Papilio everesti Riley, 1927

Hu, Shao-Ji, Cotton, Adam M., Lamas, Gerardo, Duan, Kuang & Zhang, Xin, 2023, Checklist of Yunnan Papilionidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) with nomenclatural notes and descriptions of new subspecies, Zootaxa 5362 (1), pp. 1-69 : 34-35

59. Papilio everesti Riley, 1927 stat. nov.

P. [apilio] machaon everesti Riley, 1927 ; Trans. ent. Soc. Lond., 1927 (1): 120; TL: ‘ Tibet: Rongbuk Glacier , 15– 17,000 ft. ’.

Note: Lee (1980) recognised three species in the Papilio machaon complex in China based on adult morphology ( Figure 12 ) and genitalia of both males and females (see under Papilio machaon , Figures 13–18 ). As well as Papilio machaon Linnaeus, 1758 , Lee separated the short tailed high elevation taxon as Papilio annae Gistel, 1857 and the very long tailed Yunnan taxon as Papilio verityi Fruhstorfer, 1907 , but this classification was overlooked by previous publications. Examination of genitalia of these three taxa from Yunnan confirmed their status as separate species, and recent DNA analysis reported in a conference poster by Todisco et al. (2023) confirmed Papilio everesti as a distinct species. Papilio annae Gistel, 1857 was shown by Dierl (1977) to be a synonym of the long tailed lower altitude western Himalayan Papilio machaon asiatica Ménétriés, 1855 , rather than the short tailed highaltitude taxon in the eastern Himalayas, so Lee (1980) applied the name annae incorrectly to the short tailed eastern Himalayan taxon. The oldest available name is Papilio everesti Riley, 1927 , and the species comprises the following subspecies:

Papilio everesti kiyonobu Morita, 1997 (TL: ‘near Yanfu, alt. 4,400m – 5,000m, western Tibet, China’ ) comb. nov.

Distribution: W. Tibet

Papilio everesti everesti Riley, 1927 (TL: ‘Rongbuk Glacier, 15–17,000 ft. ’)

nolico Morita, 1997 (TL: ‘ 60km north of Nyalam , alt. 4,400m, southern Tibet, China’) syn. nov.

Distribution: S. C. Tibet

Papilio everesti hookeri Gaonkar, 1999 [Replacement Name for sikkimensis Moore, 1884 ] comb. nov.

sikkimensis Moore, 1884 (TL: ‘Sikkim’) [JH of Papilio sikkimensis Wood-Mason, 1882 ( Papilionidae )]

sickimensis Seyer, 1974 [ISS]

Distribution: Sikkim, Bhutan, S. to S. E. Tibet

Papilio everesti alpherakyi O. Bang-Haas, 1933 (TL: ‘ Kansu mer. or., Minschan Gebirge, Min Tanho , 2600 m.’) comb. nov.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Males of (A) Papilio everesti alpherakyi O. Bang-Haas, 1933 comb. nov. from Deqen, Yunnan, China; (B) Papilio verityi Fruhstorfer, 1907 stat. nov. from Kunming, Yunnan, China; and (C) Papilio machaon schantungensis Eller, 1936 from Yanjin, Yunnan, China. Scale bar = 10 mm.

FIGURE 13. Male genitalia of Papilio everesti alpherakyi O. Bang-Haas, 1933 from Deqen,Yunnan, China.All: whole genitalia with right valve removed, R.: ring, V.: right valve, TSU: tegumen, socii, and uncus, Ae.: aedeagus, Ju.: juxta. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 14. Female genitalia of Papilio everesti alpherakyi O. Bang-Haas, 1933 from Deqen, Yunnan, China. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 15. Male genitalia of Papilio verityi Fruhstorfer, 1907 stat. nov. from Kunming, Yunnan, China. All: whole genitalia with right valve removed, R.: ring, V.: right valve, TSU: tegumen, socii, and uncus, Ae.: aedeagus, Ju.: juxta. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 16. Female genitalia of Papilio verityi Fruhstorfer, 1907 stat. nov. from Kunming, Yunnan, China. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 17. Male genitalia of Papilio machaon schantungensis Eller, 1936 from Ya’an, Sichuan, China. All: whole genitalia with right valve removed, R.: ring, V.: right valve, TSU: tegumen, socii, and uncus, Ae.: aedeagus, Ju.: juxta. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 18. Female genitalia of Papilio machaon schantungensis Eller, 1936 from Yanjin, Yunnan, China. Scale bar = 1 mm.