Post by Melanie on Jun 24, 2009 13:05:04 GMT
Only one specimen of Libythea cinyras has ever been collected. It was collected on Mauritius. It is not known whether the species is extinct or still occurs there.
There is one record from the Moka district on Mauritius. The only known specimen is the holotype, collected by Colville Barclay and given to Trimen in 1865. Barclay reported the species to be “very scarce in Mauritius” (Trimen, 1866: 337). Based on Barclay’s observational notes, Manders (1907) believed that other specimens were present on the island when the holotype was collected. In the original description of L. cinyras, Trimen (1866) stated that E. L. Layard collected a similar specimen in Madagascar, which was deposited in the South African Museum. However, the specimen from Madagascar is most likely Libythea labdaca, because there are currently no specimens resembling L. cinyras in the South African Museum (Dawn Larsen, pers. com.). Trimen (1866) also stated that a similar specimen was collected in River Shiré, Mozambique, but later determined that the specimen was not L. cinyras, but L. laius instead (Trimen, 1879). The ancestor of Libythea cinyras probably flew to Mauritius and evolved on the island. Further studies are necessary to verify whether this species is extinct. The above text is from Kawahara (2006).
References
Kawahara, A. Y. 2006. Biology of the snout butterflies (Nymphalidae, Libytheinae), Part 1: Libythea Fabricius. Transactions of the lepidopterological Society of Japan 57:13-33.
Manders, N. 1907. The butterflies of Mauritius and Bourbon. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1907: 429–454.
Trimen, R. 1866. Notes on the butterflies of Mauritius. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. (3rd Ser.) 5: 329–344.
Trimen, R. 1879. On some hitherto undescribed butterflies inhabiting southern Africa. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1879: 337–340.
tolweb.org/Libythea_cinyras/76307
There is one record from the Moka district on Mauritius. The only known specimen is the holotype, collected by Colville Barclay and given to Trimen in 1865. Barclay reported the species to be “very scarce in Mauritius” (Trimen, 1866: 337). Based on Barclay’s observational notes, Manders (1907) believed that other specimens were present on the island when the holotype was collected. In the original description of L. cinyras, Trimen (1866) stated that E. L. Layard collected a similar specimen in Madagascar, which was deposited in the South African Museum. However, the specimen from Madagascar is most likely Libythea labdaca, because there are currently no specimens resembling L. cinyras in the South African Museum (Dawn Larsen, pers. com.). Trimen (1866) also stated that a similar specimen was collected in River Shiré, Mozambique, but later determined that the specimen was not L. cinyras, but L. laius instead (Trimen, 1879). The ancestor of Libythea cinyras probably flew to Mauritius and evolved on the island. Further studies are necessary to verify whether this species is extinct. The above text is from Kawahara (2006).
References
Kawahara, A. Y. 2006. Biology of the snout butterflies (Nymphalidae, Libytheinae), Part 1: Libythea Fabricius. Transactions of the lepidopterological Society of Japan 57:13-33.
Manders, N. 1907. The butterflies of Mauritius and Bourbon. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1907: 429–454.
Trimen, R. 1866. Notes on the butterflies of Mauritius. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. (3rd Ser.) 5: 329–344.
Trimen, R. 1879. On some hitherto undescribed butterflies inhabiting southern Africa. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1879: 337–340.
tolweb.org/Libythea_cinyras/76307
