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Post by wollastoni on Dec 14, 2015 18:33:47 GMT
If I lived in a Delias rich area, I would perhaps try to haul in some potted Lantana plants and place them above ground within net reach as an experiment to see if this would draw in nectaring females. Lantana is a good attractant for many species in the Neotropics and in my own backyard in California. Unfortunately the answer is rather "no" : In West Papua, you can see lantana "forests" everywhere... Papuans traditionally burn the forest to plant their crops. Later they abandon the area and the field is replaced by lantana bushes. On these lantanas, I have seen plenty of Papilionidae, few Pieridae, very few Delias and only males. About Delias females that you can catch by "chance" among males... it all depends of species. When I look in the statistics of my capture or those of Henk van Mastrigt in various publications, you clearly see that : - low altitude species have a higher rate of caught females - some altitude species have a higher ratio of females encountered (5%) like Delias nais group (including nais and zebra, and thus should be the case for bornemanni), like Delias ladas or Delias pheres - most altitude species have a nearly 0% rate of caught females : the common Delias toxopei being the best example with maybe a 0,0000% ratio. Unfortunately this 3rd category is the biggest. The only explanation that I see, knowing some females worth more than 500€/each and are highly looked after by collectors, is that they stay in the canopy (or in deep forest). You can imagine that someone like Henk would have tried the simple techniques (like luring with another specimen, looking for Loranthus sp and so on).
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Post by nomad on Dec 14, 2015 18:47:51 GMT
You can imagine that someone like Henk would have tried the simple techniques (like luring with another specimen, looking for Loranthus sp and so on). I have never heard of anyone using Meek's specimen lure as far as Delias are concerned. Perhaps Chris has? I am guessing what Meek meant by an old specimen is a tatty one.
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Post by africaone on Dec 14, 2015 18:53:12 GMT
In Africa breeding on Mistetloe provided very good results for Mylothris and Iolaus sl. this need to have some technics for how to do but it is easy and very productive. In Cameroon I had a special tool to "cut" mistletoe in trees and bring back them at home to find eggs and larvas. The ABRI team specialised in this (like Condgon, Bampton and Collins) and obtained very good results and extensive knowledge on these two genera. Iolaus is not so easy to catch and some species are quite difficult to obtain.
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Post by chrisd on Dec 14, 2015 19:09:40 GMT
A very interesting article, thanks Peter.
Around Kosipe, the Delias will be in the forested areas. Very few butterflies except Argyreus hyperbius and Mycalesis sps fly in the grasslands. Meek probably caught his females on flowering shrubs some of which are not so high that platforms are needed.
The early stages of the montane species remain a mystery despite extensive searches by HvM and others.
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indra
New Aurelian
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Country: U.S.A.
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Post by indra on Dec 14, 2015 20:37:25 GMT
Unfortunately the answer is rather "no" : In West Papua, you can see lantana "forests" everywhere... Papuans traditionally burn the forest to plant their crops. Later they abandon the area and the field is replaced by lantana bushes. On these lantanas, I have seen plenty of Papilionidae, few Pieridae, very few Delias and only males. About Delias females that you can catch by "chance" among males... it all depends of species. When I look in the statistics of my capture or those of Henk van Mastrigt in various publications, you clearly see that : - low altitude species have a higher rate of caught females - some altitude species have a higher ratio of females encountered (5%) like Delias nais group (including nais and zebra, and thus should be the case for bornemanni), like Delias ladas or Delias pheres - most altitude species have a nearly 0% rate of caught females : the common Delias toxopei being the best example with maybe a 0,0000% ratio. Unfortunately this 3rd category is the biggest. The only explanation that I see, knowing some females worth more than 500€/each and are highly looked after by collectors, is that they stay in the canopy (or in deep forest). You can imagine that someone like Henk would have tried the simple techniques (like luring with another specimen, looking for Loranthus sp and so on). I definitely agree with much of what you said. However, there are a number of comments I would like to add. First of all, where I collected in the native forests, I saw very few low-growing nectar sources including lantana. Yes, there was much lantana in disturbed areas, but Delias females are generally going to stick very close by to their favorite trees and not stray. (2) Some of the very rarest Delias come from areas that are virtually inaccessible with no roads and extreme danger and unfriendly natives, requiring very long steep hikes to reach. Thanks to Laurie that some of us are able to obtain some of these rarities. With roads and better safer access, I am sure even these species would be more readily available. Who other than Henk has ever collected in the Foja Mts.? Plus with the fact that very few people on this planet are even interested in Delias, the demand is low so few people are even willing to search for them. On the other hand, for example, the genus Agrias has always been in great demand. I remember back in the 1980's when even not so rare Agrias were going for well over a thousand dollars each, even for males. Now with more people than ever collecting them and learning how to collect them even in once isolated areas that have been opened up with new roads, many of these once extremely rare species and forms are now available at reasonable prices. (3) There are always going to be some species of any particular genus that are going to remain rare no matter what. Delias are no exception. They may have more restricted hostplants and ranges or other particular needs that affect their numbers. I also like Callicore and Perisama species from the Neotropics. For many, many years I had never seen a Callicore ines specimen which comes from Colombia. Now all of a sudden, I have seen 3 or 4 different dealers offering them in small numbers recently on Ebay. Are they really that rare, or are they just localized and people did not know where to find them.
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indra
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Post by indra on Dec 15, 2015 1:54:32 GMT
Why is it that the female of every Delias species found in the Arfak Mts. is well known? Could it be that the area is readily accessible and relatively heavily collected compared to other areas of W. Papua? Just a thought.
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Post by trehopr1 on Dec 15, 2015 4:14:05 GMT
Dear Nomad, another superb and fascinating article. As always, well researched and full of content. I don't know how you find the time but, your labor and detective work is impressive ! ! I swear your MORE productive in a year's time producing articles like these than HALF the Ph.D's out there doing whatever it is they do.
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Post by nomad on Dec 15, 2015 6:12:43 GMT
Hi Trev. Thank you. By writing articles, I gain a better insight to those entomologists or butterflies that I study and hope they will inspire others to participate and share their knowledge. Also I believe it is a good way to to get others to become interested in our hobby . As far as the Delias butterflies are concerned, some here have a far greater knowledge than I, especially those that have had the opportunity to collect them in the field.
John is quite right, places like Arfak has seen much collecting and many areas of West Papua such as the Foja mountains very little. The reason no specimens of the Owen Stanley Range are appearing today, is the simple reason no one is collecting them. The natives there have no way in selling any butterflies and few western collectors would go there today because they perceive it to be too dangerous. I would like to visit the Owen Stanley Range and would save the funds to do so, but would only go with others and experienced guides. I don't want it to be the last thing I do. Although it would be a great experience, I don't really want to shell out large amounts of money to go to the West Papuan tourist hot spots and where those Delias species are readily available.
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Post by wollastoni on Dec 15, 2015 8:55:30 GMT
Why is it that the female of every Delias species found in the Arfak Mts. is well known? Could it be that the area is readily accessible and relatively heavily collected compared to other areas of W. Papua? Just a thought. Yes John, I think so. Maybe more species with a high ratio of captured females also (no eichhorni group species there). Except for Delias takashii which remains an enigma for me. Delias takashii-If it is a real species, why does nobody find it ? -If it is an ab. of Delias hypomelas form argentata, how come it is described from Arfak ? As far as I know, Delias hypomelas is not known from Arfak... Delias hypomelas form argentataAnyone knows how many specimens of Delias takashii are known ? If only one, my personnal theory is that it is an aberrant argentata erroneously described from Arfak by Satoshi Sakuma, but I would love to be wrong as takashii is a splendid "species".
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Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 15, 2015 10:57:50 GMT
I know very little about Delias from New Guinea, but looking at the photos of Delias takashii and hypomelas above, they don't look quite like the same species. Yes there are similarities in colour pattern, but the wing shape seems rather different. Perhaps wing shape is very variable though, or the photos are not taken from a standard distance. I can't tell the relative sizes as there is no scale.
Adam.
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Post by nomad on Dec 15, 2015 17:22:59 GMT
Except for Delias takashii which remains an enigma for me. Perhaps it is just unusual aberration of D. hypomelas.
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Post by wollastoni on Dec 15, 2015 17:48:22 GMT
But Delias hypomelas doesn't fly in Arfak That's why I love studying Delias. The more you know them, the more taxonomic issues you see !
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Post by nomad on Dec 17, 2015 20:23:19 GMT
Delias callima Rothschild and Jordan 1905 is a rare butterfly that is found in Papua New Guinea. The nominate callima from the Owen Stanley Range is rarely found in collections. ssp satura Jordan 1930 was discovered in the Herzog Mountains by Albert Eichhorn during 1928. I believed that the nominate callima was discovered by A.S Meek at the Angabunga River, in the Owen Stanley Range during his expedition there in late 1904-early 1905. Rothschild and Jordan described this Delias with other butterflies from Meek's expedition to the Angabunga River. However, I have also seen specimens labelled Owgarra ( see below) which is at the head of the Aroa river and which Meek visited in 1903. So it does seem that Meek first collected a few specimens during his earlier expedition to the Owen Stanley Range. Meek's good fortune and expertise produced a series of both sexes of Delias callima. The nominate callima shows reddish-brown verso hindwing markings and is quite an attractive insect. Male specimen of Delias callima Owgarra Owen Stanley Range. A. S. Meek leg. Oxford University Museum of Natural History Collection.
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Post by nomad on Dec 19, 2015 8:17:04 GMT
I wonder, does anyone have the nominate Delias callima in their collection. It does seem a real rarity. Delias callima satura was discovered during Albert Frederic Eichhorn's last collecting expedition to the Herzog Mountains of Papua New Guinea. Eichhorn had previously joined the Edie Creek gold rush, situated to the west of Wau in Morobe Province Papua in 1926. Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan asked Eichhorn to return there to collect insects . Eichhorn set up his collecting camp at an altitude of 6100 ft ( 1859 meters) at Edie Creek on the west side of the Herzog Mountains early in 1928. Among several new species of butterflies that Eichhorn discovered was Delias endela, which was originally described by Jordan (1930) as a subspecies of D. pheres. Eichhorn's Herzog Mountain Papuan expedition was cut short when he suffered a stroke and he was the first ever naturalist in New Guinea to be evacuated by an aeroplane. He survived for just three more years and died in 1931. Albert Eichhorn who was born at Cooktown, had been with Meek on two of his collecting expeditions to the Owen Stanley Range in Papua. Eichhorn had returned with Meek from Port Moresby to the Head of the Aroa River during May 1903. However, Eichhorn had only been there for a short while collecting, when he and Meek were forced to withdraw to the coast because of a measle epidemic which had spread among the expedition's collecting boys. Eichhorn was honoured by Delias eichhorni (Rothschild and Jordan 1904) which had been collected at the Aroa River. I believe that he also accompained Meek in 1906 on his expedition to the Head of the Mambare River. Later Eichhorn married Meek's sister and became his brother-in-law. Today the area around Edie Creek west of the Wau, has seen much deforestation and erosion due to large scale gold mining and logging concessions. Edie Creek gold rush site in 1928 when Albert Eichhorn was collecting in the area. Edie Creek Goldmine in 2011.
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indra
New Aurelian
Posts: 21
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by indra on Dec 19, 2015 19:17:52 GMT
I remember Fred Gerrits (Australia) had a specimen of nominate callima in his collection. Perhaps someone should apply for a job at one of these mines and collect Delias in their spare time. All of the material which came from Tembagapura was collected by Norris Pangemanan who worked at the Freeport mine north of Timika. I once met him when he came to Los Angeles to attend a company seminar.
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