InsectNet forum

Papilio godeffroyi, male, from Western Samoa

Bad memories. Last time I was there I intended to search for this species. It was cold and pouring rain all week.

I thought I heard that a fire had destroyed the habitat, rendering it extinct.

Hopefully not. It apparently occurs in many different habitats on American Samoa including urban areas, so hopefully a fire wouldn't cause its extinction.

Adam.

According to Wikipedia (I know, a very suspect source) godeffroyi is endemic to all of Samoa, but is now only found on Tutuila, and even then only in undisturbed forest.

Tutuila is the primary island of American Samoa.

The country Samoa used to be called Western Samoa. This is comprised of two major islands, Upolo and Savai'i.

I have NEVER seen it on Savai'i or Tutuila. So it can't be as common as most fuscus-group Papilio, for whatever reason. Most fuscus-group species are quite happy in suburban areas. Even Papilio amynthor (fuscus-group or not, I don't know) is quite commonly observed flitting around Norfolk Island.

Chuck wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:31 pm So it can't be as common as most fuscus-group Papilio, for whatever reason. Most fuscus-group species are quite happy in suburban areas. Even Papilio amynthor (fuscus-group or not, I don't know) is quite commonly observed flitting around Norfolk Island.

Papilio amynthor is the basal species in the same group as both P. godeffroyi and P. schmeltzi from Fiji, but surprisingly the latter two are NOT sister species. P. schmeltzi was the second species to diverge within the group and P. godeffroyi is a bit higher up the tree.

None of these belong to the fuscus group!

"So which group do they belong to?", I hear you ask.
OK, I won't tease you any more. They belong to the aegeus group.

More on genus Papilio very soon, when I can reveal a lot more information ... I promise ... even though Chuck may not like it, since it involves many name changes.

Adam.

Chuck wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:31 pm According to Wikipedia (I know, a very suspect source) godeffroyi is endemic to all of Samoa, but is now only found on Tutuila, and even then only in undisturbed forest.

Yes, apparently it was present on Savai'i and Upolu islands but went extinct there, although there have been very occasional reports (maybe dubious?) of it on those islands.

Adam.

Interesting, Adam. Upolo has by far the lowest population, and Tutuila by far the largest. I wonder why it is rare or now absent from the least two islands I'd expect.

Thanks for the glimpse of the future, Adam. Changing names isn't such a worry for me, as I don't relabel anything. In fact, for the most part I quit putting name labels on anything. But I wonder what museums do, with so many labels on drawers and unit trays; it would take me a couple days to relabel my Papilio, it would take MoH a year.

Most recent record from iNat is Jan 2019.

eurytides wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:38 pm Most recent record from iNat is Jan 2019.

From what I see, iNat has but one record for this species https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19683829

I think the single record is more a result of the lack of takeup of iNat on Tutuila than the rarity, though like I said, I've never seen one on Tutuila.

The location data appears to be blocked out. This though seems to be immaterial, as it's clearly an individual that had recently eclosed in captivity, as it's being handled, and it's perfect.

Ah, remember the old Rainmaker Hotel? One of the last vestiges of colonial Pacific, an architectural marvel. Now plowed under, gone, replaced by cheap pubs.

I have perfect male/ caught by Westphal in 2003

Mr. Panzerman,

Any chance you could show us some of the treasures you have retained of your former collection ?

Word had it that you were downsizing your collection or at least selling off parts of it. You posted many splendid pictures (for a time) of your wonderful holdings.

It would add (enormously) to discussions here about worldwide lepidoptera....