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Post by mcheki on Apr 5, 2017 18:40:29 GMT
This is an unusual aberration of Danaus chrysippus alcippus that came from Lobaye in Central African Republic. The normal specimen above the aberration comes from Wak in north central Cameroon. The aberrant specimen seems to have the basic pattern of the normal form but the white bar of the forewing apex has developed incorrectly and the pigment appears to have flowed into an irregular band. On looking closely it can be seen that the veins of both fore and hind wings are incomplete and do not extend to the distal areas. This is particularly noticeable in the forewing apical area and may have caused the pattern change. This is probably a rare abnormality and it would be interesting to know if any others are known or if someone has an explanation of how it occurs.
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Post by mcheki on Apr 5, 2017 18:41:46 GMT
The undersides of the two above specimens.
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Post by mcheki on Apr 5, 2017 18:44:48 GMT
A second aberration of the same species (Danaus chrysippus alcippus) is an albinistic one. I think I remember reading that white individuals are found in Danaus plexippus but have not seen it in this species before. The top specimen comes from Botambi In Central African Republic and the lower one from Korup Forest in south west Cameroon. The lower one is the normal form.
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Post by mcheki on Apr 5, 2017 18:47:23 GMT
The undersides of the two above specimens.
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Post by wollastoni on Apr 5, 2017 21:58:46 GMT
This is an unusual aberration of Danaus chrysippus chrysippus that came from Lobaye in Central African Republic. The normal specimen above the aberration comes from Wak in north central Cameroon. The aberrant specimen seems to have the basic pattern of the normal form but the white bar of the forewing apex has developed incorrectly and the pigment appears to have flowed into an irregular band. On looking closely it can be seen that the veins of both fore and hind wings are incomplete and do not extend to the distal areas. This is particularly noticeable in the forewing apical area and may have caused the pattern change. This is probably a rare abnormality and it would be interesting to know if any others are known or if someone has an explanation of how it occurs.
Looks like peroneurose disease ab. Search for "peroneurose" in the ICF search bar and you will see other examples
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Post by Paul K on Apr 6, 2017 1:30:40 GMT
Interesting that specimens of D.chrysippus chrysippus from Thailand and Laos have all wings orange without any trace of white. Shouldn't be a different subspecies in Africa or in Asia , I don't know where it was described first.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Apr 6, 2017 8:11:39 GMT
There are both white and orange hindwing forms in Africa. The type locality of chrysippus Linnaeus, 1758 is actually China, Canton according to Corbet (1949), and Ackery et al. (1999 - Carcasson's African Butterflies) place the African taxon as ssp. aegyptius (Schreiber, 1759).
Adam.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2017 9:31:39 GMT
I have a couple of d plexippus which are almost white.
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Post by mcheki on Apr 6, 2017 18:54:07 GMT
There are both white and orange hindwing forms in Africa. The type locality of chrysippus Linnaeus, 1758 is actually China, Canton according to Corbet (1949), and Ackery et al. (1999 - Carcasson's African Butterflies) place the African taxon as ssp. aegyptius (Schreiber, 1759). Adam.
The whole of Danaus was revised in 2005 and what I gather from this extensive work is that chrysippus was maintained and aegyptius was synonymised. See more below.
Reference details: SMITH, LUSHAI and ALLEN: “A classification of Danaus butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based upon data from morphology and DNA”. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005.
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Post by mcheki on Apr 6, 2017 18:56:52 GMT
Interesting that specimens of D.chrysippus chrysippus from Thailand and Laos have all wings orange without any trace of white. Shouldn't be a different subspecies in Africa or in Asia , I don't know where it was described first.
Thank you for pointing out my mistake. (This has now been corrected in the main text). The subspecies in west and central Africa is ssp: alcippus. North eastern sub-Saharan Africa hosts ssp: chrysippus. Here is a summary of the subspecies ranges taken from Smith et al (see above)
ssp. chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758)
China, Taiwan, Japan, Indo-China, Philippines, Borneo, Malay Peninsula, Thailand, Burma and India to Iran, Iraq, then to Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia Algeria, Morocco, Canary Is., Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Congo Republic.
ssp. alcippus (Cramer, 1777). West Africa from Senegal then eastwards to Cameroun, Macias Nguema (Fernando Po), Central African Republic, Uganda, Sudan, Congo Republic, Ethiopia, Yemen, Oman, Kenya, Tanzania.
ssp. orientis (Aurivillius, 1909). Seychelles, Mauritius, La Réunion, Comoro Is., Madagascar, South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Angola, Gabon.
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Post by mcheki on Apr 6, 2017 19:00:31 GMT
Thank you for the determination. Now I have a name to it I can check out further references.
This is another good example of the advantages of being a member of ICF. A query shared and someone can help find an answer.
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Post by mcheki on Apr 6, 2017 20:24:22 GMT
I have a couple of d plexippus which are almost white. Any chance of a photo?? Please.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2017 20:51:27 GMT
Next to no chance at the moment, camera is playing up.
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Post by mcheki on Apr 8, 2017 16:34:46 GMT
Interesting that specimens of D.chrysippus chrysippus from Thailand and Laos have all wings orange without any trace of white. Shouldn't be a different subspecies in Africa or in Asia , I don't know where it was described first.
Thank you for pointing out my mistake. (This has now been corrected in the main text). The subspecies in west and central Africa is ssp: alcippus. North eastern sub-Saharan Africa hosts ssp: chrysippus. Here is a summary of the subspecies ranges taken from Smith et al (see above)
ssp. chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758)
China, Taiwan, Japan, Indo-China, Philippines, Borneo, Malay Peninsula, Thailand, Burma and India to Iran, Iraq, then to Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia Algeria, Morocco, Canary Is., Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Congo Republic.
ssp. alcippus (Cramer, 1777). West Africa from Senegal then eastwards to Cameroun, Macias Nguema (Fernando Po), Central African Republic, Uganda, Sudan, Congo Republic, Ethiopia, Yemen, Oman, Kenya, Tanzania.
ssp. orientis (Aurivillius, 1909). Seychelles, Mauritius, La Réunion, Comoro Is., Madagascar, South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Angola, Gabon.
To help make the situation clearer it may help if I post pictures of the two drawers in my collection that show the specimens I have of the African species and forms of Danaus chrysippus. I hope they are self-explanatory. The specimens in the first drawer start in the west of Africa and then we move eastwards and then south. The name in the bottom right corner that is partially covered is Reunion.
Column one in the second drawer starts with a pair from Mauritius. The bottom three pairs are from Madagascar. The D plexippus are voucher specimens from outside Africa. The rest of the drawer covers the genus Tirumala from Africa.
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Post by cabintom on Apr 13, 2017 13:12:57 GMT
I'm not certain the taxonomy of D. chrysippus has been totally sorted out correctly. So far, I've found examples of every form (except the albinistic ab. and the darker dorippus) here in the Ituri province.
At any rate, that's an awesome drawer!
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