Arhopala democritus lycaenaria

Arhopala democritus lycaenaria (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1860)


♀, Yala (Betong dist.), Thailand.		♀, Yala (Betong dist.), Thailand.

ON : Amblypodia lycaenaria C. Felder & R. Felder, 1860
OD : Wien. ent. Monats. 4(12):396.
TL : "paeninsula Malayica" [W.Malaysia]. (NHML)

Distribution : P.Thailand (Yala: Betong ; Narathiwat), W.Malaysia, {Singapore}.

	● ssp.
	● uncertain
	● ssp.democritus
	● transition zone of democritus and lycaenaria

Records taken from Literature

[ THAILAND ]
Arhopala democritus lycaenaria ; Pinratana,1981 : 84, pl.31, fig.9,♀(Un). (Yala)
'Arhopala democritus lycaenaria ; Ek-Amnuay,2012 : 650, pl.295, fig.L252b♀(Malaysia),♀(Un,Malaysia).'
Arhopala democritus lycaenaria ; S.Sophonviwatkul, C.Sunthornwiphat & T.Laola,2023- : Butterflies of Thailand, figs. (Yala) (accessed: 2023.07.05)

Specimens Examined

[ THAILAND ]
Yala (Betong dist.) : 3♀ (incl. photo by S.Atdhabhan).

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Narathiwat : 1♀ (photo by S.Atdhabhan).

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Notes

The butterfly is locally not rare in montane forests at low to moderate elevations (Alt. 150 - 550m).
In the southernmost part of Thailand, the population close to the nominotypical subspecies is found in Than To district in Yala, and the populations close to ssp.lycaenaria have been found in Betong district in Yala and Narathiwat. However, both populations are different from the true respective taxa. I think they are transitional forms between ssp.democritus and ssp.lycaenaria. The effects of the transition between the two subspecies may be apparent. Eliot (1978: 291; 1992: 281) mentioned that the possibility of separate species of these two taxa. Further taxonomic and distributional studies, including DNA analysis, are needed.

Literature

Felder, C. & Felder, R.,1860 : Lepidoptera nova in paeninsula Malayica collecta diagnosibus instructa.
Wien. ent. Monats. 4(12):394-402.

Corbet, A.S.,1941 : A key to the Indo-Malayan species of Arhopala Boisduval (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)
Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (B)10(9):149-183, figs.1-114.

Evans, W.H.,1957 : A Revision of the Arhopala Group of Oriental Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera).
Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Ent.) 5(3):85-141.

Eliot, J.N.,1978 : In Corbet & Pendlebury. The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula, edn. 3.
Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.

Eliot, J.N.,1992 : In Corbet & Pendlebury. The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula, edn. 4.
Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.

♀, Yala (Betong dist.), Thailand. (photo by S.Atdhabhan)

1999.07.18 - 2023.07.31.