Papilio dardanus - its subspecies and forms

[deliasfanatic]

As promised, I've photographed current versions of my drawers with Papilio phorcas and dardanus. (And no "nandina" created hybrids!) Since I'll add explanatory notes with each photo, I'll make a new post for each drawer within this thread.

Here is the first of two drawers of P. phorcas. Column 1 includes p. bardamu from Bioko (males only) and males/females of p. phorcas (West Africa).

The remainder of the drawer contains p. congoanus, although a friend and I have the opinion that p. niloticus, a long-synonymized ssp, should probably be resurrected for phorcas from Kivu through W. Uganda. Here, the latter includes males in Col. 3, the lower 2 green females plus female f. mutans in Col. 4, and the lower 4 females in Col. 5. In the specimens that we've studied, both males and females have consistently differed from these east/west divisions.

Note, also, the interesting male aberrations in Col. 2 - these have partial yellow instead of green, one of which is asymmetric.

dardanus drawer 01 1399 by D B, on Flickr

[deliasfanatic]

P. phorcas, drawer 2. Col. 1-2 includes other ssp from Uganda-Kenya-Tanzania; Col. 4 is a recently discovered population of p. sudanicola from extreme NE Uganda. Col. 3 is from a nearby Uganda location, not quite as far to the NE, and may also be sudanicola. (I'm not seeing a difference, based on these short series.) Col. 5 is p. nyikanus from Malawi.

dardanus drawer 02 1400 by D B, on Flickr

[deliasfanatic]

P. dardanus antinorii - Ethiopia. This ssp has tailed females, both male-like and mimetic. The latter particularly fascinate me; when one is accustomed to tailless mimetic females, these provide quite a shock. My favourite among them is f. alameitu (bottom of Col. 3); it looks like a male with red female centres pasted on top. The female above it is somewhat transitional.

dardanus drawer 03 1401 by D B, on Flickr

[deliasfanatic]

The first two columns here should actually appear before d. antinorii, but for reasons of space, they're housed with nominate males. Col. 1 includes males of the most primitive ssp, meriones, from Madagascar; its females are male-like and never mimetic. Col. 2 includes 3 female meriones, plus d. humbloti males and female from Grand Comoro.

The remaining columns include nominate males from many locations, including the interesting aberrations in Col. 5.

dardanus drawer 04 1402 by D B, on Flickr

[deliasfanatic]

Nominate females #1. The common form, hippocoon, is found throughout the species' continental range; Col. 1 and part of Col. 2, the last of which is aberrant. Other forms here are less often seen, some being very rare; Col. 3 #4 is an undescribed form, and below it is the very rare f. sirius. Those in Col. 5 are more frequent in d. polytrophus and tibullus, but seldom-seen in d. dardanus. They're restricted to an area from E. Rwanda to the east of Lake Victoria; they may be considered as the dubious ssp d. meseres.

dardanus drawer 05 1403 by D B, on Flickr

[deliasfanatic]

More nominate females. Some named forms are barely worth retaining, but as they were used in the 1985 revision by Bernardi et al, I've used them here. Col. 2, #2 is unnamed, to my knowledge; below that is the rare form carpenteri, a genetic "mix" restricted to a small area. The drawer's last specimen is an aberrant male of d. meseres, a ssp of doubtful validity, collected in 1932 by van Someren.

dardanus drawer 06 1404 by D B, on Flickr

[deliasfanatic]

Col. 1 contains d. sulphurea from Bioko; the specimens are in poor condition, especially the females, but are impossible to obtain anymore. These were collected by Canu in the 1980s. Col. 2 #1-2 are d. ochraceana, restricted to two Kenyan mountains. The remainder of Col. 2 plus Col. 3 are d. flavicornis, restricted to Mt Kulal in Kenya; they're the same in pattern as ochraceana, but most interestingly have golden-yellow antennae, unlike all other ssp. The last 2 columns are males of d. polytrophus from the highlands of Central Kenya.

dardanus drawer 07 1405 by D B, on Flickr

[deliasfanatic]

P. d. polytrophus females. A very variable ssp from Kenyan highlands, whose forms are a mixture of more easterly/westerly ssp. The bottom 3 specimens of Col. 1 are, to my knowledge, an undescribed form.

dardanus drawer 08 1406 by D B, on Flickr

[mygos]

Very nice drawers Danny ! It is always very interesting to observe one species throughout its complete range ...

A+, Michel

[deliasfanatic]

P. d. tibullus - males and first part of females, including some interesting aberrations. These are found from coastal Kenya/Tanzania into Malawi and Mozambique, where they blend with d. cenea.

dardanus drawer 09 1407 by D B, on Flickr

[deliasfanatic]

Finally, more tibullus females plus d. cenea from South Africa. The latter is more limited in its forms, but includes a few not seen elsewhere, or only in greatly modified form.

dardanus drawer 10 1408 by D B, on Flickr

[cabintom]

Awesome. Simply awesome.

[trehopr1]

Absolutely Incredible ! ! Probably THE most complete assemblage of this complex owned by one individual.... Bravo ! !

[trehopr1]

I would also ADD "beautifully curated and thoroughly researched". You really know your stuff deliasfanatic....

[mosca1]

Mind blowing Danny! Congratulations!

Laurie