Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

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Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by Cabintom »

Hey all, can I solicit some help with some amateur science and testing a hypothesis?
After a recent visit to ABRI (African Butterfly Research Institute), and reorganizing the mechowi & gallienus boxes there, I think I've finally figured out a relatively certain way to separate the 2 species. I'm also fairly certain that most literature which describe the species get certain characteristics wrong (though it seems not the same ones).

If you've got specimens of Papilio mechowi (nominate ssp.) or Papilio gallienus, I'd love to see photos of them. Especially material from Cameroon, Nigeria, and Angola (but really whatever you've got would be helpful).
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by Cabintom »

For the uninitiated...

Papilio mechowi mechowi

Males

Image
Image

11/XI/2017 Near Mbogi, Ituri (1°41'55"N, 30°07'35"E) 1250-1300m
Image
Image

Female
Image
Image


Papilio gallienus

Males

VII/2014 Nebobongo, Haut-Uele (2°27'N, 27°37'E) 800m
Image
Image

22/VII/2016 Near Nebobongo, Haut-Uele (2°28'18"N, 27°38'11"E) 760m
Image
Image

Female

4/VII/2014 Nebobongo, Haut-Uele (2°27'N, 27°37'E) 800m
Image
Image
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by mcheki »

Interesting request. Here is a quick photo of my drawer covering these two species. Any help? I can take close up pictures of individual specimens if you tell me which ones. I hope that I have the identifications correct.
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by Cabintom »

mcheki wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 3:01 pm Interesting request. Here is a quick photo of my drawer covering these two species. Any help? I can take close up pictures of individual specimens if you tell me which ones. I hope that I have the identifications correct.
Since they're tiled and the HW spot in space 3 is often covered, it's difficult for me to be entirely certain of the following IDs (the size of that spot and the shape of the HW are very helpful). Of course, it's also really helpful to have both the dorsal & ventral views.

Here's what I think:

1st Column (from the left)
1. P. gallienus (certain but ventral HW needed to confirm)
2. P. gallienus (certain but dorsal HW needed to confirm)
3. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
4. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
5. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
6. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
7. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
8. P. gallienus (fairly certain, dorsal HW needed to confirm)
9. P. gallienus
10.P. gallienus

2nd Column
1. P. gallienus
2. P. mechowi
3. P. mechowi
4. P. mechowi
5. P. gallienus (uncertain, ventral HW needed)
6. P. mechowi
7. P. gallienus (uncertain, dorsal HW needed)
8. P. mechowi (fairly certain, dorsal HW needed)
9. P. mechowi

3rd Column
1. P. gallienus (certain but ventral HW needed to confirm)
2. P. gallienus
3. P. mechowi
4. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed)
5. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
6. P. gallienus
7. P. fernandus

4th Column
1. P. mechowi
2. P. mechowi
3. P. mechowi
4. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
5. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
6. P. mechowi
7. P. mechowi
8. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
9. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm)
10.P. gallienus (certain but dorsal HW needed to confirm)

5th Column
All P. mechowi whitnalli

I'd love a bit more info on the specimens: Could you share the localities for each?
As for close up photos: At least the 2 "uncertain" gallienus from the 2nd column. If you think I'm out to lunch on any of the others, it would be helpful to have close up photos of those too.
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by papillon »

Thomas,
it would certainly be of great interest to the "African" entomologists/collectors if you could explain the differences which allow the 2 species to be separated. Thanks.
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by Cabintom »

papillon wrote: Sun Feb 19, 2023 1:29 pm Thomas,
it would certainly be of great interest to the "African" entomologists/collectors if you could explain the differences which allow the 2 species to be separated. Thanks.
That's what I'm working towards doing. The ABRI collection has 5 boxes split between the two species, but many of the specimens are from the same localities. I'm hoping to test my hypothesis on specimens from a greater variety of localities to make sure the combination of characters I've keyed in on hold up. If they do, then I'll be writing something for the LepSoc of Africa's newsletter (and posting it here). But, there are already enough confusing descriptions of the species out there; I don't want to add to that confusion. (I also want to be very certain before declaring that Torben Larsen was in error.)

So please, I'd love to see pictures of the specimens you've got (especially from the countries along the Atlantic coast).
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by papillon »

The photos of my boxes are too heavy to be attached here.
I will send them to you on your email.
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by mcheki »

Here is a list of collection localities as you requested.
Some photos to follow.

1st Column (from the left)
1. P. gallienus (certain but ventral HW needed to confirm) Bangui, CAR
2. P. gallienus (certain but dorsal HW needed to confirm) Mbaiki, CAR
3. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Bangui, CAR
4. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Bangui, CAR
5. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Ebogo, Cameroon
6. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Mt Kala, Cameroon
7. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Ebogo, Cameroon
8. P. gallienus (fairly certain, dorsal HW needed to confirm) Ebogo, Cameroon
9. P. gallienus Ebogo, central Cameroon
10.P. gallienus Ma’an, south Cameroon

2nd Column
1. P. gallienus Sud Ubangi, Equateur, western DRC.
2. P. mechowi Pateka, Kivu, DRC
3. P. mechowi Makele Province, Kivu
4. P. mechowi Mapimbi, Kivu.
5. P. gallienus (uncertain, ventral HW needed) PHOTO Mapimbe, Kivu
6. P. mechowi Pateka, Kivu
7. P. gallienus (uncertain, dorsal HW needed) PHOTO Biakato, Kivu.
8. P. mechowi (fairly certain, dorsal HW needed) Biakato, Kivu.
9. P. mechowi Makele, Kivu



3rd Column
1. P. gallienus (certain but ventral HW needed to confirm) Kigwerna, Burundi
2. P. gallienus Kigwena, Burundi
3. P. mechowi Kigwena, Burundi
4. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed) Kigwena, Burundi
5. P. gallienus (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Lukolela, west DRC.
6. P. gallienus Lukolela, west DRC.
7. P. fernandus Bioko Island.

4th Column
1. P. mechowi Kayonza Forest, west Uganda (data unreliable)
2. P. mechowi Kalinzu Forest, south west Uganda.
3. P. mechowi Kalinzu Forest
4. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Kalinzu Forest
5. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Kalinzu Forest
6. P. mechowi Kalinzu Forest
7. P. mechowi Kalinzu Forest
8. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Kalinzu Forest
9. P. mechowi (fairly certain, ventral HW needed to confirm) Kalinzu Forest
10.P. gallienus (certain but dorsal HW needed to confirm) Kalinzu Forest

5th Column
All P. mechowi whitnalli All from Uganda, but various locations.
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by mcheki »

These are the two “uncertain” gallienus from Column 2 that you requested pictures of. First each showing the surface as in the drawer and in the next picture the opposite surface.
As presented in drawer.JPG
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Both reversed.JPG
Both reversed.JPG (720.35 KiB) Viewed 1514 times
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by MAC »

Hi Cabintom, I have literally hundreds and hundreds of these, way too many to post here so not sure how to best send the pics? But let me know, I spend hours and hours looking at these to try to determine common characteristics 😂 it would be interesting to see if we concur
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by Cabintom »

mcheki wrote: Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:20 pm Here is a list of collection localities as you requested.
Thanks for the localities! and for helping me stress test my assumptions.
I was feeling confident I could arrive at accurate IDs based primarily on the composition of the FW discal, but looking through them again with fresh eyes and I have to admit that mechowi is a bit too variable to go solely with that feature.

The 2 uncertain "gallienus" are mechowi.

#5 in col. 2
Thought process:
Dorsal HW marginal spot in space 2 3 smaller than neighbours
HW more or less pointed/elongated
Dorsal FW discal band spots well separated
Ventral HW outer part of the wing brown and not very dark
I'm very confident it is mechowi.

#7 in col. 2
Thought process:
HW more or less pointed/elongated
Dorsal FW discal band spots well separated and ovoid in S3 & S4
Dorsal HW S2 S3 spot is smaller than neighbours (though not by much)
Ventral HW is darker distally, which is a bit problematic (for a mechowi ID)
Overall, it's a bit of an edge case but I'm fairly sure it's mechowi. gallienus is very rare as far east as Biakato (which is in Ituri BTW).

Outside of those 2 specimens, looking at the first 4 specimens of Col. 1 again, and I'm far less certain they are gallienus than before. If it's not too much trouble, could you post pics of these as well?

Col. 3, Specimens 1 & 2.: I was sure these were gallienus (based on the FW discal band), but the location makes that more than improbable. (Now that I look at it again, the shape of the HW of #2 is that of mechowi). Could I see dorsal/ventral pics of these too?

Col. 4, specimen 10. I don't know what to say about this one, but if it's from Kalinzu Forest it's not going to be gallienus like I thought. Can I get a photo of the dorsal surface? (This may be a "stick in the spokes" of my hypothesis...)
Last edited by Cabintom on Mon Mar 13, 2023 5:17 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by Cabintom »

MAC wrote: Mon Feb 20, 2023 2:54 pm Hi Cabintom, I have literally hundreds and hundreds of these, way too many to post here so not sure how to best send the pics? But let me know, I spend hours and hours looking at these to try to determine common characteristics 😂 it would be interesting to see if we concur
Could you create a shared Google Drive folder? (or similar)
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by MAC »

Here are a few to be getting on with
Attachments
gal3.jpg
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gal2.jpg
gal2.jpg (106.43 KiB) Viewed 1459 times
gal 1.jpg
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by MAC »

continue
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gal6.jpg
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gal5.jpg
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gal4.jpg
gal4.jpg (102.28 KiB) Viewed 1459 times
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by MAC »

again
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gal 9.jpg
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gal8.jpg
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gal7.jpg
gal7.jpg (112.08 KiB) Viewed 1459 times
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by MAC »

again
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gal12.jpg
gal12.jpg (338.62 KiB) Viewed 1459 times
gal11.jpg
gal11.jpg (91.48 KiB) Viewed 1459 times
gal10.jpg
gal10.jpg (97.21 KiB) Viewed 1459 times
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by MAC »

again, all images low res so they would load recto verso of each drawer
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mac13.jpg
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by MAC »

apologies if the res is not high enough but location wise RDC up to females, then Cameroon, then RCA
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by MAC »

Cabintom, if you DM me i might be able to get access for you to a shared folder, ive been setting up ( albeit slowly) some African stuff there
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Re: Papilio mechowi & Papilio gallienus

Post by adamcotton »

Tom may not have seen Hancock, 1988 (The Princeps zenobia group. Papilio International, 5(1): 295-326) since it is hard to obtain, I thought I would post his text on mechowi and gallienus here:

Key to species:
7 Forewing yellow band diffuse along outer edge: male with
androconial patches on forewing •••••••••••••••••. gallienus
- Forewing yellow band sharply defined along outer edge;
male without androconial patches •••••••••••••••••• mechowi

Text:

4. Princeps gallienus [Distant]
Papilio cypraeafila gallienus Distant 1879. Proc. Zool.
Soc. Lond. 1879: 649. Type-loc. Calabar district. Nigeria.
A yellow-banded species recorded from SE Nigeria. Cameroon.
Gabon. Congo. West- and Central-Zaire.

5. Princeps mechowi [Dewitz]
Papilio mechowi Dewitz 1881. Ber!. ent. Z. 25: 286. Type-
loc. Quango. Angola.
A species very similar to P. gallienus but separable
by characters noted in the key, by the more angular hindwing
and by the male genitalia (Figs. 4. 5). Recorded from Cameroon,
Central African Republic, Congo, East and Central
Zaire, Angola, S. Sudan and W. Uganda. The larvae feed on
the liane Piper guineense [Piperaceae).

5a Princeps mechowi whitnalli [Neave)
Papilio gallienus whitnalli Neave 1904. Novit. Zool. 11:
342. Type-loc. Entebbe. Uganda.
The forewing marginal spots are larger, and the bands
a little broader, than in typical mechowi. Recorded from
East and Central Uganda.

Adam.
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