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Post by wollastoni on Jan 6, 2016 17:42:49 GMT
Our friend Chris Davenport (ICF member) has described a new Delias ssp : Delias vietnamensis pequini in Tropical Lepidoptera December 2015.
Here you can see some pictures of the new taxon :
I recommend everyone to subscribe to Tropical Lepidoptera periodical.
The new ssp is much blacker (especially the female), larger and without a gray basal patch.
For the non Delias specialists, Delias vietnamensis is a rare Delias species discovered in Vietnam only in 2000 (which is very late for a continental species of the most looked after Pieridae genus in Asia). It is the only member of the georgina Group in Indochina, other members of this Group fly in Malaysia, Indonesia and in the Philippines.
:-)
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Post by Paul K on Jan 7, 2016 1:26:47 GMT
Congrats Mr.Pequin ! Just wondering have you discovered this new subspecies by your self there in Cambodia?
Paul
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jan 7, 2016 9:28:57 GMT
What altitude did the types come from? I expect it is possible that this species could be found on Khao Soi Dao, Chantaburi Prov., Thailand. The highest point of this mountain is 1600m with several peaks over 1000m, and is just across the Thai-Cambodian border from the type locality. Unfortunately no-one goes collecting in the high areas, only ever at low altitude near the waterfall on the north side of the range. One reason is that the whole area is a Wildlife Sanctuary, and collecting is not allowed without a permit.
Adam.
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Post by wollastoni on Jan 7, 2016 10:21:26 GMT
Adam > my specimens come from 900m. Agree that it could be a great addition to the Thai fauna.
South Laos and Central Cambodia should be inspected too.
Paul > No, I received 11 specimens (10 males and one female) in 2009. Some males have been sent to other Delias collectors. As most of us have no Delias vietnamensis vietnamensis or Delias vietnamensis yasusukei (because all vietnamensis are rare in collection), it was hard for us understanding the Cambodian specimens were different. When I received a yasusukei, I understood they were very different . I discussed the possibility of a new ssp with different specialists and Chris described it.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jan 7, 2016 10:58:19 GMT
Ah, I assume yasusukei was named after my old friend Yasusuke Nishiyama. Last time I met him was in August 2008 in Vientiane, Laos and sadly not long after that he suffered a stroke. Happily he has recovered but nowadays doesn't travel any more, as he is now rather old.
I agree that it is possible that Delias vietnamensis could be in South Laos (maybe in Sekong), and also possibly in eastern Cambodia near the Vietnamese border (especially in the area where Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia meet), but the central area of Cambodia is just a large plain and the highest of the few small hills there is only just over 600m, so I doubt that it will be found there.
Adam.
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Post by wollastoni on Jan 7, 2016 11:09:44 GMT
Yes it was named after Nishiyama who is a Japanese Delias expert, as are Morita, Yagishita, Nakano and many other Japanese.
Too bad that the connexions between Japanese specialists and Western specialists are so low, there are a lot of knowledge to be shared from both side. This will change with the new generations, internet and the generalisation of English learning will help a lot.
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Post by nomad on Jan 8, 2016 20:19:28 GMT
Congratulations Olivier. I expect you treasure your vietnamensis specimens even more
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 3, 2016 14:47:51 GMT
Since Chris Davenport's paper in 2015, at least 2 new localities of Delias vietnamensis vietnamensis are known in Vietnam, always more in North.
I have added the 2 new known localities (Bach Ma mts, Ngoc Linh mts) on this map.
Current known localities make his discovery in Laos and Thailand very likely. Steve Collard told me though that the Laotian national parks along the Vietnam border are full of mines, making all research of Delias vietnamensis very risky.
It also fragilizes the dubious status of Delias vietnamensis yasusukei even more.
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 8, 2016 13:00:26 GMT
Here is a picture of one female from Bach Ma mounts, one of thee new locality for Delias vietnamensis vietnamensis. I put below the picture of the paratype female of Delias vietnamensis pequini, you clearly see the size difference between the 2 ssp that you don't really get in the description article of ssp. pequini as all specimen were shown with the same length.
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