A new subspecies of Paranticopsis ramaceus (Obscure Zebra) in Thailand

[Angiud]

Graphium ramaceus inayoshii Cotton & Saito,2016 from South-West of Peninsular Thailand.
Holotype of subspecies is coming from Bankasoon (South Myanmar), just across Ranong on a specimen
of about 100 years old and conserved at BMNH. Paratypes in the collections of the authors and of the friends
Prasobsuk Sukkit and Yutaka Inayoshi.


Thanks to Dr. Cotton I found in my archive a picture of the new sub-species form Krabi


https://c6.staticflickr.com/1/630/31932665501_ebf08ef6ff_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/QDMfWi)
Graphium cfr. ramaceus inayoshii (https://flic.kr/p/QDMfWi)



and this is a specimen of the other sub-species, from Betong (Thai-Malaysia border)


https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7244/26932207011_20f0700c62_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/H2UAQK)
The Obscure Zebra - Graphium ramaceus pendleburyi (https://flic.kr/p/H2UAQK)

[Psyche]

I am curious, how does this image of ssp inayoshii differ from examples of G. macareus which do not have a brown patch on the HW underside.
HW space 1b & 2 have the white stripes broken into a shorter stripe & a spot, whereas in G. ramaceus it is normally entire, with a faint line.


TL Seow: Cheers.

[Angiud]

http://i63.tinypic.com/311orhl.jpg

[Angiud]

http://i64.tinypic.com/28u7lva.jpg

[Psyche]

I think your Krabi pix is that of . G. macareus.
The HW white stripes are narrow, broken into two white spots at the tornus, & the HW cell dark streak is complete.

I am not sure what the yellow colour at the tornus meant, whether it could even be G. xenocles.
There are G. xenocles variants with just a bit of yellow.
eg. the example from Vietnam
http://yutaka.it-n.jp/pap/10700020.html


TL Seow: Cheers.

[Angiud]

Thank you Dr. Saow for your invaluable input.

The ID came from Dr. Adam Cotton and Prasobsuk Sukkit, but to be 100% sure I'll need a specimen from Krabi, to better control the upperside forewing cell.

So I will keep the ID open until confirmation.

[Angiud]

Underside of a paratype in Sukkit collection

http://i67.tinypic.com/2q0isls.jpg

[Angiud]

I showed to Sukkit and Cotton several pictures up and underside of that day in Krabi and they confirm it's a ramaceus inayoshii. They said in that location could perhaps be an intermediate form between ssp. inayoshii and pendleburyi (Ranong is more than 200 km North and Malayan border is 2/300 km South).



Here a shot of an upperside:


http://i64.tinypic.com/9fuq08.png


I must decide to get some specimen after the shooting. But anyway most of my locations are National Parks, where collecting is strictly prohibited...

[Angiud]

Same shooting session:

http://i66.tinypic.com/35lx35g.jpg

"In Krabi area you can find specimens which look like inayoshii and others which look more like pendleburyi
So in this place you can treat the population as having both types and intermediates."

Cotton and Sukkit comment

[Angiud]

This is a useful comparison table of Paranticopsis species of Thailand from Adam Cotton:



http://i64.tinypic.com/25qt402.jpg

[Psyche]

Thanks Antonio, for showing all these shots.

My main concern was the post 1 pix from Krabi which doesnt seem right.

The post 8 upperside shot is without doubt ssp inayoshii.
The markings matched the 2nd individual(right side) from post 9 .The one on the left is also G. ramaceus.

The markings do not match the post 1 pix which is a different individual.
The post 1 pix has a number of features which are not quite right.
1. The white stripes are very narrow , not just on the HW but also FW eg. vein 2 & 3.
2. The HW cell has a strong black oblique line which is more often seen in macareus perakensis.
3. The HW is more triangular & pointed at the tornus.

G. macareus usually have a brown patch on the HW underside (? normal wsf) ,but some do not (?dsf) as shown in Yutaka.
http://www.samuibutterflies.com/02_images/travels/papilionidae/graphiummacareusburmensis.v.jpg
http://yutaka.it-n.jp/pap/10690010.html

I may be wrong, but I think Post 1 pix is probably not G. ramaceus inayoshii.

Here is something interesting. The pix from Chiang Mai in the website below is I believed G. ramaceus inayoshii.
A helpful hint is that in G. macareus the HW apex especially on the upperside is broadly black.
http://swallowtails.net/P_macareus.htm


TL Seow : Cheers.

[Angiud]

Some more information from one of the authors here:

http://collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/1420/graphium-ramaceus-inayoshii-cotton-saito