Delias mira roepkei FEMALE !

[wollastoni]

Delias mira roepkei is the commonest mira ssp.
But female are extremely rare in collection, I have never seen one with my own eyes.

I had the chance to receive one last week :


Mount Hagen
2850 m altitude
Papua New Guinea
December 2016
leg. Nicolas Grimaldi

Not perfect but a very nice addition to my collection (always harder now to find something to add !)

[Adam Cotton]

Strange that a subspecies of Delias from New Guinea rather than Java should be named after Roepke. I suppose that there wasn't anything new in Java to name after him.

Adam.

[deliasfanatic]

Roepke worked on a major publication of West Irian Delias that was finally published in 1955...many new taxa were described therein.

[Adam Cotton]

Ah, I only know his work Rhopalocera Javanica, published in 1935. Thanks for the explanation.

Adam.

[nick]

Thank you Olivier for sharing this beautiful catch ! I am happy it is yours.

I haven't had the time to make a proper write up here about our recent researches in PNG.

So I kept a little surprise for you all and will share it here.

Mount Hagen is a very special place that hasn't been explored since a while. Many interesting species can be found.

Delias Mira roepkei females are extremely rare, but we had the luck to be at the good place at the good time, through a window of few days that we may not have anytime soon. The good flower at the right spot. 

Imagine my surprise when I opened this astonishing specimen and realized it was different. It seems to be the first ever yellow female Mira recorded.
Out of the pupa.





Roepkei were found from 2500 to 2900m, most of the time flying high. Mostly males, in small numbers. The climatic conditions are extremely difficult, with rain most of the time, cold weather and fog. Sometimes the sun escapes and illuminates an orchid that will last only few days and disappear. We were standing here by chance.

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[colon]

Dear Olivier

Do you have better detail for the location source of the female delias mira roepkei.
The town of Mt Hagen is in the Wahgi valley, altitude about 1850m.

Colon