This has staggered me! What is it doing up there? It is many hundreds of KM north of its known range (Sundaland), and was flying/puddling with the usual nominate ssp.Originally Posted by Psyche
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This has staggered me! What is it doing up there? It is many hundreds of KM north of its known range (Sundaland), and was flying/puddling with the usual nominate ssp.
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I think I am too hasty here.
If size is not factored in there are two possibilities.
Closest is E. modesta.
http://yutaka.it-n.jp/dan/30240001.html
2nd is E. midamus which is a lot larger.
http://yutaka.it-n.jp/dan/30350010.html
Do the two subspecies of E. camaralzeman overlaps & what happens then.
TL Seow : Cheers.
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As far as I am aware, no way, there is a large gap betwen the two ssp.
I have to say that your initial id caused me a hell of a lot of problems because I had thought the same. When I got home and looked at the photos in the books, I could only agree, but geography told me.. no!
The specimen was large, the same size as the E. c. cameralzeman I posted. Can midamus or modesta be as large?
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It is strange that the continental & sundanian representatives of a species do not meet when the landmasses rejoin.
E. midamus can reach the lower size range of E. camaralzeman but does not look like it.
The logical explanation is that this is a variant of ssp camaralzeman with reduced spotting.
TL Seow : Cheers.
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I think the absence at the meeting point is due to a lack of records. The southernmost known record of E. c. cameralzeman is Kaeng Krachan, and I saw it there last year, whilst the northernmost record for ssp. malayica is Ranong. There is a gap of c.250Km, but that area (Chumphon and Prachaup Kirikhan) is hardly ever studied, being about as well researched as Samui was before I arrived!
I tend to agree about it being a variation.
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