Ornithoptera meridionalis meridionalis???

[hovado]

Dear collectors,

On the e-bay is so many sellers and also scammers. How can I recognize which ornithoptera meridionalis is O.meridionalis meridionalis and O.meridionalis tarrungarensis. Is there special charracters which I can recognize on first look?

O.meridionalis meridionalis is more expensive than tarrunggarensis. I´m affraid to buy tarrungarensis very very expensive...

Thank you in advance for good advices


I sent two pictures, they said that this is O.m.m. Is there realy O.m.meridionalis?

[nomad]

There is very little difference between the two especially in the males, if you mixed those males that had data labels in a box I do not think anyone could tell them apart. I doubt very much that tarrungarensis is a good subspecies as many  new populations have been found in recent years that connect the two. Your photos from ebay demonstrate this, if you cannot tell the differences in subspecies, one wonders why they are still recognized as such. As for the ebay images they have been taken in different light conditions to make one male look a lighter green.