Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2009-04-03
Page range: 65–68
Abstract views: 50
PDF downloaded: 23

Threatened butterflies: a new subspecies of Neptis manasa Moore, 1858 from Hainan Island (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)

Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 China Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 China
Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101
Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101
Lepidoptera Nymphalidae

Abstract

Neptis manasa Moore, 1858, belonging to the tribe Neptini (Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae), is distributed along the northern border of the Oriental Region. So far, four subspecies have been recorded: N. m. manasa Moore, 1858 (North India to north Thailand), N. m. antigone Leech, 1890 (South China), N. m. narcissina Oberthür, 1906 (Northwest Yunnan, China) and N. m. shinkaii Koiwaya, 1996 (Southeast Tibet, China). N. manasa is very rare compared with most species of the genus Neptis. Restricted only to virgin forests, its habitats have been destroyed by the economic developments of China and neighbouring countries. Thus, N. manasa is likely to be threatened by losing its required habitats.
Gu (1997) first recorded N. manasa from Hainan Island and considered the insular race as the nominate subspecies. We studied two N. manasa specimens collected in the early 1980s by Mr. Gu from Hainan and found that the insular race is quite different from all known subspecies based upon external features and male genitalia. The purpose of this paper is to describe the insular race from Hainan Island as a new subspecies and bring attention to its probably threatened status.

References

  1. Eliot, J.N. (1969) An analysis of the Eurasian and Australian Neptini (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology, Suppl. 15, 1–155, pls. 1–3.

    Gu, M.B. & Chen, P.Z. (1997) Butterflies in Hainan Island. China Forestry Publishing House, Beijing, 355 pp.

    Moore, F. (1858) In: Horsfield, T. & Moore, F. Catalogue of the Lepidopterous Insects in the Museum of the Honourable East India Company 1. London, 298 pp., 18 pls.

    Huang, H. (1998) Research on the butterflies of the Namjagbarwa region, S.E. Tibet (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera). Neue Entomologische Nachrichten, 41, 207–263.

    Huang, H. (2003) A list of butterflies collected from Nujiang (Lou Tse Kiang) and Dulongjiang, China with descriptions of new species, new subspecies, and revisional notes (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera). Neue Entomologische Nachrichten, 55, 3–114, 160–177.

    Koiwaya, S. (1996) Ten new species and twenty-four new subspecies of butterflies from China, with notes on the systematic positions of five taxa. In: Koiwaya, S. (Ed.), Studies of Chinese butterflies, 3. Tokyo, 237–280, pls. 168–202.

    Leech, J.H. (1890) New species of Lepidoptera from China. Entomologist, 23, 26–50, 81–83, 109–114, 187–192.

    Oberthür, C. (1906) Observations sur les Neptis à tâches jaunes de la région sino-thibétaine. Études de Lépidoptérologie comparée, 2, 7–18.