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Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 9, 2012 10:48:11 GMT -8
Amazing specimens, I really like the P. hermeli and thoas abberations. The P. lampsacus and elephanor must have cost you a fortune, btw the P. elephanor was recently rediscovered after it had been 'extinct' for 100 years. Quintin Don't believe the hype, Quintin. Specimens were collected on and off over the years, at least until the 1960s. The Sircar specimen above was probably collected either in the 1960s or 1970s. That's when Sircar was active in the Khasia Hills. Adam.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2012 11:01:26 GMT -8
Very very few specimens have been collected even by that time Adam, so that a "well stabilized" population was never found until just recently. I personally heard only about one specimen coming from 1934 or maybe 1944, I cant remind but that info is pretty reliable.
Agriaslover, some of those are worth a LOT of money indeed!! Papilio lampsacus, Papilio elephenor, that first Papilio thoas cyniras wow just amazing!
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Post by wolf on Dec 9, 2012 11:15:38 GMT -8
Here's a Cirrochroa tyche abb, wildcaught from vietnam. Not as spectacular as the allready posted specimens though! Attachments:
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Post by simosg on Dec 9, 2012 11:33:28 GMT -8
Some more from India, pair of Pachliopta pandiyana. Hannes Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2012 11:52:35 GMT -8
the hermeli female is really spectacular, thanks for sharing.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 9, 2012 12:55:19 GMT -8
Very very few specimens have been collected even by that time Adam, so that a "well stabilized" population was never found until just recently. I personally heard only about one specimen coming from 1934 or maybe 1944, I cant remind but that info is pretty reliable. Agriaslover, some of those are worth a LOT of money indeed!! Papilio lampsacus, Papilio elephenor, that first Papilio thoas cyniras wow just amazing! Actually you may be surprised how many specimens have been collected over the years. There are a number in the NHM, London, and in other collections in the UK and Europe, also a number in Japan. As for a "well stabilised population", in reality only a single male was rediscovered recently, but of course there must be a stable population for even a single male to be seen. This species only lives in lower elevation forest in the Brahmaputra river valley and nearby valleys connected by lowlands. It has been unable to cross the hills into Burma, for instance. As with many parts of the world, the lower elevation forest is the first to be encroached upon and destroyed by humanity. Personally I was rather impressed by the other melanic P. thoas, that is a nice specimen. Adam.
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Post by dertodesking on Dec 9, 2012 13:53:06 GMT -8
Hi Agriaslover, All absolutely STUNNING specimens - thanks for sharing Simon
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2012 14:39:05 GMT -8
Hello Adam Are you really sure only one male has been caught recently since its "rediscovery"?
Thadeos
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Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 10, 2012 2:37:05 GMT -8
Hello Adam Are you really sure only one male has been caught recently since its "rediscovery"? Thadeos No, I'm not sure, but I do know someone connected to the person who found it, and I would expect he would have told me if more had been seen. The male that was "rediscovered" wasn't actually caught, by the way, only photographed. It is illegal to catch elephenor in India, as it is in the top category of protected species. My contact is trying to get official permission to capture one, remove a single leg for DNA analysis and release it (he is a researcher at a top Indian university). Adam.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2012 1:38:06 GMT -8
Yes I have seen the pictures here on insectnet.
I mean "caught" on camera :-D
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Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 12, 2012 12:04:17 GMT -8
Here's a rare butterfly in my collection, Graphium phidias female Adam. Attachments:
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Post by agriaslover on Dec 13, 2012 8:55:35 GMT -8
Morpho rhetenor rhetenor male from Òbidos, Estdo. do Parà, Brasil.Very rare form with white small stripes in forewing. Attachments:
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Post by simosg on Dec 13, 2012 10:42:19 GMT -8
Nice phidias, Adam. Do you know anything about its status? I have heard it lives only in a small area, is it threatened?
Hannes
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Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 13, 2012 12:08:40 GMT -8
No, males are quite common at the exact time that it flies and in the right habitat. It is univoltine very early in the butterfly season, and is only found in certain places along the Annam Highlands that separate Laos and Vietnam, and also in some mountains in NE Vietnam. A Japanese who lives in Vientiane told me he thinks it only occurs on mountains that have a particular type of rock extrusion. In Laos it is known from the border around Lak Sao and in the NE at Sam Neua, although I am sure it will be present in many other places between these two localities, and maybe also further south along the Annamese mountains. Many of these border areas are inacessible due to lack of roads and also are closed to foreigners.
One reason it is relatively 'rare' is the short flight season before many other species are flying, rather like Graphium (Pazala) alebion, which flies in March while there is still snow on the ground in the hills of eastern China. It is quite easy to catch 10 or more male phidias in a day along the stream banks, where they will readily come to urine bait.
There are very few females of phidias in collections, as it seems they don't fly in the places where the males congregate to drink near streams (about 700m altitude). Females are found at about 1,500m+, and most of the specimens in collections are rather damaged (check out the 1/2 specimen figured in Osada et al., 1999).
I actually think that many species of tropical Papilionidae breed in the hills but males fly down to mud-puddle at lower altitudes, especially in the dry season. I have only ever found females of species such as P. paris, P. agestor, P. epycides etc at 1,000m+ whereas the males are common in the lowlands. In spring when many of these butterflies are flying it is the dry season, and males look for running water which is mainly at the bases of the hills. Probably the larval foodplants occur higher up the mountains, and the females stay up there (there's not much point them going down to the hot lowlands where there are no flowers in spring).
G. phidias is an interesting species, especially as it looks like a 'Paranticopsis' (macareus, xenocles, megarus etc group), but according to a DNA study on Graphium (Makita et al., 2003) it may actually be related to the eurypylus group, and just looks like a Paranticopsis because it mimics the same Danaids. In fact the wing pattern is somewhat different to the Paranticopsis group if looked at carefully. I am working with some Japanese on this species at the moment, and hope to have some results in a while. By the way, 'Paranticopsis' is just a mimetic subgroup within Pathysa (antiphates, aristeus etc), not a separate subgenus.
Adam.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 13, 2012 12:48:42 GMT -8
One additional comment about the interesting locality on the border between Laos and Vietnam near Lak Sao - the weather there is very unpredictable in spring, with a few days of sunny weather between each very windy, foggy, cold, and damp week of bad weather when no butterflies are flying. Whenever I went there I used to base myself in Lak Sao (35km from the border) and drive to the border each day, if the weather looks good enough to try (otherwise I head for other lower butterfly habitats to the west). The town can be hot and sunny, but when you get to the border it can be awful. I remember recording the temperature at midday on 2 March 2005 at 17C with fog and drizzle. Over the years I learnt that it was necessary to collect on the few days in between each period of bad weather, and that the phidias will emerge during one good weather window (normally in mid February) and mostly be gone by the next window after the bad weather subsides. During that 'window' usually in late February - early March P. dialis and G. mullah emerge, and are gone afer that. However the dates are very dependent on the weather. In 2008 I was there for 3 weeks from mid February to 9 March, and it was almost freezing (6C in Lak Sao town in the daytime!) because a nasty cold front came down from China and it even snowed in Vietnam! That year the phidias emerged over a month late so I missed them.
Adam.
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