The rarest Swallowtail in the World?

Yes there always one, easy to modify. Nice specimens John.

Dear Adam

Thank you for your interesting information. I think all the type specimens of Bhutanitis ludlowi are safely housed in BMNH now. You can see all the types from the following link.

ifoundbutterflies.org/54-bhutanitis/bhutanitis-ludlowi

If there is another specimen of B. ludlowi it should be collected by Ludlow and Sherriff in 1933-1934 in eastern Bhutan. I have checked the diary written by Ludlow. No specific number of the specimens was mentioned. So there is some possibility that there are another specimens except types.

As far as I know, now all the specimen of B. ludlowi are as follows;

3 males and 2 females [Types]; BMNH, England
1 male and 2 females (but only one female is good in condition); Bhutan
2 males*; One in University Museum, University of Tokyo and the other in Research Institute of Evolutionary Biology, both in Tokyo, Japan
* not including a female, only two males

Recently this species has been discovered also from Arunachal Pradesh in India but it should be very difficult to get new specimens because of the protection.

Cheers,
Mokky

Mokky,

Thank you for your explanation and link to Krushnamegh's photos of the types of ludlowi. Interestingly when I was in the NHM in 2006 there were only 4 specimens in the draw, and it seems the 5th had been removed for photography by Harish Gaonkar.

Indeed there are 5 types listed in the original description. I erroneously miscounted the number of types, because 2 male paratypes are listed together by sequential BM numbers, rather than separately:

"N.E. Bhutan, Trashiyangsi Valley, 7500-8000 ft., Aug. 1933
and 1934 (F. Ludlow and G. Sheriff). B.M. Holotype [m], No.
Rh.15054; B.M. Allotype [f], No. Rh.15055; B.M. Paratype [m], No.
Rh.15056-7; B.M. Paratype [f], No. Rh.15058."

Thus in fact the specimen in the Turlin collection must be an additional specimen taken on the same expedition but not presented to the BM(NH) as it was then known. I wonder if there are maybe also a few more specimens from the original collection in other collections or museums?

Indeed ludlowi has been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh recently, but this locality is in fact just across the border with Bhutan from the type locality. I agree that it is highly unlikely that any specimens will 'escape' from there onto the commercial market.

Adam.

Somehow I very much doubt it.

Adam.

Olivier,

You are probably right. Perhaps I should have qualified my answer to Dunc's question to say that I doubt that 'legal' specimens will ever become available.

Adam.

Phil Ackery showed me the cabinets where Harish had assembled a series of draws of specimens which were to form the plates for his book (they were on the next floor up at Wandsworth in 2006, where the supplementaries were housed), but 2 draws were actually missing from the cabinets. One must have contained the ludlowi type and maybe the same draw or the other (I don't know) must have housed the type of himalaicus Rothschild which was also missing from its draw in the Rothschild collection. I was also unable to find the type of bianor ganesa which was stated to be in the BM collection, but there wasn't even a single specimen old enough in any of the draws in the Main Collection. I informed Phil at the time, and he said that those 2 Gaonkar draws had apparently gone missing when the collections had been moved from South Ken to Wandsworth. He told me that the movers had been asked to check everything in case the draws were still with them. He thought at the time that probably those 2 draws had been put in the wrong cabinets when moved, and indeed it seems they must have since been found, as Krushnamegh photographed all 5 types of ludlowi, whereas I could only find 4.

Adam.

"Ludlowi worths more than 1000 euros on the black market... I am pretty sure some locals will try to export eggs or papered butterflies soon, the Japanese videos show that they now know the hostplant and where to find eggs"

now there is a thought, ex pupae ludlowi.