Papilio machaon Ssp.

[grasshopper]

Hi there,
I received this P.machaon male and am just wanting to confirm it is as labled ssp. asiaticus Is this correct? or is it another ssp.

Regards, Lance.

Attachments:

[grasshopper]

Another photo.

Attachments:

[Adam Cotton]

Lance,

No this is not asiaticus, which is a long tailed western Himalayan lower elevation subspecies. This is broadly speaking ssp. hookeri Gaonkar, 1999 (replacement name for the homonym sikkimensis Moore, 1884). Morita, 1997 described 2 subspecies, nolico (TL 60 km N. of Nyalam) and kiyonobu (TL near Yanfu, western Tibet) in the same group. The hookeri group is easily distinguished from other Himalayan/Tibetan machaon by the double black crescent separated by blue over the red eyespot on the hindwing anal angle. These 3 ssp. are quite similar and exactly what you call them depends on locality. Do you know where in Tibet your specimen came from?

In fact the taxon hieromax Hemming, 1934 (replacement name for the homonym montanus Alpheraky, 1897 (TL hautes régions de la Chine occidentale [= Kuku Nor area]) is also very similar, part of the same group. So if your specimen actually came from far NE Tibet it could be that ssp. too.

Sorry I cannot be more specific at this point. If you have no more data, it's best just to call it ssp. hookeri.

Adam.

[grasshopper]

Thanks Adam thats great!!!
I will see if I can find out the exact location of capture and that
should narrow it down.

Best wishes, Lance.M