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Post by cabintom on May 31, 2017 3:23:19 GMT
Male Belenois raffrayi extendens (Joicey & Talbot, 1927) 22/IV/2016 Near Mbogi, Ituri (1°41'N, 30°07'E) 1250m
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Post by deliasfanatic on May 31, 2017 4:46:07 GMT
I haven't yet photographed any Belenois, but most of my limited lepidoptera time lately has been spent with Charaxes. I've had the opportunity to acquire various specimens from an old collection, including some historic material. It's a shame that this Charaxes balfouri isn't in better condition, but it's similar to most specimens in collections, and quite a rarity in any condition at all. As the label indicates, it was collected by Ogilvie-Grant in January 1899! C balfouri M 3076 by D B, on Flickr
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Post by mcheki on Jun 1, 2017 18:43:15 GMT
There are 27 species of Belenois throughout Africa some being widespread with subspecies in different zones and one or two with very limited distribution such as B albadrensis (endemic to one island in the Seychelles). My collection has 24 species represented with several subspecies as applicable. This is over six drawers and starts with the raffrayi and zochalia groups. The drawers are in taxonomic order with relevant names below the last in the series. Specimens angled and not in the strict columns are placed thus because there is no further room to place them in the correct column without reorganising the drawer, This is a work in progress so please take this into account.
The second drawer includes B victoria and B creona. The latter with different subspecies on both Madagascar and the Comoro Islands.
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Post by mcheki on Jun 1, 2017 18:48:10 GMT
The third drawer contains B aurota, B rubrosignata, B subeida and B theora.
In drawer 4 there are some more B theora as well as many B calypso.
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Post by mcheki on Jun 1, 2017 18:50:57 GMT
Drawer 5 contains a number of different species. Note that some of the lower ones in column 2 have not been determined and may be hybrid specimens. These are from the Central African Republic. Please put forward any diagnostic theories that you may have.
The sixth and last drawer also has several species. The most difficult to obtain is B anomala because this is only found on the island of Socotra.
I hope these are OK?
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Post by deliasfanatic on Jun 1, 2017 20:17:33 GMT
Great! Thanks much for posting. Lovely to view these - the first comprehensive collection of Belenois that I've seen.
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Post by cabintom on Jun 2, 2017 3:27:55 GMT
Awesome collection! Where are the majority of the creona from? Here, I've only ever found a couple where the post cellular mark is limited to a dot instead of a bar.
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Post by africaone on Jun 2, 2017 7:08:32 GMT
nice collection :-)
about the 2 undetermined species - N°2-3 of the second column need the verso surface - N° 5-8 : why not creona ?
the African Pierid are probably the most poor studied butterflies in Africa. there are no actual specialist and some species remains undetermined (of which some are probably unnammed). may be the problem coming from the big number of names published and the necessity to check all the types dispersed in many collections (+ some being probably destroyed or lost). Even the genera are not fixed satisfactory (espacially Pierini).
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Post by mcheki on Jun 2, 2017 16:18:15 GMT
Thank you for your feedback. As requested here are the undersides of drawer 5, column 2 specimens 2 and 3. Part of the reason for the difficulty in determining these two is the poor data available for them. The label for the male on the left states “Collection 144. Ex N York 1984 1 of 17” So anybody’s guess!! The female on the right has a capitol “K” in a circle. Researching this collectors data information places this in either Nigeria or the Kenya Coast. Again causing doubts. africaone asks “why not creona?” for specimens 5 and 8. You may well be correct but they are larger and have some features of B theora. They do not fit comfortably into creona and so remain undecided.
Please also see specimens 3 and 4 in the last column of drawer 3. These also appear to be hybrids, particularly the underside. These also come from Central African Republic.
To answer cabintom I have to say -- all over. Some are from South Africa, some from Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and the marked ones from Cameroon. The three angled ones in drawer 2 at the bottom of column 7 (2 males and a female) are from Kivu.
I also have to agree that the nomenclature of the Pieridae is in need of updating. Mylothris is in the process of being revised, but I am not aware of any others being updated.
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Post by africaone on Jun 3, 2017 14:44:00 GMT
for these two, I would say calypso.
hybrid are rare and sporadic events between well diffenciated species. except if the series has been caught the same day at the exact same place, it seems difficult to believe.
I started to study Colotis as I have a species to describe but the problem is to check the types and some species need to be splitted. I have another Pierid probably undescribed in another genus. Unfortunetely no serious work can serve as starting point. Some Belenois need also description or ressurection.
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