Archduke -- ids?

[moloch]

Greetings,

I photographed the following at Taman Negara. I am a little confused about the identities and would appreciate more information about these. I can't see what is used to separate Black-tipped Archdukes from Archdukes.

male Black-tipped Archduke (Lexias dirtea merguia) or male Archdukes (Lexias pardalis dirteana)? How are the two species separated?





female Black-tipped Archduke (Lexias dirtea merguia) or female Archduke (Lexias pardalis dirteana)? ?




Yellow Archduke (Lexias canescens pardalina) -- female? What does the male look like? Any links?



Thanks,
David

[Yong San]

Black-tipped Archduke (Lexias dirtea merguia),thier antennal clubs are black throughout.

[moloch]

Thanks, Yong San.

Do you think that the final shot is of a Yellow Archduke or is it another female Black-tipped Archduke?


Regards,
David

[Commander]

Yong San's right on the characteristics to separate the two Lexias. The Black Tipped Archduke is so named because the antennae are all black. So what you've shot are the Archdukes.

The last one, I concur with you that it's the Yellow Archduke. You can also check from our online checklist for your shots. The Yellow Archduke can be found here - http://www.butterflycircle.com/check...ls&butt_id=366

For the Yellow Archduke, both the males and females are identical in markings (other than the size).

[moloch]

Thanks for the help with sorting out these Archdukes. I now understand what to look for to separate the species. I think that I saw a single Yellow Archduke at Taman Negara but all of the others were Archdukes.

At Fraser's Hill, I saw Black-tipped Archdukes since these have black clubs (or mostly black). I did see Archdukes feeding in the same areas as the Black-tipped Archdukes. There was an area along the Telekom Loop Road where there was lots of fallen fruit and this seemed attractive to the butterflies.

photo 1
Black-tipped Archduke -- female



photo 2 (same butterfly as photo 1)



photo 3
Black-tipped Archduke -- male. It had opened wings wide until I lifted my camera!



photo 4
Archduke -- male. Same area on roadside as the above (photo 3) butterfly.


Correct?


Thanks,
David

[Yong San]

Look at the slight difference here, 2 dashes in Archduke.
In addition, the underside of L. canescens is deep ochreous brown with clearly defined yellowish spots.

[Common Mime]

Thanks for the illustration, Yong!

[moloch]

Thanks very much, Yong, for taking the time to illustrate the differences. This is very helpful. I have looked at the photos a number of times and never observed this subtle difference.

Regards,
David