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Post by cabintom on Nov 23, 2018 5:56:28 GMT
Thoughts? I assume 1, 2, 4 & 5 belong to the same species (4 being female) 3 probably also belongs with that group, but I'm not sure since the orange patch is more rounded. 6 & 7 are noticeably smaller than the other, in addition to the smaller orange patches. With the ventral markings of 7 being so reduced in width, I'm not sure if these 2 are the same species.
I forgot to include the scale, but they are to scale in relation with each other.
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Post by africaone on Nov 23, 2018 9:59:27 GMT
did you ask Michel about them ? there are a lot of species of this group flying in the country, very difficult to separate ... (here probably 3 or 4 species)
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Post by cabintom on Nov 23, 2018 12:21:18 GMT
did you ask Michel about them ? I should. I was hoping to not have to bother him again.  |
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Post by mcheki on Nov 23, 2018 15:23:49 GMT
Have you got access to Michel Libert's "Revision des Anthene africains" published in September 2010 which covers this group? Any thoughts or suggestions that I made would be based on this as there is no other comprehensive cover of these groups.
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Post by cabintom on Nov 24, 2018 5:50:00 GMT
I received a reply from Michel. Even he needed to "dive into" his revision.
1-5 are Neurellipes kampala triangularis.
As for 6 & 7 he acknowledges that they look different, but stated that he'd be very surprised to find another species in the group. They fit best in N. k. triangularis so that's what they must be.
Since Ituri is a region where the ranges a lot of various ssp. meet, I'm wondering if 6 & 7 might belong to ssp. incerta. But, to answer your question, I only have scans of the plates from the revision, so my thoughts are based only on the facies of that ssp.
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Post by mcheki on Nov 24, 2018 10:33:29 GMT
In case it is some help here is a poor photo of some N kampala incerta for you to have a look at. They mainly come from different areas of Cameroon, but also one or two from the Central African Republic. Some of these undersides are a bit similar to your Nos 6 and 7, but overall there seems to be a degree of variation. The three N kampala triangularis that I have correspond to yours.
Perhaps variation occurs throughout the two subspecies which then opens the discussion as to where does one subspecies start and the other finish?!!
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Post by Adam Cotton on Nov 24, 2018 12:27:17 GMT
Perhaps variation occurs throughout the two subspecies which then opens the discussion as to where does one subspecies start and the other finish?!! That seems to be a common theme across DRC. Several butterfly subspecies seem to be clinal between Cameroon/CAR and Uganda. Adam. |
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Post by cabintom on Nov 24, 2018 18:03:50 GMT
That seems to be a common theme across DRC. Several butterfly subspecies seem to be clinal between Cameroon/CAR and Uganda. This gives me such a headache sometimes. Often I find myself identifying a subspecies simply based on locale. I feel like there should be a marked enough difference between the characteristics of the subspecies that with a little bit of experience you could easily differentiate them. The other problem is that the range descriptions I find for some subspecies are altogether confusing. Euphaedra medon's various subspecies for example have range descriptions that seemingly have them crisscrossing and overlapping. Anyways, from the picture mcheki posted I'm not any more/less convinced 6 & 7 are ssp. incerta. |
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