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Post by nomad on Mar 21, 2014 13:22:18 GMT -8
I added this real beauty to my collection recently. The very rare and engimatic Delias mayrhoferi from eastern New Britain. This male specimen was collected by Laurie Wills at around 800 meters in the Baining mountains on the Gazelle Peninsular in November 2013. In a recent thread, members have mentioned how they do not enjoy setting rare specimens. So I was not taking any chances with this one and took it to my friend Clive Pratt who set it for a small commission. So if like me you do not have nerves of steel for those extreme rarities you know where to take or send those butterflies. The story of D. mayrhoferi is full of intrigue. This species was originally discovered by Dr A Mayrhofer c 1938-1939 in the Baining mountains of New Britain. Dr Mayrhofer sent two males and a female to the German Entomologist Otto Bang-Haas. Bang Haas described D. mayrhoferi in 1939, but because of this very turbulent year in European History, his type specimens , which later ended up in the Berlin and Stuttgart Museums became forgotten by all those who published on the Delias butterflies. In 1996 Morita described the new Delias shunichii from eastern New Britain. In 2003 Gotts & Grinn described the female of D. shunichii. A year later in 2004 German entomologists were digitising the butterfly types in their museums when they rediscovered the types specimens of Delias mayrhoferi , which were identical to D. schunichii and thus the latter name became a junior synonym and invalid. Peter.  Delias mayrhoferi |
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Post by lepidofrance on Mar 21, 2014 13:58:27 GMT -8
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Post by nomad on Mar 21, 2014 20:06:04 GMT -8
Thanks Jean-Marc.  I was very pleased to get this beauty. |
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Post by nomad on Mar 22, 2014 0:24:33 GMT -8
Most of the information on D. mayrhoferi came from a excellent paper on this species = On the identity of a enigmatic Delias from New Britain - Delias mayrhoferi Bang- Haas syn - Delias shunichii by Hauser, Steiner, Bartsch and Holstein 2009 published in Nachr Entomol ver Apollo NF 30 3. The paper shows the type specimens in colour.
Interestingly the authors of this paper could find no information on Dr Mayrhofer who is also commemorated by Bang-Haas [ 1939 ] in Papilio [ Chilasa] moerneri mayrhoferi. So if you have any information, please do let me know. Peter.
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Post by lepidofrance on Mar 22, 2014 0:51:39 GMT -8
The Morita's on Delias is from 1993. So, nothing about mayhorferi nor shunichi! (1996)!
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Post by africaone on Mar 22, 2014 2:44:10 GMT -8
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Post by nomad on Mar 22, 2014 6:42:10 GMT -8
africaone, how did you find that, a harrowing story, it seems that the Germans entomologists were researching the wrong first name of Dr Mayrhofer and missed this article. It Certainly seems to be the same Dr - Father Mayrhofer of New Britain during this period. After reading that story, I am very pleased that the name of D. shunichii did not stand and rightly has the original discoveries name, he went through so much for his religion and butterflies.  . It does seem because of his harsh treatment, that Dr Mayrhofer was perhaps a Australian national??? or was he just persecuted because he was a missionary. Nothing more has turned up on the web. |
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Post by nomad on Mar 23, 2014 6:27:42 GMT -8
It does seems that Otto Bang-Haas mentioned that the new Delias came from a Dr A. Mayrhofer, according to the German researches. However perhaps the Doctor used two first names or one of them was left out by Bang Haas. It would be highly improbable that they were two Mayrhofers working in the Rabual area- Baining mountain area of New guinea during 1938-1939. Visiting remote tribes, to spread the word of god, John Mayrhofer would have certainly have time to collect butterflies. So John Mayrhofer M.S.C seems to be the right man. He seems to have been a German Catholic missionary, but he could have emigrated to Australia. I can find no more on this interesting person. Any more information would be most welcome.
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Post by africaone on Mar 23, 2014 7:40:26 GMT -8
what is also possible is that there were two members of the same family. It is not unusual that two brothers or son+father go together in a country ! may be one visiting the other for afew time !
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Post by nomad on Mar 23, 2014 7:52:18 GMT -8
Hi that is quite possible, but missionaries from Rabaul, certainly went into the Baining mountains from Rabaul where D.mayrhoferi occurs. As the island was now a a Australian territory, many of the Sacred Heart fathers came from there. As John mayrhoferi explained he was a good hiker in the virgin forest. Who knows, perhaps his father or brother went with him???
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Post by nomad on Mar 28, 2014 12:59:35 GMT -8
I am pleased to have had a reply from Axel Steiner of the Museum of Natural History at Karlsruhe in Germany. Alex is one of the joint authors of the paper on Delias mayrhofer. Alex writes that since the publication of that paper he has found further information on A. Mayrhofer who discovered this rare and beautiful Delias species. His name was P. Alfrons Mayrhofer ( The P. standing for ' Pater or Father ' ). He was a missionari sacratissimi cordis - a missionary of the Sacred Heart. He founded a mission station in the Baining Mountains of eastern New Britian at Lamingi in 1935. He contributed to the ethnological and linguistic studies of the island and was tragically killed during the Japanese occupation. This information was found in a ethnological paper by a missionary colleague of Mayrhofer, P. Carl Laufer. Laufer occasionally mentions authors with their academic titles ' Dr ', he does not in the case of A. Mayrhofer. This could have been a error of Bang-Haas or perhaps a corruption of the ' P' before his first name . Alex mentions he is not sure of his nationality either. The name Mayrhofer is common in parts of Austria, not rare in Bavaria and very rare in other parts of Germany and Switzerland. It is not known if he was related to the missionary at Ramale, John Mayrhofer.
I would like to thank Axel for his kind help in this matter
Peter.
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Post by africaone on Mar 28, 2014 13:47:42 GMT -8
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Post by nomad on Apr 9, 2014 23:51:56 GMT -8
I do enjoy the historical aspect of the butterflies that interest me. According to Bang-Haas, it was a Dr A. Mayrohfer that sent the three type specimens of D. mayrhoferi to him and also the type specimen of the still almost unknown Papilio moerneri mayrhoferi from the Baining mountains of eastern New Britain in 1938 or early 1939. So what would a Dr. mayrhofer be doing in these remote mountains with its fierce tribesmen during this period. He was not part of any German scientific expedition. It is well documented that the brothers and sisters of the sacred heart mission at Rabaul and Ramale went into the Baining mountains to preach the gospel. We know this because on several occasions they became martyrs to the cause, including one well known occasion when a entire party of nuns and fathers paid the ultimate sacrifice at the hands of the Baining natives. John Mayrhofer was stationed at the Ramale mission and the M.S.C after his name is the abbeviation for the latin motto of his order. so there are a number of possibilities.
One - A. Mayrhofer and John Mayrhofer are the same person, if you forgot to add my first initial, I would be known as John Andrews instead of Peter John Andrews. Father Mayrhofer could have been a doctor. When I was researching another missionary in connection with another thread in this forum on a specimen of Delias subnubila from China, I found that the person in question, Jean Monbeig was equally referred to as Doctor or Father because he was both.
Two. The A. Mayrhofer was the father or brother of John Mayrhofer and accompanied him into the rough terrain of the Bainning mountains. As mentioned this was an extremely risky thing to do.
Three. There was another person named Mayrhofer working for the same mission or perhaps even the Australian government.
In a review of the A.B.C documentary about the sacred heart mission in New Britain, they mentioned that John Mayrhofer was a German national, but later Australian newspapers reporting on the trial of his tortures seem to have claimed him as their own and mentioned he was born in Australia. Who knows.
Does it really matter, if we know more about this person. If you have a historical interest in entomologists and Delias butterflies then I believe yes, otherwise perhaps no. I am sure that as Dr Mayrhofer risked his life among hostile tribesmen for whatever reason and discovered a fabulous Delias butterfly and a rare Papilio subspecies, which were both named in his honour then he would have liked entomologists of the future to know more about him. Baag-Haas certainly would have known more details about this Dr Mayrhofer and corresponded with him, if only he had wrote more details down, for future researchers. I am certain that Dr Mayrhofer would have sent other butterfly specimens to Bang-Haas, so there may be other data labels with other information. Do you know anything more about Dr Mayrhofer, perhaps a German entomologist might have further details. I have contacted two of the German authors of the Delias mayrhoferi paper, to see if they have if more information since its publication in 2009. I have yet to have a reply. Perhaps this story may end here.
Peter.
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Post by highlander on Mar 7, 2015 1:26:31 GMT -8
The gravestone of P.A. Mayrhofer MSC in the cemetery of Vunapope Mission, Kokopo near Rabaul. Chris  |
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Post by nomad on Mar 7, 2015 11:36:15 GMT -8
Amazing find Chris. It is good he has a lasting memorial.
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. It does seem because of his harsh treatment, that Dr Mayrhofer was perhaps a Australian national??? or was he just persecuted because he was a missionary. Nothing more has turned up on the web. 
