What Archon apollinus ssp?

[dertodesking]

Hello All,

I have an Archon apollinus with the following data:

Senkoy Province, Antakya, 600-900m, Turkey, 9. iv. 1992 (leg. Simek).

Does anyone have any idea of the ssp. found at this location? I initially thought ssp. amasina but this "mystery" example is CONSIDERABLY larger than any of the ssp. amasina which I have...

Thanks in advance for any pointers - I can post a picture over the weekend if that'll help.

Simon

[Adam Cotton]

According to the new book just out by Bollino & Racheli (Bauer & Frankenbach, Butterflies of the World Supplement 20) all the apollinus from Turkey belong to ssp. apollinus except forsteri and nikodemusi. They follow the treatment of Hesselbarth et al. (1995), adding ssp. drusicus which was described in 2003.

Adam.

[dertodesking]

Thanks Adam,

...so what about ssp. amasina (Staudinger, 1901)?

Simon

[Adam Cotton]

Bollino & Racheli follow the treatment of Hesselbarth et al. (1995), so amasina is a synonym of apollinus, as are almost all of the other Turkish populations. They even include bellargus within ssp. apollinus despite noting that Nazari and Sperling (2007) found a 2.7% difference in the DNA beween Turkish and Israeli apollinus.

Here's their synonymy of ssp. apollinus:

Papilio apollinus Herbst, 1798. in Jablonsky, Natursyst. Ins., Schmett., 9: 156
Type locality: ‘Insel Ourlac am Eingange des Meerbusens von Smyrna’ [Urla, Izmir, Turkey]
Type material: not stated. Neotype designated by de Freina (1985) ♂ /Izmir, Türkei, März 1969 leg. Rubyk/ Frankfurt /Main. Coll. De Freina.
= Papilio pythius Esper, [1805]. Eur. Schmett. 1, Suppl., 2(11): 1-5, pl. 117, figs 1-4
Type locality: ‘Aleppo in Syrien’
= P. (Nobiles) thia Hübner, [1806]. Samml. Europ. Schmett., 1: pl. Pap., 123, f. 635-636
Type locality: ‘Die Insel Creta’
= Doritis Apollininus Boisduval, 1832. Icon. Lép. Eur., 1: 19, pl.4, figs 1-2 [ISS]
= Doritis Apollinus var. ♀ krystallina Schilde, 1884. Ent. Nachr., 10: 333 [IFS]
= Doritis Apollinus bellargus Staudinger, [1892]. Deut. ent. Zeit. [Iris], 4(2): 225
Type locality: ‘…Kessab im südlichen Antiochen’ [Syria]
= Doritis Apollinus bellargus ab. rubra Staudinger, [1892]. Deut. ent. Zeit. [Iris], 4(2): 225 [IFS]
= Doritis apollinus amasina Staudinger, 1901. in Staudinger & Rebel, Cat. Lep. Pal. Faun., 1: 4
Type locality: ‘Pont; Kurd. Oc.’ [Turkey]
= Doritis apollinus f. flavescens Verity, 1906. Rhop. Pal.,: 108, pl. 8, fig. 8
Type locality: ‘Asia Minor’
= Archon apollinus apollinus forma ♀ nocticolor Stichel, 1907. in Wytsman, Gen. Ins., 58: 49 (note) [IFS]
= Doritis Apollinus ab. crystallina Stichel, 1907. in Seitz, Grossschmett. Erde I, 1: pl. 10b [3] [IFS]
= Doritis appollinus Pagenstecher, 1909. in Pagenstecher, Geogr. Verbr. Schmett.,: 149 [ISS]
= Doritis apollinus bellargus ab. aurantiaca Culot, 1909. Bull. Soc. ent. Fr., 1909: 271 [IFS]
= Doritis apollinus ab. ochracea Wagner, 1910. Int. ent. Z., 3(50): 269 [IFS]
= Doritis apollinus var. thracica Buresch, 1915. Z. bulg. Akad. Wiss., 12: 39
Type locality: ‘Kuru Daği’ [Turkey]
= Archon apollinus armeniaca Sheljuzhko, 1925. Z. öst. Ent. Ver., 10: 85
Type locality: ‘Akbunuz’ [Turkey]
= Doritis apollinus ab. minor Pionneau, 1930. Échange, 46: 3 [IFS]
= Archon apollinus apollinus f. inornata Eisner, 1954. Zool. Meded., 33: 50 [IFS]
= Archon apollinus bellargus f. curiosa Eisner, 1954. Zool. Meded., 33: 51 [IFS]
= Archon apollinus bellargus f. flavomaculata Eisner, 1954. Zool. Meded., 33: 51 [IFS]
= Archon apollinus amasina f. ochreomaculata Eisner, 1954. Zool. Meded., 33: 52 [IFS]
= Archon apollinus wyatti Koçak, 1976. Atalanta, 7: 42
Type locality: ‘Isparta Province (South Turkey), vicinity of Eğridir lake’
= Archon apollinus wageneri Koçak, 1976. Atalanta, 7: 43
Type locality: ‘Maraş Province (South Turkey), Pazarcik’
= Archon apollinus annii Ondrias, Koutsaftikis & Douma-Petridou, 1979. Linneana Belgica, 7: 361
Type locality: ‘Thrace’ [Greece]
= Archon apollinus lichyi Carbonell & Brévignon, 1983. Alexanor, 12: 339
Type locality: ‘Turquie du sud, 30 km au nord d’Ulukisla, route Aksaray-Tarsus’

And here are the subspecies they recognise with distributions:

ssp. apollinus: Eastern Greece (Thrace, introduced), Ionian Greek Islands: Ródos (?), Kóos, Híos, Lésvos and Sámos; Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, North-Western Iran? (de Freina & Leestmans, 2003: 31);
ssp. forsteri: known only from the type locality, North of Kastamonu, Turkey;
ssp. nikodemusi: restricted to a small area of European Turkey, about 40 km West of Istanbul centre. Probably presently extinct due to demographic expansion of the town;
ssp. drusicus: Southern Syria, Northern Jordan (?).

I guess it is up to the individual whether you prefer to lump or split.
Adam.

[dertodesking]

Adam,

Sincere thanks for your lengthy, informative post

I think I'll have to get my wife to treat me to the new book next month for my birthday!

Thanks again,

Simon

[thanos]

Rodos, Kos, Chios, Lesvos and Samos are Aegean islands, not Ionian.. . I have personally collected it on Samos.