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Post by wollastoni on Dec 4, 2017 12:05:21 GMT
The nefarious Vladimir Lunkov is now selling on eBay some Ornithoptera victoriae ugiensis : see here
Be vareful, it looks like a classic ssp and nothing really new. Lunkov already sold in the past some "ghizoensis" claiming it was a new ssp.
"ugiensis" specimen...
And of course, all the specimens from Lunkov come without CITES permits so illegal outside of the Russian federation.
Hope it will prevent some of our readers not to fall in the classic tricks of Lunkov.
After the japanotypes, I am afraid we will suffer for long the "lunkovotypes..."
Cheers Olivier
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Post by exoticimports on Dec 15, 2017 20:00:36 GMT
OV Ugi has been argued in the past.
To my eye, the pictured specimen resembles OVV when I'd expect OV Epiphanes.
However, OV is extremely variable, I have some specimens I would challenge "experts" to identify by ssp. For example, the FW patch is sometimes used to indicate or rule out a particular ssp, which is rubbish because big/small, hooked/oblong can be found in all ssp except rubianus.
Chuck
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Post by trehopr1 on Dec 15, 2017 21:06:14 GMT
Chuck, since you handled so many Victoria in the past and saw so many various subspecies I was wondering how many subspecies of Victoria are in your opinion still legitimate. Or, do you feel (as the authors of the latest Birdwing book seem to) that most are local forms of the nominate with rubianus being a true subspecies. I think your experiences matter on this topic !
Can you post us any pictures of those puzzling Victoria specimens you have? Would love to see them. Victoria has always been my favorite birdwing....
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jhyatt
Aurelian
Posts: 224
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jhyatt on Dec 16, 2017 13:27:53 GMT
I must admit that I'm always doubtful of the validity of any ssp which is so variable that one can only determine a specific bug to ssp level by reading the data label.
On the other hand, I'm always tempted to accept a ssp as valid if I happen to own an example or series of the bug in question. If I lack it in my collection, it's a lot easier to dismiss it as probably invalid! It's the old "sour grapes" phenomenon...
Cheers,
jh
PS: IMHOP, O. v. rubianus and reginae seem consistently to be separable from all the other island forms of victoriae; epiphanes comes close to being separable.
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