Delias leucias subsp. leucias leucias
Creators: name: Davenport, Chris
name: Grimaldi, Nicolas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Pieridae
Delias
Delias leucias
Delias leucias leucias

description: <i>Delias leucias leucias</i> Jordan, 1912 (Figs 9-16) The subspecific identity of <i>D. leucias</i> from the central mountains of Papua New Guinea has a confusing history, having been assigned to the nominate race (type locality: Mt Goliath) by D’Abrera (1978), and subsequently to subspecies <i>huonensis</i> by later authors such as Parsons (1998), Yagishita et al. (1993) and Van Mastrigt (2003). Lachlan (2000) reports collection of <i>Delias leucias leucias</i> at Ok Tedi, Western Province and <i>D. leucias huonensis</i> at Tari, Southern Highlands. Gotts &amp; Ginn (2004) described a new subspecies, D. <i>leucias</i> <i>torini̡</i> from the Snow Mts, west of the nominate range, and discussed variation in <i>D. leucias</i> across New Guinea, mentioning the differences between the Kerowagi (Mt Wilhelm) population and the nominate subspecies from the Star Mountains. They considered the taxon <i>D. weiskei sayuriae</i> Okano, 1989, recorded only from Mt Wilhelm, to be a variation of <i>leucias</i> rather than a subspecies of <i>D. weiskei</i> Ribbe, 1900. <i>D. leucias huonensis</i> Talbot, 1928 was described from a single male collected by Keysser in the isolated Rawlinson Mountains on the Huon peninsula in north east New Guinea. The race remains rare in collections and apparently in nature; William Brandt did not record the species during his expedition to the Rawlinson Mts in 1968. Specimens from Mt Hagen are similar to those from Mt Wilhelm &amp; the Eastern Highlands, both can be distinguished <i>in the majority of individuals</i> from the nominate subspecies - by the complete separation of the pale hindwing patch from the white costal border by the red and black subapical bands, and a more orange coloration of the forewing underside - and from ssp <i>huonensis</i> by the narrower black margins on the both surfaces and the more elongated hind wing patch. Although these characters are consistent in the majority of specimens from central PNG, populations of the nominate race from various locations within Indonesian Papua show clinal development of the same features on a west - east axis. <i>Delias leucias</i> from central PNG is considered to represent a recognizable geographic form of the nominate subspecies.
description: Published as part of <i>Davenport, Chris &amp; Grimaldi, Nicolas, 2019, A new subspecies of Delias clathrata Rothschild, 1904 and records of other Delias species occurring on Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea (Lepidoptera: Pieridae, Pierinae), pp. 53-67 in Sugapa Digital 11 (2)</i> on pages 58-59, DOI: 10.19269/sugapa2019.11(2).01, http://zenodo.org/record/3832851
description: {"references": ["Parsons, M. J., 1998. The butterflies of Papua New Guinea: their systematics and biology. Academic Press, London: 736 pp. + 104 pls.", "Yagishita, A., Nakano, S. &amp; Morita, S., 1993. An illustrated list of the genus Delias Hubner of the World. 2 volumes, Khepera, Tokyo; xiv, 384, 409, Vi pp.", "Lachlan, R. B., 2000. New species, subspecies and records of Delias Hubner (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) from the upper Ok Tedi and Tari regions, Papua New Guinea. Aust. Entom. 27 (3): 71 - 96.", "Gotts, R. I. C. &amp; Ginn, S. G., 2004. New subspecies of Delias Hubner (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) from West Papua. Aust. Entom. 31 (2): 49 - 58", "Talbot, G., 1928 - 1937. A Monograph of the Pierine Genus Delias. British Museum, London Parts 1 - 5; pp. 1 - 259."]}