Subspecies of Papilio machaon

[Adam Cotton]

Several people have asked me about the classification of Papilio machaon, so here is a list of the currently recognised subspecies (including those treated as Papilio brevicauda):

machaon (Sweden)
lapponicus (Finland)
britannicus (UK)
gorganus (W Europe to Urals)
hispanicus (Iberian Peninsula)
emisphyrus (Italian Peninsula)
sphyrus (Sicily, southernmost Italy)
melitensis (Malta)
syriacus (E Mediterranean)
mauretanica (N Africa)
muetingi (SW Iran)
centralis (Central Asian Republics)
oreinus (higher altitude Kyrgyzstan)
taigensis (N Russia east of Urals)
orientis (Altai to Yakutsk)
guttmanni (Baikal area)
amurensis (Amur)
ussuriensis (Khaborovsk area)
schapiroi (Lake Khanka area, S Primorye)
kamtschadalus (Kamchatka)
sachalinensis (Sakhalin)
hippocrates (Korea, Japan)
sylvina (Taiwan)
schantungensis (eastern China)
venchuanus (W China - Yangtze valley)
verityi (S China, N Vietnam)
birmanicus (N Burma)
suroia (Manipur)
asiatica (= annae, lower altitude W Himalaya)
pendjabensis (long tailed, lower altitude, Pakistan)
ladakensis (short tailed, high altitude W Himalaya)
kiyonobu (short tailed, high altitude W Tibet)
nolico (short tailed, high altitude C Tibet - Nyalam area)
everesti (high altitude Everest area)
rinpoche (high altitude Nepal)
emihippocrates (long tailed, lower altitude Nepal)
hookeri (= sikkimensis, short tailed, high altitude SE Tibet)
hieromax (short tailed, Qinghai)
alpherakyi (short tailed, Gansu)
aliaska (E Chukotka & Alaska)
pikei (W Alberta)
dodi (SE Alberta)
hudsonianus (Manitoba)
oregonia (Oregon)
bairdii (Arizona)
joanae (Missouri)
brevicauda (Newfoundland, E Quebec) (this and the following are usually treated as a separate species)
anticostiensis (Anticosti Island)
bretonensis (Cape Breton)
gaspeensis (Gaspe Peninsula)

Notes:
1 Approximate distribution and comments in ()
2 This list is not definitive and some names are unavailable or should be treated as synonyms
3 Names are original spellings, without gender agreement
4 Apologies if I have missed anything

[wollastoni]

Interesting thank you.
How come some ssp can form in Spain and Italy... are they really differentiated ?

[deliasfanatic]

Thanks for posting this....now to compare to specimens

[Adam Cotton]

The phenotypes from northern and far southern Italy do seem differentiated, and the Spanish machaon is somewhat different again. How worthy they are of subspecies status remains to be seen.

I should say that this list is not actually my personal opinion, some of the names are unavailable and some are synonyms. I cannot post my own opinions (some of which are even undecided, as I am still studying the species) until any taxonomic changes have been published in literature. I have just posted the current opinion based on previously published work.

Adam.

[Adam Cotton]

Apr 16, 2015 20:05:00 GMT deliasfanatic said:

Thanks for posting this....now to compare to specimens

One problem that needs bearing in mind, especially with multi-generational populations, is there can often be considerable difference in appearance between different generations of the same population. The first generation that emerges from overwintering pupae is usually smaller and darker, looking very different to the summer generation(s). Comparing spring specimens of one population with summer specimens from somewhere else can give misleading impressions.

Adam.

[trehopr1]

Adam, I can't help but say that when I look at a subspecies list such as this --- it's just crazy ! The "splitters" of our science have just had a "hayday" with this butterfly. Granted it may be widespread in distribution and seems largely "heralded" as THE Papilio species of Europe. But, c'mon now somebody needs to get a hold of this species splitting AND sub-splitting mindset. You know really lay down a good sensible groundwork (revision). Heck, I would have thought by now some grad student or specialist like yourself would have sorted out such a common and popular butterfly --- years ago.
In a sense it seems that Europeans have effectively taken the equivalent of our common Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and have split it "30 ways to Sunday" ! Absurd ! I am glad to hear that these are not YOUR own personal opinions and that you are looking into this business yourself. I have long considered myself a splitter rather than a lumper. However, even after saying that I can still say that I remain reserved and conservative about breaking up a species into TOO many adjunct counterparts. My best regards....

[Adam Cotton]

One thing I have been doing here is testing the effect of environment on phenotype. I half expected that rearing larvae of Swedish machaon at much higher temperatures (38-40C) than found in Sweden might make the adults look much more like Southern European machaon. What I actually found was that there was no noticeable change in wing pattern although they were a bit smaller, and there were many deformities probably as a result of dehydration. They were still recognisably ssp. machaon, so it seems that wing pattern is mainly genetic rather than environmental.

There are actually several more subspecies names that are not included in the list, such as vargaianus (Hungary and 'Yugoslavia') and rustaveli (Caucasus), and there are more names from Asia too. Eventually I hope to be able to obtain some clarity, both as to the correct names to be applied to different populations, and also which are purely synonyms.

Adam.

[Deleted]

Can anybody tell me the difference between gorganus and hispanicus, I took a series of machaon from the Tossa de Mar area of the Costa Brava in 1994 and have bred gorganus but I can see no difference in them at all.

[timmsyrj]

Dunc, I think the reason they look the same is because they are, Adam will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe hispanicus is from southern Spain and Gibraltar so northern Spain (Costa brava etc) is gorganus as in France etc.

Rich

[bobw]

I once reared a series of machaon from females I collected near Girona in NE Spain and they looked nothing like gorganus. They were very dark and looked a bit like britannicus.

Bob

[Adam Cotton]

Well...

Actually the type locality of hispanicus Eller, 1936 is Barcelona, so not exactly southern Spain.

The different appearance of Southern Spain and Gibraltar machaon is due to genetic exchange with mauretanica from N Africa, as machaon can cross the Strait and interbreed there. The further north in Spain the more diluted are the mauretanica genes, and the more like gorganus the machaon looks.

Adam.

[Adam Cotton]

Apr 17, 2015 14:13:49 GMT bobw said:

I once reared a series of machaon from females I collected near Girona in NE Spain and they looked nothing like gorganus. They were very dark and looked a bit like britannicus.

Bob

Interesting species, machaon!

Were the adults you reared obtained from overwintering pupae? The first generation is generally smaller and darker than later generations of each multivoltine subspecies. Girona is the next province north of Barcelona, so very near the type locality of hispanicus.

In reality hispanicus is close to gorganus, but subtly different. Whether it is really worth subspecific status is another matter, and really depends on point of view. For an extreme opinion Vadim Tshikolovets believes that all European machaon should belong to the nominate subspecies.

Adam.

Adam.

[wollastoni]

and I personally think Tshikolovets is not far from the "truth"... if this word can apply to subspecies taxonomy.

[Deleted]

You can't get much more Costa Brava than Barcelona.

Thanks Adam, they do look very similar to my untrained eye.

[nomad]

Which is the rarest and most sought after subspecies of P. machaon??.