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Post by mcheki on Jul 20, 2016 18:48:16 GMT
The African species Papilio rex is a sub montane butterfly mainly from Eastern Africa but also has a disjunct population in the mountains of eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon. It is a mimic of the Danaid butterfly Tirumala formosa and so the pattern of P rex varies from region to region according to the subspecies of T formosa present. Subsequently P rex has seven recognised subspecies. In my small collection of Papilio rex all seven are represented. In Column A the top three are the nominate subspecies and the lower five are subspecies regulana. P rex rex is a north eastern Tanzania subspecies and P rex regulana is from the central highlands of Kenya. Column B shows a pair of P rex alinderi (= commixta) from western Kenya and below five males and a female of P rex mimeticus from locations on both sides of the Ruwenzori Mts. Column C has representatives of the last three subspecies P rex abyssinicana (= abysinnicus) (Ethiopan highlands) at the top, with P rex franciscae (south Sudan and northern Uganda) second down with a pair of P rex schultzei (NW Cameroon) underneath. The bottom two specimens are not placed as the data labels may be incorrect and misleading.
Any errors are mine and but I hope this is of interest.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jul 20, 2016 19:54:44 GMT
Superb, thanks very much for posting, including the details on the identiy and origin of the various specimens. This makes a great guide to the species, complete with super-rare females.
Adam.
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Post by mcheki on Aug 5, 2016 19:00:51 GMT
There are many Lycaenidae in Africa that are seldom seen and less often shown. Here are four members of the Iolaus group. First, Iolaus (Epamera) mimosae rhodosense which is found in southern regions. This male is from Transvaal and the two females are from Zululand and Zimbabwe. The pale blue and the delicate underside contrast with the second species shown.
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Post by mcheki on Aug 5, 2016 19:10:22 GMT
The second species is Iolaus (Epamera) congdoni which is a species described in 1985 found in Tanzania as well as the Nyika area of Malawi. These three are from Mufindi, Tanzania.
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Post by mcheki on Aug 5, 2016 20:16:52 GMT
This is Iolaus (Tanuotheira) timon timon an equatorial forest species. These two males come from central Cameroon.
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Post by mcheki on Aug 5, 2016 20:21:14 GMT
Iolaus (Aphniolaus) palene is another eastern and southern species. The female is from Zululand and the male, showing the underside, is from the Shimba Hills which is on the Kenya coast. These are four species out of about 1816 species of Lycaenidae that are found in the Afrotropical region. This region is host to about one third of the total number of worldwide Lycaenidae most of which are overlooked in collections and deserve more recognition. I hope this is of interest to members.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Aug 5, 2016 20:38:17 GMT
Thanks for posting these superb Lycaenidae. I very rarely ever see photos of African species, except those posted by Tom, of course.
Adam.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Aug 5, 2016 20:46:18 GMT
Indeed - they're very special. I find the African genera particularly interesting since so many are mimetic, but all are interesting.
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Post by wollastoni on Aug 5, 2016 21:50:41 GMT
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful !!!
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Post by cabintom on Aug 9, 2016 12:45:14 GMT
I need to start posting more pictures... Iolaus (Tanuotheira) timon timon an equatorial forest species I just added one of these to my collection... though nowhere near in as perfect a condition.
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Post by mcheki on Aug 10, 2016 8:57:47 GMT
This is a great species to add to your collection. I think that the subspecies in Kivu is not the same as the one in my photo. The nominate is found in West Africa to western DRC and in central and eastern DRC ssp: congoensis is found. In Uganda there is a different subspecies again -- ssp: orientius.
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Post by africaone on Aug 10, 2016 16:06:45 GMT
This is a great species to add to your collection. I think that the subspecies in Kivu is not the same as the one in my photo. The nominate is found in West Africa to western DRC and in central and eastern DRC ssp: congoensis is found. In Uganda there is a different subspecies again -- ssp: orientius.same ssp in Western Africa and Western RDC and two other different in central/eastern RDC and Uganda .... there is Something wrong ...
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Post by cabintom on Aug 10, 2016 17:51:10 GMT
same ssp in Western Africa and Western RDC and two other different in central/eastern RDC and Uganda .... there is Something wrong I'm curious, what would be wrong with this?
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Post by mcheki on Aug 10, 2016 19:20:16 GMT
I partly agree with Africaone. We have Hulstaert to thank for orientius and Joicey and Talbot to thank for congoensis after Fabricus described timon. There are too many situations where subspecies are described after widely separated areas were explored and collected in in the past and only more recently have the in between areas been studied. I am not aware of a modern author who has examined this species. Certainly the central African forest belt is a pretty well continuous zone, but Uganda being east of the Ruwenzori mountains probably could have a separate subspecies. The subspecies I mentioned from Uganda is also found in north western Tanzania. I have added a photo of my collection of this species. In the first column the top seven specimens (five males and two females) are from central Cameroon. The bottom pair is from the Central African Republic. The second column has three males and a female from Mount Tabenken in North West Cameroon, almost on the border with Nigeria. All these are the nominate subspecies but the bottom pair in column two are from N W Tanzania and are subspecies orientius. I have not seen the Kivu area subspecies which might give a further clue to variability across the region.
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Post by cabintom on Aug 11, 2016 7:09:53 GMT
Interesting. I easily understand the concept that physical isolation or geographical barriers lead to the formation of subspecies, but I've wondered about some of the divisions here in the forest. Anyways, here's my specimen from Nord Kivu: Iolaus (Tanuetheira) timon congoensis (Joicey & Talbot, 1921) 23/IX/2015 Mbau, Nord Kivu (ex. Robert Ducarme)
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