2 from Samui

[Painted Jezebel]

At long last a worthwhile trip yesterday. Saw two rare species for the Island, both of which I had only spotted twice before.

1) Abisara savitri savitri, upperside shot, female, I think. Incedentally, there seems to be a couple of errors on the checklist page for this species. Firstly, in the Description Section, it should read 'a FOURTH recorded as Abisara kausambi ....'. Secondly, in Other Observations, it states 'open-winged as in shown in the photograph', there is no open-winged photograph in the gallery.

2) Elymnias obnubila, a female. This species has a very restricted range. It is only found in the southernmost extremity of Burma and in Peninsular Thailand from Ranong to Phucket. It is considered rare throughout its range. Further South, it is replaced by Elymnias panthera. Not a pristine specimen, but beggars can not be choosers.

[Commander]

Thanks for the corrections in the checklist's write up, Les. That happens when the write ups were just cut-and-pasted from my original website.

Taking a look at the Elymnias, I would've thought that it was an E. panthera. But I guess you have more of this genus up north to know better.

[Painted Jezebel]

The undersides of both species are very similar. However, this matches the female I have in my collection. The upperside of the female E. obnubila has a distinctive white subapical stripe. E. panthera has never been seen North of Nakhon Sri Thamarat, about 200 Km South of me, .... so far! .

[Painted Jezebel]

Resurrecting this thread, as I have just noticed that Yutaka has the ssp. of Abisara savitri from Langkawi northwards (including Samui) as A. savitri albisticta (K & Saito 2005).

Does anyone have any idea what the differences are? The clue must be in the ssp. name, but the white markings appear the same to me.

[Psyche]

Obviously the 2 Elymnias arise from a cmmon ancestor when the Kra isthmus land bridge was sundered.

Surprisingly Yutaka quote an unamed ssp. of E. panthera in S. Vietnam.
How did it slipped pass obnulia territory to get there.

C & R Felder name A. savitri from a collection in peninsular Malaya so the population in Malaya is correctly A. savitri savitri.

K Saito's renaming the population in Langkawi as ssp. albisticta doesn't make sense as there is no difference on the underside.
Perhaps there is some differences on the upperside.
The name albisticta means white- tattoed or spotted, so it is of no help either.

TL Seow

[Painted Jezebel]

Firstly, regarding the Elymnias spp., yes, they do, obviously have a common ancestor. I only come across E. obnubila here, which is expected as it has such a small range, but I have come across E. panthera further south in Malaysia, and they are quite different on the uppersides, particularly the females.

The more important thing, at least as far as I am concerned, is the Abisara savitri ssp. Personally, I want to keep my ssp. on Samui as the nominal ssp., unless someone can convince me otherwise, I can not see any difference from the specimens in my collection to those shown in C&P4, which is my only reference to the Malaysian specimens.!!!

[Psyche]

I can't see any difference in the uppersides as well between the 2 subspecies.
There must be a reason for the name albistricta.
It would be unfair to criticise further without examining a specimen in hand.
For example. it could have a white tattoo soewhere on its backside.::

TL Seow

[Commander]

For example. it could have a white tattoo soewhere on its backside.::

That would be a nice change! We see humans with butterfly tattoos on their backsides. So how about a butterfly with a human tattoo on its backside?

[Psyche]

That would be a nice change! We see humans with butterfly tattoos on their backsides. So how about a butterfly with a human tattoo on its backside?

That would be quite something to behold.

My, my, I was comparing Yutaka's images with C&P4 & didn't see any difference.
I should have been looking at your pic, Les.
It shows a lot more white, cilia , margin & lining the 2 black spots.

TL Seow

[Silverstreak]

Les,

What you have shown in the other thread appears to be exactly the same as A. savitri savitri.