victoriae

4. Ssp. victoriae (Gray, 1856)¹¹⁾ [♂] [♀: Salvin, 1888 ²⁵⁾]

(Distribution) [Map 5]

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal Is. (Wanderer Bay area, Mbambanakira, Chocho, Mt. Popomanaseu (=Makarakombu), Gold Ridge Village, Aola (=Tenaghau), Ndondo Creek, Tenaru, Mt. Austin, Kukum, Honiana, Poha River basin, Kakambona, Chiri, Mt. Gallego), Mbokonimbeti (=Sandfly) Is., Nggela Sule (=Florida) Is., Nggela Pile (=Small Nggela) Is., Tulaghi Is., Savo Is.

(Episodes of discovery and original description)

The story of the first specimen (♀) being shot down with a shotgun is well known. Gray (1856) noted this fact in his original description at “Among the various novelties sent home during the voyages of H.M.SS.’Rattlesnake’ and ‘Herald’ by Mr. Macgillivray, is the splendid Butterfly now laid before the Society. It belongs to the great genus Papilio and to the subdivision Ornithoptera, and like the other known species of that group, its flight is very elevated; so much so, that it became necessary to employ powder and shot to secure the specimen; many shots have perforated the wings, and have rather damaged the specimen, but still not so as entirely destroy the beauty of this remarkable butterfly…..” and, since there were no notes on where it was collected, he assumed that it was from either the Solomon Islands, Aneiteum, the New Hebrides, or Fiji. In naming the species, I chose “victoriae” in honor of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, whom I most admired at the time. The paper ends with “The male remains at present unknown, but one may suppose, by the usual brilliancy of the males of this group to which it belongs, that it is likely to prove a most beautiful insect, exhibiting some gorgeous combination of colour”. The ♂ was finally described 31 years later by Salvin (1888), who collected a specimen from Aola, Guadalcanal Island, in 1886. Fortunately, the ♀ of the ♂♀ collected at the same time on Malaita Island was very similar to the holotype, proving that it was definitely the ♂ of this species. However, the Malaita ♂ was slightly different from the Guadalcanal ♂ and Salvin needed to know the route of the “Rattlesnake” and the “Herald” to know the exact collection site of the type specimen. In the course of his research, he discovered that the “Rattlesnake” did not stop at the Solomon Islands, but only the “Herald,” commanded by Captain Denham, did so between 1854 and 1855. He also had the good fortune to see the captain’s charts and learned that the “Herald” stopped at Wanderer Bay on Guadalcanal Island and Makira on San Cristobal Island, but not at Malaita Island. Since the species had not been found on San Cristobal Island at that time, it assumed that the holotype was collected in Wanderer Bay, Guadalcanal Island, and that the one from Aola, Guadalcanal Island, was the ♂ of this subspecies.

(Characteristics)

This subspecies occurs in the central area of the distribution range of this species and has many intermediate elements among the other subspecies.

(Spotted pattern)

♂: The patches of FW are about the same size, or smaller than those of ssp. archeri and isabellae, but the shade of black scales spreading from the black abdominal area of HW is mild as ssp. regis.

♀: Apart from ssp. regis with the smallest pale spots of wings and ssp. rubianus with the largest pale spots, there is no difference from the remaining others.

(Variation)

♂-f. brossardi Deslisle, 1995⁴⁾: [Aberrant FW pattern] One or some semi-translucent golden spots present in the subapical patch of FW. (➡reginae, epiphanes )

♂-f. gousseyi Deslisle, 2008⁶⁾: [Aberrant HW pattern] The submarginal golden spots are absent, and on underside the black marginal spots are considerably larger.

♂-f. niclasi Schäffler, 2001²⁶⁾ (➡regis )

♂-f. jessicae Goussey, 2006¹⁰⁾ (➡rubianus )