North Sulawesi

[Painted Jezebel]

A few more.

1&2) A couple of Palmkings. I am pretty sure they are both Amathusia virgata, but they may be just plain old A. phidippus. The first was taken at Bogani Nani, at a distance, in deep forest, the second in the Minahasa Highlands. UPDATE - Amathusia virgata virgata confirmed.
3&4) Doleschallia polybete celebensis - the underside of this species is as variable as with our own D. bisaltide!
5) A very poor, heavily cropped shot of an Elymnias species, the only photo taken of it as it was so far away. There are 5 species on Sulawesi, but only three found in the north (4 subspecies). E. cumea cumea, E. cumea toliana, E. mimalon mimalon and E. hicetus rarion, but which one is it? UPDATE - E. hicetus rarion

[teotp]

Let's continue with the pictures.











Charaxes affinis affinis






Lamproptera meges [Green Dragontail]

1. Parthenos sylvia saltentia.
2. Vindula dejone celebensis.
3, 4 & 5. Please refer to previous posted replies.

Teo T P

[Psyche]

These are the reasons I wonder whether should it be under the genus Pithecops, and without examine the venation, genitalia, upperside, androconia, size where can I place it? Besides, the patterns on underside hindwing also looks different to me for P. corvus corax. I just have to base on the secondary features and report from Vane-Wright & R. de Jong(2003). I have not considered the phenotypic plasticity yet. Any suggestion from you?

Yes, Vane-Wright and R. de Jong also stated P. corvus corax range from Java, western Lesser Sunda Islands, Borneo, Philippines and Kep. Taluad.

Teo T P

Has P. corvus corax been recorded from mainland Sulawesi?
As far as I know Neopithecops is unknown from mainland Sulawesi, only from the outlying Sula islands & Tanajampea.

I am afraid I can offer no suggestion.
The superficial features looks typically Pithecops.
Checking thru the Udara group(including some Sulawesian spp. on the net) brings no result.

TL Seow

[teotp]

Has P. corvus corax been recorded from mainland Sulawesi?
As far as I know Neopithecops is unknown from mainland Sulawesi, only from the outlying Sula islands & Tanajampea.

I am afraid I can offer no suggestion.
The superficial features looks typically Pithecops.
Checking thru the Udara group(including some Sulawesian spp. on the net) brings no result.

TL Seow

P. corvus corax has not been recorded from mainland Sulawesi and Neopithecops neither.
I spent hours in afternoon reading through "The higher classification of the Lycaenidae - by J. N. Eliot" and couldn't find anything. He did not mentioned that hair brushes on legs is an important secondary character for the classification of Lycaenidae but genitalia(male and female), wing (shape, venation and pattern), head (antennae, eye, palpi and proboscis), legs (spur and esp. structures of segmented fore tarsus) and male secondary sexual characters (component of scales of varied brands, shape of androconia but these features have to examine under scanning electron microscope). The only genus has very hairy legs is Catapaecilma (C&P 4 page 295) but the wing pattern and other characters are totally different. Meantime, id as Pithecops sp. will be more appropiate.

Teo T P

[Psyche]

P. corvus corax has not been recorded from mainland Sulawesi and Neopithecops neither.
I spent hours in afternoon reading through "The higher classification of the Lycaenidae - by J. N. Eliot" and couldn't find anything. He did not mentioned that hair brushes on legs is an important secondary character for the classification of Lycaenidae but genitalia(male and female), wing (shape, venation and pattern), head (antennae, eye, palpi and proboscis), legs (spur and esp. structures of segmented fore tarsus) and male secondary sexual characters (component of scales of varied brands, shape of androconia but these features have to examine under scanning electron microscope). The only genus has very hairy legs is Catapaecilma (C&P 4 page 295) but the wing pattern and other characters are totally different. Meantime, id as Pithecops sp. will be more appropiate.

Teo T P

Thanks Teo for all the hard work getting the extra informations.
If only P. phoenix is left, LC's Quaker could be a variant or perhaps it is really something new. (size of this unknown)

TL Seow

[Glorious Begum]

Thanks Teo for all the hard work getting the extra informations.
If only P. phoenix is left, LC's Quaker could be a variant or perhaps it is really something new. (size of this unknown)

TL Seow

Thanks Dr Seoq amd Teo. This is tiny similar to our Quaker here.

[Painted Jezebel]

Thank you both of you, Seow and Teo. This has been a fascinating discussion. I must admit to be completely in the dark with these two. The smaller, dark spotted species, does look like a Pithecops sp. Yet, at the same time so does the larger golden spotted species. Nevertheless, we have to look at what has been recorded from the area. Are these two the same species or not, personally, the answer is Not, but I could be, and, far too often, am wrong.

Sulawesi still has a lot to be discovered, I think.

[teotp]

Seow, LC and Les : Not at all.
A revision lesson on classification of Lycaenidae for me.

An article I received from Prof. Otaki entitled: "Color-pattern modification and speciation in lycaenid butterflies" (Transactions of Lepidoptera Society of Japan vol 54 : 197-205, 2003) also reported many aberrant lycaenid butterflies caught in the field, the spots on ventral hindwings showed aberrations include Everes argiades, Euchrysops cnejus, Zizeeria maha, Plebejus argus Scilitantides orion and Pithecops fulgens.

Teo T P

[teotp]

A few more.

1&2) A couple of Palmkings. I am pretty sure they are both Amathusia virgata, but they may be just plain old A. phidippus. The first was taken at Bogani Nani, at a distance, in deep forest, the second in the Minahasa Highlands.
3&4) Doleschallia polybete celebensis - the underside of this species is as variable as with our own D. bisaltide!
5) A very poor, heavily cropped shot of an Elymnias species, the only photo taken of it as it was so far away. There are 5 species on Sulawesi, but only three found in the north (4 subspecies). E. cumea cumea, E. cumea toliana, E. mimalon mimalon and E. hicetus rarion, but which one is it?

1. & 2. Amathusia virgata. Common name: Honrath's Palmking. According to Vane-Wright & R. de Jong (2003), two subspecies: thoanthea (North, central & SE Sulawesi) and virgata (South Sulawesi).
3. & 4. Doleschallia polibete celebensis. This is the only subsp. from mainland Sulawesi. Other subsp. like maturitas and sulaensis are from Banggai and Sula Islands respectively (Vane-Wright & R. de Jong, 2003).
5. Male Elymnias hicetas rarior (North and central Sulawesi). (Vane-Wright & R. de Jong, 2003; Butterflies of the Oriental Region Part II - B. D'Abrera, 1985).

Teo T P

[bluefin]

1. Junonia hedonia intermedia





2. Tagiades trebellius trebellius





3. Leptotes plinius plutarchus





4. Rhinopalpa polynice megalonice





5. Doleschallia polibete celebensis





6. Lasippa neriphus tawayana





7. Plastingia tessellata tessellata