Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

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Yorky
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Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by Yorky »

I found this in a box of old Ugandan papered butterflies at my old friend Tony Harman's house. The data label reads Imatongs so I'm guessing Northern Uganda or the Sudan?
Going by the date on the other specimens it dates from 1955. I remember it causing a stir amongst one in two prominent entomologists, our late friend Danny Burke being one of them who told me that very few had ever been found. Maybe Adam can shed some light. I've thought about using an antenna from a male to repair it but have so far refrained.
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Re: Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by adamcotton »

The Imatong Mountains are in South Sudan close to the border with Uganda, and this should be Papilio mackinnoni equatoriana Turlin & Lequeux, 2010 (Lépidoptères - Revue des Lépidoptéristes de France, 19 (47): 116-124).

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Re: Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by Yorky »

Absolutely no information on this subspecies anywhere, JP seems to think it's very rare, so did Danny.
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Re: Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by adamcotton »

I have never seen one, and I guess rarity is based on the remote locality.

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Re: Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by Yorky »

Danny remarked that he only knew of half a dozen specimens
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Re: Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by eurytides »

I don’t know about this particular subspecies, but there are about a dozen entries for this species on iNaturalist over the last 4 years or so.
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Re: Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by Cabintom »

It's quite common in the garden at the Africa Butterfly Research Institute on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. I believe the rarity of the subspecies is, as Adam suggested, due to the remote & hostile locations in which its populations are found.
I had colleagues (missionaries) working in the Imatongs where ssp. equatoriana flies. They had to be suddenly evacuated during the night after a hike up one of the mountains which led to accusations that they'd gone up to "steal the rain" and then credible threats on their lives. I don't have all the details, but I imagine that relations with the local people had already been strained for the situation to escalate so quickly. Anyways, the point being, if a simple hike is met with such suspicion, a lot of work would likely need to be done to educate and gain the trust of people in the area before a serious scientific work could be undertaken.
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Re: Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by mcheki »

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As far as I am aware subspecies aequatoriana is found in the Imatong Mountains and also listed from Kitgum, north Uganda. The photo attached is a quick picture of my collection of this species and shows five males (Column 4, top five specimens) from Agoro Forest, north Uganda. In the description of this new subspecies (Turlin and Lequeux, 2010) the Holotype and many Paratypes come from this location. Unfortunately, no female available.
The nominate subspecies is found in Kivu, DRC and in west Uganda, which are not that far away.
These two subspecies are very similar.
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Re: Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by Yorky »

If something gets JP and Danny exited it must be something out of the ordinary. At the same time I posted a picture of a female Chilasa paradoxa that got Danny's attention too, I'll try and find the picture.
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Re: Papilio mackinnoni female ssp?

Post by africaone »

This specimen probably came from SC Collins ... (if the locality and label are correct)
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