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Post by wollastoni on Feb 1, 2015 20:01:36 GMT
Good to see you here John ! I am glad you have joined us ! Strange indeed that you discover it only now ! Personally I would have hated thinking I may have crossed this gynandro without catching it !
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Post by nomad on Mar 13, 2015 17:01:34 GMT
A few Papuan additions to my little Delias collection. All are quite hard to obtain today. My favourite, the stunning Delias luctuosa kuning ( male). Star Mountains, Abmisibil .2000. The rather rare Delias sphenodiscus. A male showing the verso and recto. Sumbole, Central Mountains, River Wolen. 2000. Delias campbelli microleuca. Star Mountains, Borme Yapil, River Wapra. Top male, bottom female.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Mar 13, 2015 17:11:53 GMT
Wonderful goodies...luctuosa kuning is one of my favourites too. It also comes in a white form, indistinguishable from luctuosa archboldi. For that reason, Henk nowadays considers kuning as a form rather than a full ssp.
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Post by nomad on Mar 13, 2015 17:22:48 GMT
Thanks deliasfanatic, I am pleased you like my little haul. So I might add Delias luctuosa archboldi form kuning. More changes for our friend Olivier.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Mar 13, 2015 17:36:51 GMT
Not everyone agrees with the change, but Henk's writeup makes sense and I'd have to agree that the white specimens are indistinguishable. Long before the paper was published, I really had to wonder about subspecific status for the white ones, since I couldn't see any difference from archboldi, even though they came from kuning localities.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Mar 13, 2015 17:43:19 GMT
You'll see that the last 3 specimens in Col. 3 are the "white kuning form"; Col. 4-5 are archboldi. The latter tend to have less maroon at the base of the HW pink patch, but with only 3 specimens of white "kuning" to compare, it's not enough to disagree with Henk's conclusions that are based on a much larger series. (Ignore the smattering of specimens at bottom of those columns; those are iltis leucotera which I've not yet properly organised.) delias drawer35 1128 by D B, on Flickr
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Post by nomad on Mar 13, 2015 18:07:46 GMT
Very interesting and a stunning box, indeed the white form of kuning and subspecies archboldi looks very similar. If they are indeed the same subspecies, I wonder why archboldi in its other areas of distribution does not have a yellow form?
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Post by deliasfanatic on Mar 13, 2015 19:17:36 GMT
Forms can be localised in many species; in Papilio dardanus and aegeus, for example, there are various female forms that are found in only a small part of a given subspecies' range. I assume there's no difference with Delias; it could be part of a mimicry ring that commonly bears a yellow forewing east of the Baliem Valley area, just to think of one possibility.
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Post by wollastoni on Apr 18, 2015 15:08:27 GMT
Sometimes you go to an insect fair and don't find anything...
Sometimes you find a rare Delias lecerfi caught in November 1920 by the Pratt brothers in the Weyland Mounts of New Guinea, ex. Coll Joicey ! Described in 1922 by Joicey & Talbot.
Found today in Modena insect fair.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Apr 18, 2015 17:03:36 GMT
I recognize that handwriting
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Post by wollastoni on Apr 18, 2015 17:10:44 GMT
Who do you think wrote that label ?
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Post by nomad on Apr 19, 2015 7:39:22 GMT
Only a few Delias specimens were captured by A.E. Pratt, the father of the Pratt brothers, during his first expedition to the Owen Stanley Range in 1903 . Pratt was accompanied by his 16 year old son Henry, who does not figure in the later Western New Guinea expeditions. Delias mysis lara collected by A.E. Pratt during his first New Guinea expedition. OUNHM collections.
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Post by wollastoni on Apr 20, 2015 9:41:19 GMT
Not as rare as Delias lecerfi or Delias bosnikiana, but if someone wants a Delias caught by the Pratt brothers and ex. Coll. Joicey, there is a Delias hapalina caught in January 1921 in the Weyland Mounts of Papua for sale on Ebay
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Post by nomad on Sept 1, 2015 8:58:25 GMT
My Delias Bagoe pair on their own. A very colourful rarity from New Ireland.
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Post by nomad on Sept 22, 2015 15:43:53 GMT
Note* I have purchased the copyright use of this image and it remain the full copyright of the British Museum of Natural History! When the British explorer A.F.R. Wollaston failed to climb the Carstensz pyramid ( lots of snow then ), which was the main aim of his 1912- 1913 expedition to the Snow Mountains of New Guinea, he was devastated. Wollaston wanted to be the first not only to climb the peak but take a look over the other side to see what lay beyond. In his ensuring melancholy mood at this failure, he set about collecting on the slopes below and with C. Boden Kloss, he captured one male of the lovely Delias inexpectata. Here is Wollaston's type specimen. Copyright purchased from the BMNH.
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