Notes on some Tanzanian butterfly specimens in the Suffert Collection: a case of patria falsa
Author
Takano, Hitoshi
0000-0002-2627-4881
African Natural History Research Trust, Street Court, Kingsland, Leominster, Herefordshire, HR 6 9 QA, UK & hitoshi. takano @ anhrt. org. uk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 2627 - 4881
hitoshi.takano@anhrt.org.uk
Author
László, Gyula M.
0000-0001-9862-8290
African Natural History Research Trust, Street Court, Kingsland, Leominster, Herefordshire, HR 6 9 QA, UK & gyula @ anhrt. org. uk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 9862 - 8290
gyula@anhrt.org.uk
Author
Collins, Steve C.
African Butterfly Research Institute, P. O. Box 14308, 0800 Nairobi, Kenya.
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-04-23
4964
3
585
597
journal article
7056
10.11646/zootaxa.4964.3.9
6e2f997e-5d4b-4153-ba58-80893e45257a
1175-5326
4715114
86ECDC4F-60D6-463D-B583-5FF12F1E7618
Charaxes xiphares maudei
Joicey & Talbot, 1918
This taxon was described as
Charaxes maudei
17
based on a single female specimen from ‘
German East Africa
(British Occupation)—Lindi’. This specimen may be the single female listed in the catalogue as ‘
Cithaeron
var.
’. The
holotype
specimen carries the following labels: ‘// Holo- / type [white disc with red border] // Lindi [handwritten in Suffert’s hand; green card (illustrated in
fig. 1
)] // Ex. Coll. / Suffert. / 1912. //
Charaxes
/ maudei / Joicey & Talb. / TYPE
♀
(H.T.). [handwritten in Talbot’s hand] // Joicey / Bequest. / Brit.Mus. / 1934–120. //’. This taxon has been shown to be a subspecies of the montane
Charaxes xiphares
from the Usambara Mountains found ‘in the high forests above Loshoto [
sic
] at Magamba and Amani’ where it is endemic (van Someren 1964: 200).
FIGURES 1–6.
Handwritten locality labels in Suffert’s hand.
1.
holotype female of
Charaxes maudei
.
2.
paratype female of
Charaxes pembanus usambarae
3.
male specimen of
Papilio hornimani hornimani
.
4.
paratype male of
Acraea excelsior usambarae
.
5.
female specimen of
Junonia westermanni splendens
.
6.
male specimen of
Graphium illyris
.
FIGURES 7–8:
handwritten labels in Brabant’s hand:
7.
holotype
male of
Charaxes pembanus usambarae
.
8.
male specimens of
Junonia westermanni splendens
.
17 This and three other butterflies in the genera
Delias
,
Deudorix
and
Erycinidia
are named
maudei
by Joicey most likely after his wife Maud Muriel Joicey (née Fisher), although incorrectly conjugated.
Charaxes aubyni aubyni
Poulton
,
192618
A single specimen from ‘Lindi’ was studied by van Someren (1966) in his revision of the genus belonging to the nominate subspecies distributed in north-eastern
Tanzania
and south-eastern
Kenya
. This specimen may be one of the female specimens listed in the catalogue as ‘
Etheocles & subsp.
’. He states that ‘since the species
aubyni
is an insect of high elevations it is probable that the locality given is incorrect’ (van Someren 1966: 78). The aforementioned specimen studied by van Someren is a female with the same handwritten green ‘Lindi’ label as the
holotype
of
Charaxes maudei
and two further labels attached by van Someren: ‘// aubyni aubyni. / loc. error! Det. vS. /? Usambara. // locality ‘Lindi’ / suspect vS [handwritten in van Someren’s hand] //’. Although circumstantial, these two
Charaxes
are frequently encountered together in high elevation forests in the West Usambara Mountains and it is possible that Suffert’s specimens were caught in the same place during a single collecting event.