i was looking through inat and i realise there are two species of white tipped skipper,Erionota hiraca and Erionota acroleuca. Do you know what are the differences or why is there a species shift which i may have missed out?
As often in taxonomy there are a lot of shifts & turns, & this one have a fair bit.
1881 Wood-Mason & De Niceville described taxon acroleucus from the Andamans.
In the same year (1881) Moore also described a male as hiraca from the Andamans.
de Jong & Treadaway in 1992 thought Moore', name have priority, but this was later proven wrong by later researchers.
Thus the correct name would have been Erionota acrolueca (gender shift to feminine gender).Synonym hiraca.
Semper described taxon apex from Luzon, Philippines in 1892.
This was considered a subspecies of acroleuca.
This taxon apex was applied to all the forms in SE Asia.
Evans described taxon apicalis from Bassein ,Myanmar in 1932, & this name falls as a synonym of apex.
de Jong & Treadaway 1992 judged taxon apex to be distinct & different from the mainland population, elevating it to a new species.
The population in SE Asia is given the next available name ,ie Evans' apicalis.
Thus the population from SE Asia becomes Erionota acroleuca apicalis.
Some researchers also suggest the mainland population (taxon apicalis ) is different from that in the Andamans (taxon acroleuca.).
Thus the current situation if verified by DNA analysis.
Belated Merry Christmas! i had a amazing day shooting butterflies on the eve and Christmas itself. And, in the spirit of holiday, i decided to go the extra mile to shoot a couple more skippers, while also revising some of my older observation, and i require some assistance on ID. A lot of one shot one angle wonders
Regular Member
Reply With Quote
