Delias belladonna yukaae or maybe D. sanaca perspicua?

[guldsmed]

Shot at Doi Inthanon, Thailand april 2008

[Painted Jezebel]

The size of the hindwing cell patch immediately identifies this as D. belladonna. Other distinguishing features for this species alone in the Belladonna Group, all on the hindwing, are that the cell patch is entirely yellow, the yellow basal patch is shorter than in other species and the discal spot in cell 6 is white.

However, the subspecies found in the Chang Mai area is D. b. hedybia, not yukaae, which is found in Nan District, and seems to have a very small distribution area on the Thai/Laos border.

[guldsmed]

Thx a lot for the clarification and the correction of subspecies. I did ID it as belladonna, but someone else suggested sanaca. That someone normally knows better than me, but not in this case it seems :-)

[Commander]

That someone normally knows better than me, but not in this case it seems :-)

Well, you can tell that someone that he's up against the opinion of one of the world's foremost expert in the genus Delias. :)

[guldsmed]

I know that and I will :bsmile:

[Painted Jezebel]

Well, you can tell that someone that he's up against the opinion of one of the world's foremost expert in the genus Delias. :)

Thank you, SK, you are very kind. However there are many others far more knowledgeable than me. Indeed, I am just starting the process of transferring my Delias website over to one of them, who has more time to keep up to date with events than I do. This will take some time though.

[Psyche]

Les, How do you ID D. ninus from D. acalis based just on the underside. Because of individual variations the two seem to overlap seamlessly in their patterns.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Painted Jezebel]

Les, How do you ID D. ninus from D. acalis based just on the underside. Because of individual variations the two seem to overlap seamlessly in their patterns.

TL Seow:cheers:

Yes, very difficult indeed. Some of the old writers such as Distant in Rhop. Malay. p.291, Nos.2 & 3, got it wrong themselves, mixing up the two.

For Delias ninus, on the underside forewing, the distal stripes are shorter, the one in 4 is placed more proximal than in D. acalis, and the spot in 1b is only rarely indistinctly toothed.

For the underside hindwing, the red band only slightly extends into the base of cell 6. The black discal band is narrower than in D. acalis and the cell-spot larger. The distal stripes are more uniformly wider and closer together than on acalis.

[Psyche]

Yes, very difficult indeed. Some of the old writers such as Distant in Rhop. Malay. p.291, Nos.2 & 3, got it wrong themselves, mixing up the two.

For Delias ninus, on the underside forewing, the distal stripes are shorter, the one in 4 is placed more proximal than in D. acalis, and the spot in 1b is only rarely indistinctly toothed.

For the underside hindwing, the red band only slightly extends into the base of cell 6. The black discal band is narrower than in D. acalis and the cell-spot larger. The distal stripes are more uniformly wider and closer together than on acalis.

Thanks, wiil keep the info in mind.

TL Seow:cheers: