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Post by nomad on Aug 11, 2016 9:39:09 GMT
Wonderful Hairstreaks.
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Post by trehopr1 on Aug 12, 2016 6:01:30 GMT
Yes indeed, some wonderful photos of those lovely and remarkable Lycaenidae. African material is certainly seldom seen in most private collections.
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Post by mcheki on Aug 13, 2016 18:45:44 GMT
One of my favourite Cymothoe is found in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and across to central DRC. This is Cymothoe lucasi lucasi with a pair shown in the photograph. This pair comes from Lamgoue in Gabon. There are three other subspecies found in adjacent areas.
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Post by mcheki on Aug 13, 2016 18:47:15 GMT
The second photograph shows the undersides of the two shown previously.
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Post by mygos on Aug 13, 2016 20:23:04 GMT
Thank you mcheki, this is one of my favorite species ! I only kept one box of Cymothoe from my former collection and it contains a pair of C. lucasi from Cameroon A+, Michel
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Post by cabintom on Aug 13, 2016 22:19:31 GMT
Cymothoe herminia & Cymothoe beckeri are among my favourites! What an wonderful box!
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Post by mcheki on Sept 10, 2016 18:35:49 GMT
Another drawer from my collection of Papilionidae covers the subspecies of Papilio ophidecephalus. There are ten described subspecies but this drawer lacks ssp: cottrelli found in the Copperbelt of north western Zambia. Column 1 Shows ssp: ophidecephalus and ssp: chirinda. The nominate is the most northern subspecies and found from eastern Kenya, through Tanzania to Zambia. Ssp: chirinda is in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Column 2 has ssp: ayresi and ssp: entabeni, both found in South Africa but in different areas.
Column 3 contains two male ssp: mkuwadzi found in south west Tanzania and northern Malawi and then ssp: niassicola from central and south Malawi.
Column 4 depicts transvalensis, zuluensis and the largest subspecies phalusco. These three again are all from different areas of South Africa.
These subspecies are all quite similar and in most cases it seems to be necessary to have to use the data location to help decide which is which. For example in Column 2 the second and fourth specimens which are labelled Pietermaritzberg I feel are possibly in the wrong place and should be under ssp: zuluensis. Anyone who can help me decide will be appreciated.
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Post by cabintom on Sept 18, 2016 12:43:14 GMT
Here's a male Cymothoe reinholdi vitalis I received from Robert Ducarme. 3/VI/2015 Kasugho, Nord Kivu
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Post by mcheki on Sept 19, 2016 16:13:39 GMT
For every one interested in the genus Colias here are some examples of African species and subspecies. I hope the names are clear from the picture and anyone requiring collection data please ask as there is too much to post straight off. Also in the drawer are examples of the unusual and rather ghost like genus Pseudopontia which can be found in thicker forests. This genus has been recently revised and now consists of five species whereas before only two were recognised.
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Post by africaone on Sept 19, 2016 16:35:02 GMT
despite i don't completly agree with him, the electo complex has been recently revised by Verhulst, espacially concerning the Malawian population. from my side, manengoubensis is a separate species and mukana is not well understood.
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Post by trehopr1 on Sept 20, 2016 5:20:28 GMT
The colias are nice but, the real standouts are those Pseudopontia ! They are indeed ghost-like and are something I've never seen before. Thanks so much for introducing them to us. I will now have to find out more about that most unusual butterfly.
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Post by mcheki on Sept 21, 2016 19:01:15 GMT
I have taken a larger photo of two Pseudopontia, both from Cameroon, to show them more clearly.
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Post by africaone on Sept 21, 2016 20:11:42 GMT
Pseudopontiinae is a completly separate subfamly in Pieridae. What is also amazing are the antennas without massue unlike quite all other pieridae.
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jhyatt
Aurelian
Posts: 224
Country: U.S.A.
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Post by jhyatt on Sept 21, 2016 20:48:45 GMT
That Pseudopontia is almost identical to a Venezuelan Pierid, Leucidia brephos. Same translucent white wings with the same iridescence, and similar size and shape. In the same subfamily as the African, I presume. There's a Brasilian Leucidia that has dark FW tips, too. Fascinating bugs. jh
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Post by trehopr1 on Sept 22, 2016 6:20:02 GMT
Wow, thanks mcheki for that enlarged photo. One would never of known that they possessed the iridescence they have (based on your original photo). Their wings look at thin as rice paper ! What a way cool and most unusual butterfly. I well imagine that if one is even able to secure such specimens they must be hard to get nice examples of !
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