seen." Carl Linnaeus examined the butterfly, and named it Papilio ecclipsis in Centuria Insectorum Rariorum, including it in his from the 12th edition (1767) onwards. It was not until 1793 that the hoax was discovered by Johan Christian Fabricius, who recognised that the dark patches had been painted on, and that the specimen was a common brimstone butterfly (now called Gonepteryx rhamni). Although the curator at the British Museum "indignantly stamped the specimen to pieces" when he found out, William Jones created two replicas to replace the lost specimen.

Species

The 102 species described in were divided into seven sections, broadly corresponding with modern insect orders. Exceptions are that thrips (Thysanoptera), mantises (Mantodea) and Orthoptera were included in the Hemiptera, dragonflies (Odonata) were included in the Neuroptera, and the section called "Aptera" contains crustaceans rather than insects in the modern sense. Most of the names introduced in Centuria Insectorum are still in use, albeit in different genera; in a few cases, it is not clear what animal the name refers to.

Coleoptera

No. Name in Centuria... Status Current name 1 SCARABÆUS Tityus valid Dynastes tityus 2 SCARABÆUS Molosſus valid Catharsius molossus 3 SCARABÆUS ſurinamus synonym Rutela lineola 4 SCARABÆUS capreolus valid Lucanus capreolus 5 DERMESTES Gleditſiæ valid Caryobruchus gleditsiae 6 DERMESTES bactris valid Pachymerus bactris 7 CASSIDA ſpinifex valid Acromis spinifex 8 CASSIDA bipuſtulata junior synonym Stolas discoides 9 CASSIDA bicornis valid Omocerus bicornis 10 CASSIDA leucophæa 11 COCCINELLA ſangvinea valid Cycloneda sanguinea 12 COCCINELLA ſurinamenſis junior synonym Aegithus clavicornis 13 CHRYSOMELA gibboſa valid Gibbifer gibbosus 14 CHRYSOMELA undulata valid Phyllocharis undulata 15 CHRYSOMELA caſtanea 16 CHRYSOMELA Gorteriæ valid Cryptocephalus gorteriae 17 CHRYSOMELA octopunctata 18 CHRYSOMELA punctatiſſima 19 CURCULIO oryza valid Sitophilus oryzae 20 CURCULIO ſurinamenſis valid Curculio surinamensis 21 CANTHARIS bicolor valid Thonalmus bicolor 22 CICINDELA æquinoctialis valid Pheropsophus aequinoctialis 23 CICINDELA carolina valid Tetracha carolina 24 ELATER ligneus valid Semiotus ligneus 25 MELOE Chryſomeloides valid Nemognatha chrysomeloides 26 TENEBRIO Gigas

Hemiptera

No. Name in Centuria... Status Current name 27 GRYLLUS unicornis synonym Empusa pennicornis 28 GRYLLUS carolinus valid Stagmomantis carolina 29 GRYLLUS irroratus synonym Stagmomantis carolina 30 GRYLLUS Lunus valid Monachidium lunum 31 GRYLLUS Cinerarius synonym Pterochroza ocellata 32 GRYLLUS brachypterus /GRYLLUS necydaloides  valid /junior synonym Pseudophasma brachypterum 33 GRYLLUS javanus junior synonym Mecopoda elongata 34 GRYLLUS perſpicillatus valid Ommatolampis perspicillata 35 GRYLLUS ſpinuloſus valid Eugaster spinulosa 36 GRYLLUS ſuccinctus valid Nomadacris succincta 37 GRYLLUS brevicornis valid Metaleptea brevicornis 38 GRYLLUS convolutus valid Miogryllus convolutus 39 CICADA flammea valid Zanna flammea 40 CICADA truncata valid Oryxa truncata 41 CIMEX ictericus valid Euschistus ictericus 42 CIMEX criſtatus valid Arilus cristatus 43 CIMEX ſcaber valid Acanthocoris scaber 44 CIMEX ſuccinctus valid Largus succinctus 45 CIMEX hæmorrhous valid Leptoscelis haemorrhous 46 CIMEX nobilis valid Calliphara nobilis 47 COCCUS capenſis valid Conchaspis capensis 48 TRIPS paradoxa valid Thrips paradoxa

Lepidoptera

No. Name in Centuria... Status Current name 49 PAPILIO Ægiſthus junior synonym Graphium agamemnon 50 PAPILIO Polydorus valid Atrophaneura polydorus 51 PAPILIO Orontes valid Alcides orontes 52 PAPILIO Phidippus valid Amathusia phidippus 53 PAPILIO Medon valid Euphaedra medon 54 PAPILIO Mneme valid Melinaea mneme 55 PAPILIO Ædea valid Eterusia aedea 56 PAPILIO Melite valid Enantia melite 57 PAPILIO Scylla valid Catopsilia scylla 58 PAPILIO Polybe valid Atlides polybe 59 PAPILIO Philea valid Phoebis philea 60 PAPILIO Philomela valid Ypthima philomela 61 PAPILIO Electo valid Colias electo 62 PAPILIO Helcita valid Aletis helcita 63 PAPILIO Idea valid Idea idea 64 PAPILIO Strilidore nomen dubium unknown 65 PAPILIO Eurydice valid Satyrodes eurydice 66 PAPILIO Demophile valid Itaballia demophile 67 PAPILIO ecclipſis hoax Gonepteryx rhamni 68 PAPILIO Canace valid Kaniska canace 69 PAPILIO Hypermneſtra valid Elymnias hypermnestra 70 PAPILIO Talaus junior synonym Entheus priassus 71 PAPILIO Ariadne valid Ariadne ariadne 72 PAPILIO Atlites valid Junonia atlites 73 PAPILIO Jatrophæ valid Anartia jatrophae 74 PAPILIO Dido valid Philaethria dido 75 PAPILIO Hyperbius valid Argynnis hyperbius 76 PAPILIO Cydippe junior homonym; rejected Cethosia cydippe 77 PAPILIO Peleus junior synonym Entheus priassus 78 PAPILIO Actorion valid Bia actorion 79 PAPILIO Arcius valid Rhetus arcius 80 PAPILIO Augias valid Telicota augias 81 SPHINX ſexta valid Manduca sexta 82 PHALÆNA gangis valid Creatonotos gangis 83 PHALÆNA Phalonia valid Eudocima phalonia 84 PHALÆNA heteroclita nomen dubium Enantia melite?

Neuroptera

No. Name in Centuria... Status Current name 85 LIBELLULA carolina valid Tramea carolina 86 LIBELLULA variegata valid Rhyothemis variegata 87 HEMEROBIUS pectinicornis valid Chauliodes pectinicornis

Hymenoptera

No. Name in Centuria... Status Current name 88 SIREX columba valid Tremex columba 89 SPHEX pensylvanica valid Sphex pensylvanicus 90 SPHEX cærulea junior homonym of Sphex caerulea Linnaeus, 1758 (= Entypus caeruleus) Chalybion californicum 91 VESPA maculata valid Dolichovespula maculata 92 VESPA quadridens valid Monobia quadridens 93 VESPA annularis valid Polistes annularis 94 FORMICA binodis junior synonym Tetramorium caespitum

Diptera

No. Name in Centuria... Status Current name 95 ASILUS æſtuans valid Efferia aestuans

Aptera

No. Name in Centuria... Status Current name 96 CANCER Dormia valid Dromia dormia 97 CANCER Vocans valid Uca vocans 98 CANCER cordatus valid Ucides cordatus 99 CANCER epheliticus valid Hepatus epheliticus 100 CANCER paraſiticus nomen dubium Tumidotheres maculatus? 101 CANCER filiformis nomen dubium Caprella lobata? 102 ONISCUS linearis valid Idotea linearis

Footnotes

References

Further reading

(also available at Biodiversity Heritage Library, SUB Göttingen and Google Books)