miokensis

Ssp. miokensis Ribbe, 1898⁴⁵⁾[♂] [♀: urvilliana, Oberthür, 1879³⁴⁾]

= urvilliana, Oberthür, 1879³⁴⁾ [♂, ♀] (Duke of York Is.)

(Distribution) [Map 25]

PNG [NBP] Duke of York Islands. (Duke of York Is., Makada (=Palipal) Is., Ulu (=Credner) Is., Utuan No. 2 (=Mioko) Is.).

(Episodes of discovery and original description)

The first reporter of this subspecies was Mathew (1888). He described the situation at that time as follows: “Upon landing I took one of the paths leading into the forest, and had not walk very far before I saw a large butterfly flying backwards and forwards at a great height between two trees. I colud see that it was blue and black above, and golden green and spotted beneath, and at once knew what it was.” Later, Pagenstecher (1894) described it as a variant of urvilliana, but he did not name it specifically either. The first nomenclature was given by Ribbe (1898). He considered it a transitional form between Bornemanni and Urvillianus, a variant of Pegasus (= poseidon) described by Pagenstecher (1894), mainly because of the coloration of the ♂. The name “miokensis” is a reference to the island of Mioko, where this species lives.

(Characteristics)

This subspecies found only in a narrow, restricted environment between the islands of New Britain (ssp. bornemanni ) and New Ireland (ssp. urvillianus ) has many intermediate characters between the two subspecies. Possible natural hybrid between these two subspecies.

(Spotted pattern)

♂: The color of the patches is variable and unstable, ranging from blue green to blue. The wing shape and spots resemble ssp. bornemanni, but the color of the spots is more blue, similar to ssp. urvillianus.

♀: Dull (=pale) form. Closely resembles ssp. urvillianus. The ground color of the wing varied from light brown to dark brown. The dark discal spots are somewhat larger than those of ssp. bornemanni and are not round but heart-shaped like those of ssp. urvillianus.

(Variation)

♂-f. icarus Schäffler, 2001⁵⁵⁾: [FW/HW discoloration] The iridescent scaling is purely green and thus resembles strikingly ssp. bornemanni.

♂-f. mavricki Deslisle & Sclavo, 2015¹⁰⁾: [FW/HW discoloration] A brighter blue iridescence on FW upper side. Bicolouration of HW is more evident, being a paler blue subdiscally and submarginally.