Papilio paradoxa telearchus f. danisepa

[Trehopr1]

Here is a very odd looking (for a papilio) specimen
of Papilio paradoxa telearchus f. danisepa
Data: NE India, Meghalaya, Shillong (1896)
collection of Jim Ebner

This specimen was acquired over 25 years ago from
an old collection and remains one of my oldest
specimens. It is completely intact; and all the legs
are still there !

This particular form (I believe) is only sporadically
seen amongst the species. The bluish sheen along
with the white is stunning (quite reflective).

[daveuk]

Lovely specimen especially considering its age trehopr. I do have a darker Indian example but not as good as this one.

[adamcotton]

This particular form (I believe) is only sporadically seen amongst the species.

In most subspecies of Papilio (Chilasa) paradoxa the form that mimics Euploea radamanthus is less common that the form that mimics Euploea mulciber, especially in the female. In localities where E. radamanthus is relatively common the mimetic form of paradoxa is commoner than in places where E. radamanthus is not found, but even where E. radamanthus is common the form which mimics E. mulciber is normally commoner. Interestingly in different places the mimic looks like the local subspecies of E. radamanthus, for example with different sized white spots.

Adam.

[daveuk]

Here is my specimen of P paradoxa telearchus f danisepa trehopr along with Euploea radamanthus/diocletianus (it's model.)
Both specimens are from Khasi Hills, Assam India.

Also a picture of my P paradoxa aenigma from Malaysia with another E radamanthus/diocletianus from India for comparison. I do have E radamanthus from Malaysia still papered.

[Trehopr1]

Oh my, those are all lovely specimens/species !
Thank you very much Dave for showing me the model of the butterfly that I have. Adam, kindly mentioned there was a model but, I couldn't find a picture of it in any of my books.

The second photograph is equally striking with those two; again, a very nice comparison. I think all of them are striking examples and you are most fortunate to have acquired the models and mimics all together.

I absolutely love the genus Euploea though I have next to nothing of them. Paul K spent five or six months in Thailand/Laos and has shown us (in the past) some of his marvelous holdings of the genus which he acquired a very nice selection of whilst there.

Perhaps with a little coaxing and (as time allows) he could reproduce some of those wonderful photographs here once again !

[adamcotton]

Here are snapshots of my spread specimens:

ssp. telearchus



ssp. aenigma




ssp. niasicus and paradoxa


ssp. telesicles


ssp. melanostoma


Adam.

[adamcotton]

Oh dear, these are almost useless.
I have been locked out of imgur for some reason for several months, and never received a reply to my e-mail to imgur.

I tried joining flickr just now, but for some reason the uploaded photos are tiny. I am not sure what I did wrong.

Adam.

[daveuk]

Oh my, those are all lovely specimens/species !
Thank you very much Dave for showing me the model of the butterfly that I have. Adam, kindly mentioned there was a model but, I couldn't find a picture of it in any of my books.

The second photograph is equally striking with those two; again, a very nice comparison. I think all of them are striking examples and you are most fortunate to have acquired the models and mimics all together.

I absolutely love the genus Euploea though I have next to nothing of them. Paul K spent five or six months in Thailand/Laos and has shown us (in the past) some of his marvelous holdings of the genus which he acquired a very nice selection of whilst there.

Perhaps with a little coaxing and (as time allows) he could reproduce some of those wonderful photographs here once again !

Thanks for those kind words yet again trehopr. Glad you like the specimens. It is, as you say, very nice to have models & mimics together. I have more examples of mimicry with models & mimics which I will do my best to dig out & photograph over time. I am extremely fond of euploea too. I have a few species of those myself too.

[Paul K]

I absolutely love the genus Euploea though I have next to nothing of them. Paul K spent five or six months in Thailand/Laos and has shown us (in the past) some of his marvelous holdings of the genus which he acquired a very nice selection of whilst there.

Perhaps with a little coaxing and (as time allows) he could reproduce some of those wonderful photographs here once again !

Thank Trehopr.
I actually spent 4 years in Thailand and Laos and most of that time I was in Thailand (only few months all together in Laos).
I would like to repost Euploea pictures and others but my free time is quite limited at the moment.

[Trehopr1]

Hey Adam, try using imgur without signing-in. It sounds like you are having log-in issues...

I use imgur as a guest without ever signing-in and my photo's always show well.

[Trehopr1]

Impressive selection and holdings by the way !

[adamcotton]

Hey Adam, try using imgur without signing-in. It sounds like you are having log-in issues...

I use imgur as a guest without ever signing-in and my photo's always show well.

That's not the problem. I think my ISP has been blocked because someone was naughty (I have an internet connection with a variable IP address reset daily by my ISP).

When I open imgur I just see:
{"data":{"error":"Imgur is temporarily over capacity. Please try again later."},"success":false,"status":403}

I read on the internet that this error is because imgur is blocking access. I can't even see photos on imgur which are posted on Insectnet. I just get an image icon.

If I use a VPN and pretend to be elsewhere I can access my imgur account, but I don't want to use that as I have a very limited data use on the VPN, and cannot see the photos on Insectnet subsequently either.

I don't know why the large photos I uploaded to Flickr were really small instead of full size.

Adam.

[adamcotton]

I uploaded the photos to Google Photos, but they don't display here. I couldn't find a way to mark them as publicly visible, as I suppose that may be the problem.

Adam.

[adamcotton]

I found another way to post the photos, and edited my original post above. Now they display nicely.
The website I used is https://postimages.org/

Adam.

[Trehopr1]

Excellent Adam !
The pictures really show well and the clarity is a vast improvement. Amazing holdings throughout....

[adamcotton]

The pictures really show well and the clarity is a vast improvement. Amazing holdings throughout

Thank you for the compliment. Snapshots like these don't really do them justice, but they are good to show the general variation.

As you can see, I don't have any female of the form that mimics Euploea radamanthus, they are rather rare. For those readers who may not realise, the specimens with long diffuse stripes on the hindwings are females of the commoner form. These mimic the female of Euploea mulciber which has thin white stripes on the hindwings.

Adam.

[adamcotton]

Here are some photos I took of live adults in Thabok, C Laos, and the larva and pupa which I reared from NW Laos here some years ago. The larva is impressive and feeds on camphor (Lauraceae):






Adam.