Papilio International 5 (1989)

[cabintom]

Does anyone have a copy of Papilio International 5 from 1989? Or access to it? I'd like to know what Hancock had to say about Papilio echerioides nioka (Hancock, 1989)... I have found incredibly little information on this subspecies.

Thanks!
Tom

[Adam Cotton]

Actually this was described by Berger, 1974 as a form or "? ssp." of Papilio zoroastres. Hancock only mentions it in the abstract and lists it in the subspecies of echerioides. This name may not be available, it certainly isn't from Hancock since he doesn't give any characters to distinguish it from other taxa. I will study Berger's paper in more detail and take some advice then let you know when a conclusion is found.

Here's the abstract of Hancock (1989):
Princeps arnoldi (Poulton) is accepted as a distinct species. P. sjoestedti (Aurivillius) and its subspecies atavus (Le Cerf) are placed as subspecies of P. fuelleborni (Karsch), and P. zoroastres (Druce) and its subspecies gabrieli (Gauthier), homeyeri (Plotz), joiceyi (Gabriel) and nioka (Berger) are placed as subspecies of P. echerioides (Trimen).

All he says in the text is
"P. echerioides nioka Berger, 1974),
Known only from Nioka, Ituri district, NE Zaire."

Note that he uses the genus name Princeps for these, but he didn't open the ( around (Berger, 1974), only closed it. If he treated it in genus Papilio there would be no ( ).

Adam.

[cabintom]

Here's the excerpt I photographed from Berger's Les Papillons du Zaire 1981:



Sorry that it's all in french.

But as you can see, at that time Berger has a big "?" attached to the status of the subspecies, and near the end makes the even more non-committal statement of "We have placed this form (or subspecies ?) under the name nioka.

Basically it seems that 2 specimens were capture in Nioka (a male and a female) by the same collector in 1953. Nioka is relatively high altitude and not quite in the rainforest... more of a savanna from what I understand. The next year that same individual collected what seems to be a second female (with some small differences) at Mt Hoyo. Mt Hoyo jumps up 400m from the surrounding terrain, and is just within the rainforest, near where it meets the savanna, and only a few kilometers from the Nord Kivu border. This last point is what I find intriguing, as Robert Ducarme confirms in his little note, that the subspecies found in Beni is joiceyi. What is found in Beni should be the same as what is found at Mt Hoyo.

So, as far as I'm aware we have up until now a male and 2 females (possibly) of this ?subspecies?.

Well plus this female, about which I've posted previously (which is a remarkably good match with the type specimen):

23/XII/2013 Near Bogoro, Ituri (1°25'N, 30°16'E) 1400m (Along the Monts Bleu ridge.)

And now (the reason for my renewed inquiries) this specimen which I caught yesterday:

1/x/2016 Near Quartier Rwambuzi, Bunia, Ituri (1°32'N, 30°16'E) 1275m (Basically it was caught within spitting distance of Bunia, and a stone's throw from the Monts Bleu.)
Incidentally, the friend I was collecting with grew-up in Nioka.

I'm also curious if there are any other known/presumed specimens of this form/species.

[deliasfanatic]

If consistent, that's certainly the most distinct female of any echerioides that I've seen; no others have the large FW patch as your examples do.

[cabintom]

Here's the link to Tervuren's type specimen:

www.africamuseum.be/collections/browsecollections/naturalsciences/biology/lepidoptera/butterflies/RMCA-0006/taxon

[deliasfanatic]

Looks pretty consistent...

[cabintom]

Ok, just for fun, here's the holotype (on the left, link previously provided) and the paratype (figured in Les Papillons du Zaire):



I wish there were photos of that male available somewhere.

[deliasfanatic]

Can you post a photo of your male, Tom? I'd like to compare it to other ssp.

[cabintom]

Oct 3, 2016 4:48:45 GMT deliasfanatic said:

Can you post a photo of your male, Tom? I'd like to compare it to other ssp.

That's the thing. I don't have a male. It seems that, unless anything else has been published about this form/ssp, there's only ever been the one male collected.

[africaone]

Oct 3, 2016 5:37:34 GMT cabintom said:

Oct 3, 2016 4:48:45 GMT deliasfanatic said:

Can you post a photo of your male, Tom? I'd like to compare it to other ssp.

That's the thing. I don't have a male. It seems that, unless anything else has been published about this form/ssp, there's only ever been the one male collected.

it was a series in Hecq's collection (now in another private collection)

[cabintom]

Oct 3, 2016 9:02:32 GMT africaone said:

it was a series in Hecq's collection (now in another private collection)

So, is that to say there are several males?

[deliasfanatic]

Oct 3, 2016 9:02:32 GMT africaone said:

Oct 3, 2016 5:37:34 GMT cabintom said:

That's the thing. I don't have a male. It seems that, unless anything else has been published about this form/ssp, there's only ever been the one male collected.

it was a series in Hecq's collection (now in another private collection)

Ah. I reread your previous post too quickly and thought you had a male and two females.

[cabintom]

A bit of news on the "nioka" front.

First of all, a number of specimens, other than the 2 of mine, have been found in recent years. There's a specimen at ABRI that was caught in North Kivu in 2007, and (according to Steve Collins) there's at least 3 specimens that have been found in various localities around western and central Uganda in the past year (and are in private collection).

I've seen images of the Ugandan specimens and they're definitely "nioka", but the nioka subspecies is supposed to be confined to the western side of the Albertine Rift (NE congo north of the Rwenzori mountains), while joiceyi is found throughout Uganda.

So, at this point it seems that the status of "nioka" as a subspecies should be in doubt.
Thoughts?

Here's ABRI's box of Papilio zoroastres/echerioides nioka & joiceyi:



A close-up of the top left specimens in the box (bottom 2 on the right are my specimens, and note the abnormal reduced markings on the specimen from Uganda):


(Data for the male from DRC: Mabungu, N. Kivu, E. DRC - Sept 2013)

An even closer look at the top female (data: Kithoko-Lubero, N. Kivu, DRC - Nov 2007)

[africaone]

why are zoroastres and echerioides put together ? aren't different species ?

[mcheki]

I know they are separate species but do you get P plagiatus in your area? Then possibly mimicry/ convergence involved??? This photo shows some plagiatus that both highlights their differences but also some similarities between the female and that of ssp: nioka.

Also:--

<< Quote by africaone

Why are zoroastres and echerioides put together ? aren't different species ? >>

This has been contested in the past between authors, but I am convinced the two species are separate.