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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 24, 2018 18:36:41 GMT
Males of the latter also frequently have prominent yellow spots within the FW black area, as you see in my third male This seems very unusual, do you know of other subspecies often with these extra spots? Adam. PS. I sent a copy of Carpenter (1948) to Andrew.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 22, 2018 21:03:48 GMT
Yes it does look like nominate helenus, so it's not possible to say where it came from.
Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 22, 2018 16:03:10 GMT
By the way, for the interest of readers, the nominate ssp. adamsoni reaches at least as far south as Petchaburi at the top of the Peninsula, and probably is also found in northern Prachuab Kirikhan. There is a dry zone on the Thai side of the peninsula at that province which is a barrier between the southern and mainland Thai populations of many species/subspecies. Some are able to cross it and some others are distributed up the western Burmese side which is not so dry and cross back into Thailand at the top of the peninsula, but quite a number of butterflies do not cross this area.
Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 22, 2018 15:46:09 GMT
Les Day told me that it is quite rare on Koh Samui, but I have some specimens from Koh Phangan collected on the hill at the south side of the island by my much lamented friend Prasobsuk Sukkit in early April 2013. They are all very similar to the holotype.
Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 22, 2018 13:41:30 GMT
I assume all your takakoae are from Koh Tao. The population on that island seems somewhat intermediate to nominate adamsoni, specimens from Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, Surat Thani and Nakhon Srithammarat are always dark, whereas some from Koh Tao are dark and some lighter. Here's the holotype from Koh Samui: The holotype was collected by Ms. Takako Harada on 2 Oct. 2005 at Hinlad Waterfall. Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 22, 2018 11:02:04 GMT
Paul,
Nice draw, looks great. I have a couple of comments:
Byasa dasarada from Laos is different to those from NW Thailand and southern Burma. In Chiang Mai we have ssp. barata but NE Thailand and Laos seem to be like ssp. dasarada, the two subspecies are quite similar, mainly differing in the ground colour of the hindwing underside.
You also state that Byasa adamsoni adamsoni is a common species, but in reality apart from being quite seasonal it is also very localised. It is common in the right locality, but not found in many places. I don't want people to think that this is an easy species to find everywhere. You have to be in the right places.
Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 18, 2018 16:52:50 GMT
Jan, Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I checked Page & Treadaway (2004) and they state: "Papilio xuthus (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution: Japan, E. China, Taiwan, Guam, Luzon. Map 45. Tsukada & Nishiyama (1982) report that hybrids can be readily obtained between xuthus and beneguetanus and that they are fertile. In view of the lack of morphological differences in the genitalia of both sexes (Figs 40,41) and the apparent close genetic relationship, we treat this organism as a subspecies of xuthus (Munroe, 1961) Papilio xuthus benguetanus (Joicey & Talbot, 1923) (Page & Treadaway, 2003b: Pl. 43, figs 1-4) Holoype male: Benguet District, N. Luzon. In the British Museum (Nat. Hist.). Philippines distribution: N. Luzon, Mt Santo Thomas, Mt Paoai, Mt Benguet, north to Bontoc. Found in open areas on the high mountains (up to 2500 m), usually in March to June. Both sexes exhibit hill topping, with the males flying more vigorously in patrolling territories." This led me to checking the work of Shigeru Ae, and indeed I found in his 1979 paper (Systematic Entomology, 4: 1-16) that he crossed xuthus with benguetana (Table 1, p. 4). However on p. 9 he states: "(iv) The Papilio xuthus group. P.xuthus of East Asia and P.benguetana Joicey & Talbot, found only in Northern Luzon (Philippines), form one closely related species group." Ae did not synonymise them at species level, but Page & Treadaway did. Ae gave the hybrids a fertility value of 50, which suggests to me that they are not fully compatible, as Ae's definition was: "Fertility of F1 hybrids. Attempts have been made to obtain F2 or cousin matings and also all possible backcrosses to the parent forms. The ease with which an F2 is obtained is taken as an indication of the closeness of the relationship. The data have again been divided into five categories: F1 hybrids of both sexes sterile = 0. One or both sexes has lowered fertility = 25. One sex has good (perfect or almost perfect) fertility and other sex sterile = 50. One sex has good (perfect or almost perfect) fertility and the other sex has reduced fertility or both sexes have somewhat reduced fertility = 75. Both sexes have good (perfect or almost perfect) fertility = 100." If they are truly conspecific they should have a fertility rating of 100, but in this case it was only 50. As a result I do not agree with Page & Treadaway (2004), but would prefer to regard them as sister species that have differentiated from a common ancestor sufficiently to treat them as separate species. Since Page & Treadaway (2004) only cited Tsukada & Nishiyama (1982) I assume that they didn't actually check the details of the original research, and if they had done so they would have seen that Ae concluded they were not 100% compatible. It took me a total of 5 minutes to get from Page & Treadaway (2004) via Tsukada & Nishiyama (1982) to Ae (1979), not exactly difficult if you know where to look. With regard to benguetana vs benguetanus, the original description by Joicey & Talbot used the name benguetana but some authors have changed that to - us to conform with gender agreement under the ICZN Code. However, most Lepidopterists prefer not to follow gender agreement, and use original spellings for names. I also recommend using benguetana for the name of this species. Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 18, 2018 16:12:55 GMT
It looks rather like a Hymenopteran wasp of some sort. If you want to get it to go out of the window by itself switch off all light sources inside the room when it is active and it should fly towards light outside. Do not touch it directly as it probably can sting you if you try to pick it up in your fingers, although you could catch it in a plastic container and release it outside.
Sorry no-one has replied quickly, probably most people are working.
Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 15, 2018 13:47:59 GMT
Maybe Adam could/would be kind to share some of his knowledge of this species? Sorry I didn't reply to this earlier. Very little is known about the early stages of benguetana Joicey & Talbot, 1923 although Igarashi (1979) illustrated a 1st instar larva, which seems a little different to P. xuthus, and DNA comparison has not yet been published as far as I can see. Presumably Igarashi was unable to rear the larva, since only the 1st instar was painted by him. There is a paragraph of discussion in the text volume, but I am unable to read Japanese. I will try to find out what it says and get back on that if there is any interesting information contained there. Papilio benguetana is clearly closely related to P. xuthus, and is probably worthy of specific status due to the distinct wingshape and differences in pattern, although I have not found any comparison of genitalia. It has clearly been isolated from the common ancestor of it and xuthus for a long period of time. It is significant that P. xuthus is not differentiated into subspecies elsewhere across Asia ( koxinga from Taiwan is probably not a valid subspecies). Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 12, 2018 9:12:14 GMT
I think that's what is in the photos, P. apollo from far western China (Xinjiang).
Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 10, 2018 17:23:25 GMT
... pee as well!
As for the music, I haven't noticed it, probably because I didn't turn on the speakers on my computer. I have sound 'off' by default, as all those beeps the computer makes annoy me. There's always the 'mute' button if you just want to enjoy the videos.
Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 7, 2018 17:52:46 GMT
Aiding drying using a little air puffer used to remove dust from camera lenses immediately the specimen is removed keeps any hair from looking wet or matted/tangled. Great tip, also for wet specimens out of the relaxing box. Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 6, 2018 16:56:38 GMT
Thanks Adam! I tried but couldn't get both in the one post. What you should have done was create a thread "Ornithoptera degreasing success", put "Before" in the text, followed by the photo, and post the thread. Next click "Reply" at top right of the "Quick Reply" window below the post, put "After" in the text, followed by the photo, and post that. You can only attach one photo per post, but if your photos are already online elsewhere you can post more than one link and then both photos would appear in the same post. Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 5, 2018 22:22:41 GMT
I merged and edited the threads accordingly.
Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Mar 30, 2018 19:17:57 GMT
Then you don't know Tupperware Actually I do, but even that's not always 100% airtight. You would be surprised. As for freezing it does indeed keep out pests, but there can be other problems associated with freezing, especially in older freezers - if they partially defrost at intervals ice crystals can build up inside the box (even an 'airtight' one) and cause serious problems to the scales on the wings. Adam.
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