Delias butterflies of New Guinea and its Islands

[nomad]

Delias kummeri [Ribbe 1900] was discovered by E. Weiske at the Aroa River in the Owen Stanley Range in the then British New Guinea during 1899. The specimen of D. kummeri shown is from the H. Grose-Smith collection and was presented to the OUMNH by James John Joicey of the private Hill museum. Emil weiske [1867-1950] was a German collector who discovered a number of butterflies in the Owen Stanley Range, including Delias Bornemanni and Delias Weiskei, both of which have been shown in this thread. He is perhaps best known for discovering the famous and very beautiful Graphuim weskei which was named in his honour. A.S. Meek on his very successful expeditions to the Aroa River during 1903 and 1905 would encounter most of the species that were previously found by E. Weiske. Meek was most anxious to obtain the new butterflies for Lord Rothschild, especially the new Papilio. He wrote in 1903 " I was now at some 3000 feet high, and I was encouraged by the sight of a very beautiful butterfly, Papilio weiskei, named after a German collector who had spent some months in the district previously. I was anxious to obtain specimens of it, and I was determined to make my headquarters' camp at that spot with a secondary camp at a higher elevation" At the higher camp near the head of the Aroa River Meek mentions that he made a very fine collection of Delias butterflies and goes on to say " All the butterflies are found near the creeks. I suppose it is because it is warmer at night there. I sent collectors up the mountain until I was tired; they never got anything. It was in the gullies and creeks the butterflies were found. The Delias fly up and down the creeks about twelve feet off the ground and until I found out how to catch them we got very few. The successful lure was to fix an old specimen on a leaf in the sun with the wings outspread; the others could not resist that. It was like attracting parrots with a wounded one of their number. The purple shouldered Papilio we only got in one place, at a soakage close to a creek bank. The Delias, I found all feed on mistletoe as caterpillars. It seems all of one kind, but I fancy that, as it grows on the different trees, so it takes slightly different characteristics and forms the foodplant of the several butterflies" The Alfred Stewart Meek extracts are from his fabulous book, A Naturalist in Cannibal Land [ 1913].



A Specimen of Delias Kummeri kummeri captured by Emil Weiske at the Aroa River.
Attachment Deleted

[nomad]

Specimen of Delias bakeri captured during its discovery by Charles Pratt in the Arfak Mountains. [ OUNHM collection].

[nomad]

Here are some rare Delias specimens that are in my collection [ Andrews coll ]



Delias bobaga bobaga [Mastrigt 1990] male from Mapia, Dutimi toya River in the Weyland Mountains [1990]. This rarely seen butterfly was only described in 1990.

[nomad]

Delias clathrata limata? [ Rothschild 1904 ]. A rare species in collections. The two specimens shown here were taken at Kerowagi in the Chimbu Province, Papua during 1978 and 1991 [Andrews coll ]. This butterfly was discovered by A. S. Meek in the Owen Stanley Range.

[nomad]

Delias albertisi is a large and magnificent Delias species. Delias albertisi was first discovered by the Italian explorer Luigi D, Albertis [ 1841-1901]on Mount Hattam in the Arfak Mountains in 1872 and described and named in his honour by Charles Oberthur [1845-1924] in 1880. Albertis is famous for his exploration and exploits on the Fly River in Papua New Guinea where he was the first to use ' military rockets' in that Island. Below are two specimens from my collection.



Delias albertisi albertisi Arfak Mountain 1999. Male and female in that order.

[nomad]

Delias wollastoni is a rare butterfly of central New Guinea. A new subspecies has recently been found in the Weyland Mountains. This Fabulous butterfly was discovered by A.F. R. Wollaston on Castensz in 1913 and later during 1938 L. J. Toxopeus [ Archibold expedition ] collected the butterfly near Lake Habbema which was described by Roepke as ssp bryophila in 1955. Bernard d, Abrera [1993] treated ssp bryophila and a synonym of the nominate race. I have been able view a good number of male specimens of D. wollastoni wollastoni and bryophila and they are indeed close. The main difference seems to the amount of black markings on the uppersides which is in bryophila seems to be quite black and not blackish brown as in wollastoni. Below are some specimens in my collection of both subspecies and the recto type male [ BMNH].



Delias wollastoni wollastoni from Ilu near Mulia.



D. wollastoni wollastoni type male [ recto ] Carstensz Feb/March 1913. [BMNH]




Delias wollastoni bryophila from Tiom, Air Garam, Baliem Valley. July 1990
Quite marked but shown because of its locality, better specimen of the verso of this subspecies from other Baliem localities may be found in at the start of this thread.



D. wollastoni bryophila Recto specimen from the Baliem Valley area.

[wollastoni]

Wonderful.

FYI it is "Air Garam", it means "Salt water" in Indonesian.

It is a wonderful place near Kurulu village (called Jiwika in Indonesian). Papuan women use palm leaves to collect the salt in this place... As you can imagine salt is very rare in those mountains ! Papuans seems to "worship" this place, it may explain why it is not deforested while all surounding places are.

In Kurulu village, there is an impressive mummy that locals show to the rare tourists.

I collected in Air Garam twice, a wonderful spot.

[wollastoni]

I would add that for me "Tiom" and "Air Garam" are different places. Your wollastoni should rather come from Tiom.

[nomad]

Thanks Wollastoni. I have changed the locality name. Must have been truly wonderful to have collected Delias in the Baliem valley. Yes, I have read before salt is very precious to the native Papuans.

[nomad]

Delias klossi is with out doubt one of my favourite Delias species and is a real beauty. A male of this species was first taken by Cecil Boden Kloss on Carstensz during the 1912-1913 Wollaston expedition. It was named in his honour by Lord Walter Rothschild in 1915 who was very pleased with the new Delias. During the 1938 Archbold expedition the Dutch entomologist L. J. Toxopeus took further specimens of D. klossi on Mount Wilhelmia and the Baliem Valley area which were named as subspecies chrysanthemum by Roepke in 1955. Specimens from the Ilu-Mulia area were named as ssp gome by Van Mastrigt in 2000. Shown below is the type male of Delias Klossi [BMNH] and a specimen each of ssp chrysanthemum and gome that have been added to my collection. I hope that Delias enthusiasts will enjoy these.



The male type of Delias klossi collected on Carstensz during Feb/ March 1913 [BMNH]



Delias klossi chrysanthemum. River Makki, Baliem Valley 1850 meters. 1989.



Delias klossi gome. Mulia 1991

[nomad]

Delias elongatus is a fairly rare butterfly of the Arfak Mountains where it was discovered by the Pratt brothers in 1909. This species was described from a single male by Sir George Kenrick in 1911 and A. E. Pratt and sons took a further series of three males and three females in 1914 for J.J. Joicey . Shown below are two male specimens from my collection and the plate showing the type male of D. elongatus [4] with Delias africanus = albertisi [2] and the new Delias imitator [3] which were also collected by the Pratts. The Ornithoptera tithonus was later described as subspecies misresiana by Joicey and Noakes in 1915.

Any members Delias specimens from New Guinea or its Islands or interesting information on any species would be most welcome here.



Delias elongatus Arfak Mountains 1999.


Kenrick plate.

[nomad]

Delias autumnalis is I believe a uncommon species of the Clathrata group. This gorgeous butterfly was first captured by L. J. Toxopeus who discovered a number of new Delias during the Archbold 1938/1939 expedition to Central New Guinea.




Delias autumnalis autumnalis [ Roepke 1955] Mil River, Baliem Valley 1991.



Delias autumnalis hiberna [ Mastrigt 2000] Mulia West New Guinea.

[wollastoni]

Very nice !

Autumnalis is not common but not as rare as many members of the clathrata group.
The very close Delias hiemalis (maybe only a form of autumnalis) is VERY RARE, never seen one myself.

[nomad]

Delias carstensziana from the Eichorni group was discovered at High Altitude on Mount Carstensz by Sandy Wollaston in Feb/March 1913 and described by Rothschild in 1915. Two specimens also from high altitude on Mount Carstensz are shown below and exhibit a interesting variation in markings. This used to be considered a rare species but perhaps not so now?

I hope some members will have enjoyed seeing some of my favourite Delias species from New Guinea. It would be nice see other members favourite Delias specimens from this area. Peter



Delias carstensziana cartstensziana River Waa, Carstensz 2450 meters [ 8038 feet ]

[wollastoni]

Wonderful, the river Waa is famous for its D. inexpectata.