Nachr. entomol. Ver. Apollo, N. F. 28 (1/2): 15–18 (2007)15

Butterflies on offshore islands of Sabah, North Borneo, Malaysia(Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera)
Fatimah Abang, Colin G. Treadaway, and Heinz G. Schroeder
Prof. Dr. Fatimah Abang, Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia;
fatim@frst.unimas.myColin G. Treadaway F.R.E.S., Entomologie II, Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany;colin.treadaway@web.deDr. Heinz. G. Schroeder, Entomologie II, Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany;heinzingeschroeder@gmx.deAbstract: On examining the butterflies most recently col­lec­
ted on the two small islands of the proposed Tun Sa­ka­ran
Marine Park near Semporna, SE Sabah, Malaysia, a fur­ther
new Nymphalidae taxon could be described: Ta­nae­cia pelea
marnii n. ssp. This new form is compared to re­lated taxa andthe male holotype (in Museum of the Uni­versiti Malaysia
Sarawak, Kota Samarahan) and female al­lo­type spe­ci­mens
are figured. As an appendix a list of but­terflies so far iden­tified as occurring on Balambangan Is­land off NW Sa­bah,Malaysia, is provided.
Key words: Nymphalidae, Tanaecia pelea marnii n. ssp.,
Bo­hey Dulang, Bod Gaya Islands, Papilionidae, Pieridae,Lycaenidae, Hesperiidae, Balambangan Is­land.
Schmetterlinge auf küstennahen Inseln vor Sabah,
Nordborneo, Malaysia (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera)
Zusammenfassung: Die Bearbeitung der kürzlich ge­sam­mel­ten Schmetterlinge auf zwei kleinen Inseln des ge­plan­ten Tun-Sakaran-Meeresparks nahe Semporna, SE-Sabah,Ma­laysia, erbrachte ein weiteres neues NymphalidenTa­xon, das in diesem Beitrag als Tanaecia pelea marnii n.
ssp. beschrieben wird. Die neue Form wird mit ver­wand­ten Taxa verglichen, und Holotypus (♂, im Museum derUni­versiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan) und Al­lo­ty­pus (♀) werden abgebildet. In einem Anhang sind alle Rho­
palocerenarten und -unterarten aufgelistet, die bislang aufder Insel Balambangan vor der Küste von NW-Sabah, Ma­lay­sia, gesammelt oder beobachtet worden sind.

Introduction
In early July 2006 a short expedition to Bohey Dulangand Bod Gaya Islands was carried out by Sabah Parkre­pre­sentatives together with Wahap Marni, a memberof the Universiti Malaysia. As a result of the expedition agood series of a new subspecies of Tanaecia pelea (Fa­bri­cius 1787) was discovered. Previous expeditions by M.
Lakim and S. Dunsul in September and December 1998
had already demonstrated the importance of Le­pi­do­ptera from these islands and their relationship to theLe­pidoptera of both N Borneo and the Sulu Ar­chi­pe­la­go,Philippines.
Further, based on expeditions by members of the Uni­ver­siti Malaysia Sarawak made in 2001, 2003 to 2006
to Balambangan Island, N Sabah, the list of butterflies
found on this island could be revised and brought up-todate (Abang et al. 2004, 2006, Abang & Page 2006). The
2006 expedition was led by Prof. Dr. Fatimah Abang andincluded Wahap Marni and Audrie Men­gan togetherwith Colin G. Treadaway, an honorary re­sear­cher, allfrom the University Malaysia, Sarawak, as well as Prof.
Dr. Malcolm Page from Basel, Switzerland.

The proposed Tun Sakaran Park is located ap­prox­ima­te­ly
25 km to the NE of Semporna town, the closest town onmainland SE Sabah. This proposed (marine) park occupies
296 km² and includes a number of small is­lands such as
Bohey Dulang and Bod Gaya (the two larg­est, both withforest), Tetagan, Maiga, Montabuan and Sibuan Islands.
Balambangan Island is located ap­pro­ximately 5 km westof Banggi Island and is 21 km north of the northern tip ofSabah. This island is po­si­tion­ed between latitude 6°10' Nand 7°25' N and long­i­tude 116°45' E and 117°2' E. It is
20 km long with the high­est elevation being 134 m.

Tanaecia pelea marnii n. ssp.
Holotype ♂: Malaysia, SE Sabah, Bohey Dulang Is., 4. vii.
2006, W. Marni leg. (Figs. 1, 2).
Paratypes (in total 6 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀): allotype ♀, same data asholotype (Figs. 3, 4). 6 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀ same data as holotype, but
1 ♂, 1 ♀ 3. vii., 1 ♀ 6. vii., 1 ♀ 7. vii. 2006. — 1 ♀, Ma­lay­sia, SESabah, Bod Gaya, 4. vii. 2006. All W. Marni leg.
Location of types: The holotype and allotype are pre­ser­vedin the Museum of the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Ko­ta
Samarahan; one pair of paratypes in the Sabah Parks En­to­mological Mu­seum, Kinabalu Park. All other para­ty­pes arein the Mu­seum of the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Ko­ta
Samarahan.
Etymology: This new subspecies is named after Wahap
Marni who collected these specimens.

DescriptionThe species Tanaecia pelea (Fa­bri­cius 1787) occurs fromMyanmar through Sumatra to Borneo and further to theSulu Archipelago, Philippines. Subspecies Ta­nae­cia pelea
lutala (Moore 1859) is found over the whole of Bor­neo.
No subspecies of pelea has been found on Ba­la­bac orPalawan. Tanaecia pelea dohertyi Butler 1901 is known
from Jolo Island (Treadaway 1995: 32). The ho­lo­type♀ of T. pelea dohertyi is located in the Natural His­tory
Museum London. It seems to be the only spe­ci­men ofdohertyi known and is very different to the new sub­species
in being very much lighter in appear­ance with the blackmarkings of the forewing upperside be­ing more a dirty
light brown. However, the hindwing black markings arevery visible on the light brown background. Additionally,
the hindwing veins M3, Cu1a, and Cu1b on the upperside
are broadly margined with black (Figs. 5, 6).
It is known that almost every small island off the west
coast of Sumatra, as well as between the Malayan Pen­in­sula/Sumatra to West Borneo, has developed its own
pelea subspecies. The Bohey Dulang and Bod Gaya T.

1621

3

5

4

6

Colour plate, Figs. 1–4: Tanaecia pelea marnii n. ssp., specimens from E Sabah, Bohey Dulang Is. Fig. 1: Holotype ♂, dorsal view. Fig. 2: ventralview. Fig. 3: Allotype ♀, dorsal view. Fig. 4: ventral view. — Figs. 5–6: Tanaecia pelea dohertyi. Fig. 5: Holotype ♀, dorsal view. Fig. 6: ventral view.
Philippines, Sulu Archipelago, Jolo Island. – Photos C. G. Treadaway.

pelea marnii n. ssp. seems to be remarkably constant inappearance while the Bornean T. pelea lutala is quite
variable. The new subspecies with an average forewing
length of ♂ (n = 7) of 31 mm, ♀ (n = 7) of 35.1 mm dif­fers from all forms of lutala in having a darker overallap­pearance and larger and more heavily marked post­dis­cal black arrow heads on the the upper- and un­der­side of the fore- and hindwings. Further, the brightwhite discal patches of the forewing, cells M3 and Cu1a,are larger and quadratic as compared to lutala. Inter­est­

17

4 to species level only. Of the 117 species, 25.7 % of thesubspecies occur on N Borneo and Ba­lam­ban­gan, 21.5 %occur only on Balambangan or Ba­lam­ban­gan and Bang­gi(Zaidi & Sallah 1997), 6.5 % occur on the Philip­pi­nesand Balambangan and 46.3 % occur from N Borneo tothe Philippines including Ba­lam­ban­gan.

Conclusion
Considering this publication and the publication by La­kim
et al. (2003) it can be concluded that Bohey Du­lang andBod Gaya Islands, just as Balambangan Island, pro­vide
a good opportunity for further research re­gard­ing therelationship of Lepidoptera to N Borneo and the Phil­
ippines, i.e. Balabac, Palawan and the Sulu Ar­chi­pe­lago.

ac7bFig. 7: Tanaecia pelea marnii n. ssp., ♂ genitalia (GP 479 Schroeder), ESabah, Bohey Dulang Is. Fig. 7a: Lateral aspect; b: dorsal aspect of uncusand gnathos; c: phallus. — Drawings Inge Schroeder.

ing­ly, subspecies T. pelea subiensis Tsukada 1991  from
Subi Island, a small island in a chain of islands between
West Borneo and Malaysia, is quite close in appearance
to the new subspecies. However, it is even darker in over­
all appearance, with the postdiscal arrow heads be­ing
more brightly edged with white and with the base of thearrow heads blending into the dark brown mar­gin­al area.
For the new subspecies, these arrow heads are distinctly
broader and with a lighter marginal area. Fur­ther, thewhite patches on the forewing for the spa­ces associatedwith veins M3 and Cu1a are, particularly bas­al­ly, distinctly
more quadrate. Both sexes are si­mi­lar­ly marked, and forthe underside, the base colour is a san­dy brown (moreso for the ♂) with all black mark­ings of the upperside
clearly visible on the under­side.
♂ genitalia (Fig. 7): The ♂ genitalia of the new sub­spe­
cies are clearly of the type belonging to the pelea group.
The apex of the gnathos is edged with strong spines andthe pointed end of the valva is furnished with a spine
directed medial. Vesica of the phallus with a row of heavy
spine-like cornuti.

Remarks on the appendix table
From expeditions made to Balambangan in 2001  and2003–2006 the appendix to this publication lists thebutterfly species observed, collected and/or identified
on Balambangan. The Borneo to Philippines subspecies
distribution is shown as follows:
1 = Borneo,2 = endemic to Balambangan 		 only unless otherwise stated,
3 = Philippines.
In total 121 species have so far been found on Ba­lam­ban­gan Island. Of the 121 species now known from Ba­lam­bangan, 117 have been identified to subspecies level andAcknowledgements
The authors wish to thank sincerely Malcolm Page,
Wa­hap Marni and Audrie Mengan for their contribution
to the expeditions to offshore Sabah islands. Further, thefirst author acknowledges partial support provided by
the Malaysian Universiti Sabah for the 2006 ex­pe­di­tion
which was granted under the unimas fundamental grant
no. 01(126)/515/05(14).

Appendix
Appendix table: List of butterflies of Balambangan Island prepared for
the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (effective July 2006). — Abbreviations forthe dis­tribution pattern see text.
Taxa

Distribution

Papilionidae: Papilioninae (12 species)
Graphium agamemnon agamemnon (Linnaeus 1758)
Arisbe doson sarpedonoides Abang & Page 2006
Arisbe antiphates simpulensis Abang & Page 2006
Arisbe aristeus hermocrates (Felder & Felder 1865)
Menelaides polytes theseus (Cramer 1779)
Menelaides memnon memnon (Linnaeus 1758)
Menelaides hipponous jalanii Abang & Page 2006
Troides amphrysus flavicollis Druce 1873
Achillides palinurus, probably ssp. audryae Abang & Page 2006
(clearly observed by M. Page, but no specimens collected)
Graphium sarpedon (Linnaeus 1758)
Papilio demoleus Linnaeus 1758
Menelaides helenus (Linnaeus 1758)

1, 3
2 (+ Banggi)
2
1, 3
1
1, 3
2 (+ Banggi)
12 (+ Banggi)
1, 3
1, 3
1, 3

Pieridae (13 species): Pierinae (9 species)
Pareronia gulussa alpha Abang, Treadaway & Schroeder 2004
Cepora iudith beta Abang, Treadaway & Schroeder 2004
Appias lyncida balambangensis Abang, Treadaway &Schroeder 2004
Appias paulina insularis Abang, Treadaway & Schroeder 2004
Appias nephele dilutior (Staudinger 1889)
Appias albina albina (Boisduval 1836)
Appias olferna olferna Swinhoe 1890
Hebomoia glaucippe borneensis (?) Wallace 1863 (status still
under investigation)
Leptosia nina malayana (?) Fruhstorfer 1910 (status still
under investigation)2
2 (+ Banggi)
2 (+ Banggi)
2
3
1, 3
11 (?)
1Pieridae: Coliadinae (4 species)
Catopsilia pomona pomona (Fabricius 1775)
Catopsilia pyranthe pyranthe (Linnaeus 1758)
Eurema hecabe hecabe (Linnaeus 1758)
Gandaca harina elis Fruhstorfer 1910

1, 31, 31, 31

Nymphalidae (46 species): Nymphalinae (24 species)
Euthalia mahadeva ghazallyismaili Abang, Treadaway &Schroeder 2004
Dophla evelina magama Fruhstorfer 1913

2 (+ Banggi)1

18Taxa
Bassarona teuta skrzypinskia Abang, Treadaway &Schroeder 2004
Doleschallia bisaltide borneensis Fruhstorfer 1899
Hypolimnas bolina philippensis Butler 1874
Hypolimnas anomala anomala (Wallace 1869)
Yoma sabina podium Tsukada 1985Lasippa tiga empat Tsukada & Kaneko 1985
Cyrestis cocles sericeus Butler 1865
Neptis ilira cindia Eliot 1969
Neptis hylas sopatra Fruhstorfer 1907
Neptis nata nata Moore 1858
Neptis harita mingia Eliot 1969
Pantoporia paraka paraka (Butler 1879)
Pantoporia hordonia dora Eliot 1969
Athyma nefte subrata Moore 1858
Terinos clarissa bangueyana Fruhstorfer 1912
Cupha erymanthis erymanthis (Drury 1773
Junonia orithya leucasia (Fruhstorfer 1912)
Junonia almana almana (Linnaeus 1758) (recently recordedfrom N. Borneo)
Junonia hedonia ida (Cramer 1775)
Moduza procris agnata (Fruhstorfer 1896) (clearly observed
by C. Treadaway, but no specimens collected)
Parthenos sylvia borneensis Staudinger 1889
Lexias dirtea (Fabricius 1793)

Distribution
2 (+ Banggi)
1
1, 3
1, 3
3
1
1
1
1, 3
1
1
1
1
1, 32 (+ Banggi)
1, 3
3
1, 3
1, 3
1
1
1, 3

Nymphalidae: Charaxinae (3 species)
Polyura schreiber balambangana Abang, Treadaway &Schroeder 2004
Charaxes bernardus repetitus Butler 1896
Charaxes solon possibly n. ssp. near orchomenus Fruhstorfer1914 (status still under investigation)

212 (?)

Nymphalidae: Morphinae (Amathusiini) (2 species)
Discophora necho epsilon Abang, Treadaway & Schroeder 2004 2 (+ Banggi)
Amathusia phidippus phidippus (Linnaeus 1763)
1, 3

Nymphalidae: Satyrinae (6 species)
Elymnias panthera zeta Abang, Treadaway & Schroeder 2004
Ragadia makuta umbrata Fruhstorfer 1911
Lethe europa kayan Aoki & Uémura 1982
Ypthima pandocus jamaeus Fruhstorfer 1911
Mycalesis mineus macromalayana Fruhstorfer 1911
Orsotriaena medus medus (Fabricius 1775)

21
12 (+ Banggi)
1, 3
1, 3

Nymphalidae: Danainae (11 species)
Euploea midamus theta Abang, Treadaway & Schroeder 2004
Euploea swainson butra Staudinger 1889
Euploea mulciber ssp. between paupera Staudinger 1889 andportia Fruhstorfer 1904 (status still under investigation)
Euploea tulliolus aristotelis Moore 1883
Euploea sylvester tyrianthina Moore 1883
Euploea eunice syra Fruhstorfer 1901
Idea leuconoe n. ssp. Schroeder & Treadaway in prep.
Ideopsis vulgaris interposita (Fruhstorfer 1910)
Ideopsis juventa kinitis (Fruhstorfer 1904)
Tirumala septentrionis suanetes (Fruhstorfer 1911)
Danaus melanippus mezentius (Fruhstorfer 1910)

2 (+ Banggi)
32 (?) (+Banggi)
1, 3
1, 3
1, 3
2 (+ Banggi)
1
1, 3
3
1, 3

Lycaenidae (35 species): Miletinae (4 species)
Miletus drucei metrovius (Fruhstorfer 1913)
Miletus boisduvali boisduvali Moore 1858
Logania marmorata hilaeira Fruhstorfer 1914
Allotinus subviolaceus subviolaceus Felder & Felder 1865

11
1, 3
1, 3

Lycaenidae: Curetinae (1 species)
Curetis tagalica labuana Evans 1954

1Lycaenidae: Lycaeninae (30 species)
Flos apidanus palawanus (Staudinger 1889)
Drupadia rufotaenia (Fruhstorfer 1912) possibly n. ssp.
(status still under investigation)
Drupadia theda sigma Abang, Treadaway & Schroeder 2004
Iraota rochana accius Seitz 1926
Tajuria mantra mantra (Felder & Felder 1860)
Remelana jangala khusus Abang, Treadaway, Schroeder &Page 2006
Rachana jalindra menganae Abang, Treadaway, Schroeder &Page 2006
Hypolycaena erylus aimnestus Fruhstorfer 1912© Entomologischer Verein Apollo e. V., Frankfurt am Main, Juli 2007

32 (?)
211, 3223TaxaDistribution

Hypolycaena thecloides mortadai Abang, Treadaway, Schroeder
2 (+ Banggi)& Page 2006
Bindahara phocides possibly n. ssp. near phocides (Fabricius
2 (?)1793) (status still under investigation)
Euchrysops cnejus (Fabricius 1798)
1, 3
Lampides boeticus (Linnaeus 1767)
1, 3
Jamides bochus nabonassar (Fruhstorfer 1916)
1, 3
Jamides aratus adana (Druce 1873)
1, 3
Jamides callistus mioae H. Hayashi 1976
1, 3
Jamides philatus amphyssina (Staudinger 1889)
1, 3
Jamides celeno lydanus (Fruhstorfer 1910)
3
Nacaduba calauria malayica Corbet 1938
1
Nacaduba berenice akaba (Druce 1873)
1, 3
Nacaduba beroe neon Fruhstorfer 1916
1Caleta elna probably ssp. elvira (Fruhstorfer 1918) (status
1, 3
still under investigation)
Discolampa ethion icenus (Fruhstorfer 1918)
1
Ionolyce helicon merguiana (Moore 1884)
1, 3
Prosotas dubiosa subardates (Piepers & Snellen 1918)
1, 3Prosotas nora superdates (Fruhstorfer 1916)
1, 3
Catopyrops ancyra almora (Druce 1873)
1, 3
Neopithecops zalmora zalmora (Butler 1870)
1, 3
Megisba malaya sikkima Moore 1884 (badly damaged
1, 3specimen)
Chilades lajus athena (Felder & Felder 1865)
1, 3
Chilades mindora (Felder & Felder 1865)
1, 3

Hesperiidae (15 species): Coeliadinae (3 species)
Bibasis oedipodea oedipodea (Swainson 1820)
Hasora badra badra (Moore 1858)
Hasora taminatus malayana (Felder & Felder 1860)

1, 3
1, 3
1, 3

Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae (12 species)
Notocrypta clavata clavata (Staudinger 1889)
Notocrypta paralysos chunda Fruhstorfer 1911
Quedara monteithi monteithi (Wood-Mason & de Nicéville
1887)
Unkana ambasa batara Distant 1886
Taractrocera luzonensis stella Evans 1934
Potanthus omaha maesina (Evans 1934)
Potanthus fettingi ahastina (Fruhstorfer 1911)
Cephrenes acalle kliana Evans 1934
Pelopidas agna agna (Moore 1866)
Pelopidas mathias mathias (Fabricius 1798)
Borbo cinnara (Wallace 1866)
Oriens gola pseudolus (Mabille 1883)

1, 3
1, 31
1, 3
1, 3
1, 3
1
1, 3
1, 3
1, 3
1, 31, 3References
Abang, F., & Page, M. G. P. (2006): New subspecies of Pa­pi­lion­
idae Latreille, [1802] from Sabah, Malaysia (Lepidoptera:Pa­pilionidae). — Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins
Apol­lo, Frankfurt am Main, N.F. 27 (3): 161–164.
———, Treadaway, C. G., & Schroeder, H. G. (2004): A con­tri­bu­tion
to the butterfly fauna of the island of Balambangan (Ma­lay­sia,Sabah) (Insecta: Lepidoptera). — Futao, Tottori, 47: 2–13, 3 pls.
———, ———, ———, & Page, M. G. P. (2006): A further contribution tothe Lepidoptera fauna of Balambangan Island, Malaysia, Sabah(Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae, Pieridae). — Futao, Tot­to­ri, 51: 2–10.
Lakim, M., Dunsul, S., & Otsuka, K. (2003): New records of but­ter­flies from the proposed Tun Sakaran Park, Semporna, Sa­bah,Malaysia (Insects). — Sabah Parks Nature Journal, Kota Kinabalu,
6: 95–101.
Treadaway, C. G. (1995): Checklist of the butterflies of the Phil­ip­
pine islands (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera). — Nachrichten desEntomologischen Vereins Apollo, Frankfurt am Main, Sup­
plementum 14: 7–118.
Zaidi, M. I., & Sallah, I. (1997): Butterflies from Banggi Island, Sabah(Lepidoptera — Rhopalocera). — Serangga, Bangi, 2 (2): 209–211.
Received: 22. iii. 2007, 3. iv. 2007

ISSN 0723-9912

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Zeitschrift/Journal: Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo
Jahr/Year: 2007
Band/Volume: 28
Autor(en)/Author(s): Abang Fatimah, Treadaway Colin G., Schröder Heinz-Gerd
Artikel/Article: Butterflies on offshore islands of Sabah, North Borneo, Malaysia 15-18