Goliath-Species-Group
Only one species belongs to this Species-Group
1) O. (S.) goliath Oberthür, 1888 (8 subspecies, 1 subspecies (?)).
The morphology of O. (S.) goliath resembles that genus Troides, including the shape of the ♂ wing and spread of the golden spots on HW, is implied that it is a species that was separated from its common ancestor at an early stage and retains primitive elements. Eight subspecies are currently known, but the problem is that after Haugum & Low (1979)8) the subspecies from Central (=Maoke) Mountain’s region of Irian Jaya has become inclusive of ssp. atlas (type locality is Kapaur (=Fakfak)). Since the distance between the two habitats (linear distance between Fakfak and Kobowre Mts.) is about 400 Km and since the ssp. atlas and the subspecies from Central Mountains, which have completely different mountain massifs, are quite different in size and patch-pattern, we’re treating the species from Central Mountains as a separate subspecies “prometheus” (tentative name) here. Further research is waited on this.