Rare Delias butterflies

[Trehopr1]

I would imagine it's very competitive just trying to acquire some of these high-end species that have so few offerings.

Also, it is no small feat just getting to New Guinea New Ireland or New Britain in any attempt to find some of these elusive butterflies. There is the airfare cost, lodging, you'll probably need a guide, rental of a vehicle and on and on.... I should think only a rare few well healed collectors could even fathom such an adventure these days !

I have a friend who managed to go to New Guinea in Sept.1985 and he spent 2 weeks there. Then, he took a "puddle jumper" Air flight to New Britain (which he said was a thousand miles away from New Guinea).
He remarked that the sea is vast in those regions and that it is easy to underestimate the distance between the Solomons and New Guinea. He did have some luck on New Britain where he collected 3 Alcides aurora near the beach as they were leaving the forest to seek out saturated sand for mineral nourishment.

He said New Britain was about as remote as one could imagine and that it was literally like being back in the Stone age.

[wollastoni]

Very few collectors have been to New Ireland in the 1980s. It must have been impressive indeed !

And yes, it is very difficult to find these species, that are not for sale on the market. You need a very good network, money and luck.

[nomad]

The very beautiful male and female of Delias salvini from Eastern New Britain, Baining Mountains

[Trehopr1]

Another outstanding pair of hard to find delias !
This one is similar to that "Uber" superb Delias bagoe species.
Thank you so much nomad for kindly sharing all these gorgeous and hard to find species with us here !

[wollastoni]

I am glad to have been helpful for these beauties, Peter. Take good care of them.

[adamcotton]

some have a large distribution area but are really hard to find (Delias agoranis) and so on.

Yutaka Inayoshi told me why Delias agoranis is so rare. Firstly it flies really fast like an Appias, not like other Delias, either above the trees or between the branches high up. It almost never comes near the ground and doesn't puddle.

Adam.

[nomad]

Another rare butterfly is Delias brandti. This female was caught by an intrepid collector in the Schleinitz Mountains of north-central part of New Ireland.

[wollastoni]

A rare beauty indeed

[nomad]

Another recent addition is this Delias callima satura male from Kerowagi, Papua New Guinea.

[wollastoni]

Hard to find indeed ! Congrats Peter !
I am still looking for a female myself.

And the ssp from West Papua are nearly impossible to find too : https://www.delias-butterflies.com/spec ... as-callima

[Chuck]

So has any Delias expert ever mapped out Asia Pacific, and identified areas not well surveyed, and with topology likely to have new species?

[wollastoni]

Well, collectors/explorers dit it.

Several mountains of New Guinea (especially in West Papua) would produce FOR SURE some new species if anyone is able to go and collect there : Foja Mountains, Wandammen Mts.
Some islands may still have some unknown full species but that's more dubious (Goodenough, ...).

To give you an example : the Foja Mts (not that far from Jayapura, but populated by an aggressive tribe + National Park) have been explored only twice by Henk van Mastrigt in the 2000s. He has spent very few days there. He has found 5 new Delias species. Delias cumanau for example : https://www.delias-butterflies.com/spec ... as-cumanau
Imagine being able to spend one year there... or to have a local catcher on place...

[nomad]

A recent addition Delias bobaga homeyo male from Homeyo West Papua.

[nomad]

A recent addition another Delias bobaga bobaga from the Weyland Mountains.

[nomad]

A recent addition a splendid Delias callima ayamiae from the Pass Valley, West Papua.

[wollastoni]

Congrats, very hard to find indeed. Especially ssp. homeyo.

Here are parts of mine.

IMG_0848 (2).jpg (382.98 KiB) Viewed 481 times

[wollastoni]

If your callima is from the Pass Valley, it is technically ssp ayamiae, not telefominensis (which is from Oktanglap area).
This said I personnally think both ssp are the same.

A revision must be done, but I am not sure there are enough specimens available to do it.

[nomad]

A recent addition A lovely Delias mesoblema from Langda, West Papua.

[nomad]

If your callima is from the Pass Valley, it is technically ssp ayamiae, not telefominensis (which is from Oktanglap area).
This said I personnally think both ssp are the same.

A revision must be done, but I am not sure there are enough specimens available to do it.

Yes they do look the same but I have changed the post for now. Pity you did not see it in the Pass Valley.

[nomad]

A specimen in my collection of Delias campbelli male paratype from the Weyland Mountains. It was caught by Felix, Charles and James Pratt who collected for James John Joicey and his private Hill Museum. The Hill Collection is now in the British Museum with many specimens also at Oxford University Museum Natural History. The specimen also has a label in red ink indicating it is a paratype. The Pratt brothers were superb collectors and visited some pretty remote places and found many new species. Unfortunately almost nothing is known about their expeditions and their private life's.