Delias leucias leucias Jordan , 1912

Davenport, Chris & Grimaldi, Nicolas, 2019, A new subspecies of Delias clathrata Rothschild, 1904 and records of other Delias species occurring on Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea (Lepidoptera: Pieridae, Pierinae), Sugapa Digital 11 (2), pp. 53-67 : 58-59

Delias leucias leucias Jordan, 1912

( Figs 9-16 )

The subspecific identity of D. leucias from the central mountains of Papua New Guinea has a confusing history, having been assigned to the nominate race (type locality: Mt Goliath) by D’Abrera (1978), and subsequently to subspecies huonensis by later authors such as Parsons (1998), Yagishita et al. (1993) and Van Mastrigt (2003). Lachlan (2000) reports collection of Delias leucias leucias at Ok Tedi, Western Province and D. leucias huonensis at Tari, Southern Highlands. Gotts & Ginn (2004) described a new subspecies, D. leucias torini̡ from the Snow Mts, west of the nominate range, and discussed variation in D. leucias across New Guinea, mentioning the differences between the Kerowagi (Mt Wilhelm) population and the nominate subspecies from the Star Mountains. They considered the taxon D. weiskei sayuriae Okano, 1989 , recorded only from Mt Wilhelm, to be a variation of leucias rather than a subspecies of D. weiskei Ribbe, 1900 .

D. leucias huonensis Talbot, 1928 was described from a single male collected by Keysser in the isolated Rawlinson Mountains on the Huon peninsula in north east New Guinea. The race remains rare in collections and apparently in nature; William Brandt did not record the species during his expedition to the Rawlinson Mts in 1968.

Specimens from Mt Hagen are similar to those from Mt Wilhelm & the Eastern Highlands, both can be distinguished in the majority of individuals from the nominate subspecies - by the complete separation of the pale hindwing patch from the white costal border by the red and black subapical bands, and a more orange coloration of the forewing underside - and from ssp

huonensis by the narrower black margins on the both surfaces and the more elongated hind wing patch. Although these characters are consistent in the majority of specimens from central PNG, populations of the nominate race from various locations within Indonesian Papua show clinal development of the same features on a west - east axis. Delias leucias from central PNG is considered to represent a recognizable geographic form of the nominate subspecies.

Figures

Figs 9-14. Delias leucias leucias Jordan, 1912. 9. ♂, PNG, Mt Hagen, Pap Creek, 2500m (CD), dorso; 10. Idem, verso; 11. ♀, PNG, Mt Hagen, Murmur Pass, 2850m (CD), dorso; 12. Idem, verso; 13. ♂, Indonesia, Papua, Star Mts, Ok Tedi (CD), a. dorso, b. verso; 14. ♀, Indonesia, Papua, Ilu (KSP), a. dorso, b. verso.

Figs 15-16. Delias leucias huonensis Talbot, 1928. 15. ♂ holotype, PNG, Rawlinson Mts (NHMUK), dorso; 16. Idem, verso.