The various forms of Delias mira cieko

[wollastoni]

Could anyone share some pictures of the 4 known forms of Delias mira cieko ?

Along with descriptions if possible.

Did Henk van Mastrigt explain the % of each form in the Pass Valley population ?

I have a strange specimen and I would like to know which form it is. I will post a picture of it later.

On the Delias website, I see only 2 forms B and D.

[indra]

You can down load the pdf of Henk's paper at:
www.zobodat.at/pdf/Neue-Entomologische-Nachrichten_48_0003-0068.pdf

[wollastoni]

Thank you so much John !

I have worked on this simplified identification tool from this paper

I now have to check my specimens ! 

[wollastoni]

After verification, I have only form C (from Baliem Valley) and form D (from Korupun) in collection.

[Adam Cotton]

Can you explain to someone who knows little about NG Delias why the website uses the species name roepkei but you call it Delias mira?

Adam.

[wollastoni]

Sure.

Delias mira is a Delias species distributed both in Western and Eastern New Guinea
In Kerowagi area, 2 different stable taxa were identified : mira excelsa and roepkei. Thus roepkei was described as a separated species (2 ssp cannot fly in the same locality... at least for a long period, but that's another topic)
Then a new taxon was discovered in the Pass Valley (W Papua) and was described as Delias roepkei cieko

But it appears with time that "excelsa" and "roepkei roepkei" never shared the same locality ! roepkei is from Kerowagi and extensa from Wau area.

Thus the status of separate species for roepkei ssp has no sense and we have now Delias mira roepkei in Kerowagi, Delias mira excelsa in Wau and Delias mira cieko in the Pass Valley.

The Delias website has to be updated.

BTW 99% of offered Delias mira excelsa on the market are in fact Delias mira roepkei. Real "excelsa" are rare in collection, mine were collected many years ago

[africaone]

Feb 18, 2016 9:27:45 GMT wollastoni said:

I have a strange specimen and I would like to know which form it is. I will post a picture of it later.

and ? ....

[wollastoni]

And finally it appears to be the rare form C.
I will post a picture of it on Sunday (I am in France right now)

From discussions with other collectors, it seems that most specimens in collection are form D.
Danny, Peter, John, do you have forms A, B or C ?

[deliasfanatic]

My cieko are all "D" with little variation. However, the various forms seem to be present in at least some of the other subspecies. Here are a few of my roepkei series; the upper 3 are males, with a "normal" form at top and two with more extensive white. At bottom are two females, quite different from one another. My excelsa males show some variation too.

[wollastoni]

Interesting, I need to check my ssp. roepkei too

[nomad]

I have only one male specimen of cieko and it is a typical form D.

[Adam Cotton]

Olivier,

Thanks for the explanation, which makes sense assuming mira has priority.

Adam.

[timmsyrj]

Olivier is it "extensa" or excelsa, I have 9 specimens I got from I.F.T.A before they closed but then again as they are from Kerowagi they would be neither, they came labelled as mira excelsa but would be roepkei.

Rich

[deliasfanatic]

Rich - excelsa is the proper name, but that ssp is from the Wau area. The names were confused for years, but those from Kerowagi are all roepkei.

Edit - I see that I made a typo above, sorry - correcting it now.

Another edit - aha! Typo was caused by copying Olivier's text and not making a mental correction!

[timmsyrj]

Thanks, I've checked and my roepkei are all like the top male specimen above.

Rich