staudingeri

11) Sp. staudingeri (Röber, 1888)⁷⁾

Ssp. ariadne Rothschild, 1908

Ssp. heptanonius (Fruhstorfer, 1913)

Ssp. ikarus Fruhstorfer, 1904

Ssp. rikyu Arima & Morimoto, 1991

Röber (1888)⁷⁾, the first to described it, reported staudingeri and iris as species. However, since Jordan (1908-1909)⁵⁾, they have been treated as subspecies of sp. haliphron, but Haugum (1981)⁴⁾classified them together as a separate species, sp. staudingeri. In any case, there is no doubt that they are approximations of each other. Here we have followed Haugum in classifying the approximate subspecies reported so far into six subspecies, but since we cannot point out clearly any differences between heptanonius, staudingeri and ikarus, it may be better to unify them under ssp. staudingeri.

(Distribution) [DCD 30]

West Daya Islands, Leti Islands, Sermata Islands, Babar Islands, Tanimbar Islands.

(Vertical distribution)

Unknown.

(Spotted pattern)

This is a species that is not so popularly known. Both sexes are small and somewhat rounded.

♂: FW is glossy black, and gray-white vein-stripes on the underside of the wing show through. The semi-translucent golden patches on HW in the western ssp. ariadne and iris are very small and very similar each other, while the eastern ssp. heptanonius, staudingeri, ikarus and rikyu bear a striking resemblance to each other in that they have 6 spaces patches and a cell-patch.

♀: FW is covered with grayish white vein-stripes. On the HW, the large dark discal spots and the broad dark marginal border are completely fused into a broad band. As a result, yellow spots are very small. All subspecies are very similar and almost impossible to distinguish.

(Larval foodplant)

Unknown. (A similar species haliphron can be bred in Aristolochia tagala.)⁶⁾