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Post by wollastoni on Mar 25, 2013 10:18:49 GMT -8
Your collection is a very good bench to know what the rarest swallowtails are, John !
Can we know what are the other ones missing?
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Post by Adam Cotton on Mar 25, 2013 10:21:45 GMT -8
I should add that wilsoni appears to lack small yellow almost marginal spots on the forewing underside (at least the male pictured in d'Abrera and the one I posted above both lack these spots), which are present in all of my pseudonireus, even if only very faint in one or two of them. This could also be an extreme variation of the local population in the area of Sudan.
Adam.
PS. Good to see a post from John, keep them coming!
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Post by panzerman on Mar 25, 2013 12:39:53 GMT -8
almost forgot...papilio neyi bedoci(4 known) The other "six" missing(probably worth 200K) papilio elephenor papilio diazi ? parides castilhoi? maybe ssp. of aglaope parides klagesi 2ssp. papilio maroni (maybe a ssp. of chansiades?) bhutanitis ludlowi (seen one in Turlin coll) John  |
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Post by Adam Cotton on Mar 25, 2013 13:05:22 GMT -8
Yes, Bernard Turlin has one of the original series (but not a type as it was not listed by the author of ludlowi) collected back in 1933-34. It seems that one of the male specimens that were originally taken was sent elsewhere by the collectors, Ludlow and Sherriff. In the original description Gabriel stated that 3 males and two females were caught, but only two pairs are listed as types. The specimen currently in the Turlin collection must be the only other originally collected specimen.
Recently a couple of new specimens were given to Japan by the King of Bhutan, but otherwise it seems unlikely that specimens will become available on the trade market.
Adam.
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Post by laurie1 on Mar 25, 2013 18:09:53 GMT -8
Without doubt two of the rarest Papilionidae on the planet are Graphium weiskei goodenovii and Chilasa moerneri mayrhoferi. I've collected both  . A paper about the incredible rediscovery of Chilasa moerneri mayrhoferi will be published later this year . |
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Post by nomad on Mar 25, 2013 23:30:41 GMT -8
Without doubt two of the rarest Papilionidae on the planet are Graphium weiskei goodenovii and Chilasa moerneri mayrhoferi. I've collected both . A paper about the incredible rediscovery of Chilasa moerneri mayrhoferi will be published later this year . Nice to see John [ Panzerman] back posting. Oliver, yes Delias mayrhoferi is a super rare and lovely species with a very interesting history. Laurie, must have been exciting collecting on Goodenough and New Brtain and rediscovering G. weiskei goodenovii and C. moerneri mayrhoferi. I expect the single specimen of goodenovii known before 1916 was taken by A. S. Meek. Please do let us know the details of your paper about the amazing rediscovery of C. moerneri mayrhoferi when it is published. Peter. |
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Post by papiliomaster on Mar 26, 2013 9:16:32 GMT -8
The rarest is clearly Papilio xuthus, duhh
Alice
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Post by papiliomaster on Mar 26, 2013 9:18:25 GMT -8
Btw, to those who have asked for species from Hawaii, I can only get Pieris rapae hawainensis, a RARITY and new ssp.
Alice
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Post by panzerman on Mar 26, 2013 9:27:21 GMT -8
I think with the apollos, huge series were collected of these long extinct ssp., some exceptions maybe ssp. comminus (Bukkegibirge) Hungary,ssp. hoglandicus (Aland is.) in both cases were described in 1930s, both habitats were after WW2 under Soviet occupation, during this period both became extinct. Communist regimes were never great in conservation, or entomology. Of the extinct papilionidae, most certainly battus polydamas antiquus(Antigua) and papilio p. polyxenes(Cuba) have too be very rare in coll., I doubt even if one preserved battus antiquus exists? Papilio ulysses karkarensis(Karkar Is.) o. priamus boisduvalii(Woodlark Is., the ones Laurie mentioned, is the fact that these are rare, due too that these places are rarely collected? On the otherhand, French Guiana is heavily collected, yet no one can get any menatius menatius, c. maroni, coelus, klagesi ssp., even panthonus barbotini, anchises ssp. phosphorus ssp. from there! Same for papilio epiphorbas ssp. from Anjouan, Mayotte, Grande Comoro. I would bet that if a very good collector like M.Turlin had lived on lets say New Hannover Island for 10 years, imagine the treasure trove of new material, chilasa moerneri, ulysses, phestus, codrus, euchenor, fuscus, etc. nssp., known ssp. from there. John Attachments:
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Post by papiliomaster on Mar 26, 2013 9:29:50 GMT -8
NO PAZERMAN...Papilio xuthus is the rarest
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Post by papiliomaster on Mar 26, 2013 9:31:08 GMT -8
btw, nice Parides gunchlandianus specimens
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Post by wollastoni on Mar 26, 2013 10:29:02 GMT -8
Radusho < we are talking of alive species. Of course extinct species are all rarer... ;-)
My favorite extinct species if for sure Colias ponteni.
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Post by wollastoni on Mar 26, 2013 11:02:20 GMT -8
100 millions...
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Post by nomihoudai on Mar 26, 2013 12:28:21 GMT -8
Don't feed the troll
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Post by nomad on Mar 26, 2013 12:40:43 GMT -8
Today Jan Pasternak has sent me some interesting information on the status of Papilio lampsacus. I quote " P. lampsacus is not extinct. It survives in at least one locality on Gunung Salak and possibly on G. Gede as well. But on G. Salak it has a better chance to survive because this mountain has a very rough and hard to access terrain with very steep and heavily forested slopes. Furthermore, it is a highly protected area and nobody is allowed to enter it without a special permit. G. Salak is also the only known locality in West Java where Atroph. sycorax was found.
In 1994 I went to G. Salak in order to find and photograph A. sycorax for my book [ Fluttering Encounters...] but had no luck. But I saw a glimpse of P. lampsacus as it sped past me and quickly disappeared up the slope in thick forest foliage! Actually, P. lampsacus was not a rare butterfly in former times neither was it a strictly highland species. When there was still some low to medium elevation rainforest left in West Java in the past, especially around Bogor, many specimens of P. lampsacus were collected by the colonial Dutch collectors. Up to about the early 1960's this butterfly could often be spotted in the world famous Bogor Botanic gardens as some specimens were straying there from the nearby forest. As gradually the low to medium rainforest had been chopped down and disappeared many of the Javanese butterflies were pushed and forced to adapt to the highland montane forest habitat, the phenomenon which I describe in my book [chapter focus on Java]. P. lampsacus is strictly endemic to West Java and has never been found further east in Central or East Java. Same goes for another species, Atrophaneura luchti, which is strictly endemic to two mountain ranges in East Java, G. Argopuro and ljen."
It does seem to me that some Papilios have always been rare and local and some like P. lampsacus were quite common, are now among the rarest Swallowtails in the world due to habitat loss.
Peter.
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. A paper about the incredible rediscovery of Chilasa moerneri mayrhoferi will be published later this year 
