Pieris napi ssp. atlantis (Atlas Green-veined White)

[Melanie]

possible extinct subspecies of the Green-veined White
from Azrou, Morocco. Last seen in 1970.

www.ctv.es/USERS/tarrier/tarrier_M/bio.htm

[Sebbe]

This subspecies is treated as a synonym of P. n. maura (coastal regions of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) by Leraut (2016) from which it differs extremely little.

Source
- Leraut, P. (2016): Butterflies of Europe and neighbouring regions. 1300pp. NAP Editions.

[Sebbe]

A commercial interest in systematics, or a systematic interest in commerce? The Moroccan butterfly names of M. R. Tarrier.

Moroccan butterfly names recently raised by M. R. Tarrier (1996, 1998c) are critically appraised. Rarity status allocated to Moroccan butterflies (Tarrier, 1998a) is shown to be highly subjective and closely correlated to prices in a commercial butterfly price list (Tarrier, [1997b]). It is suggested that the basis on which names have been raised and on which calls for the protection of butterfly habitats have been made, represent a cynical attempt to promote commercial butterfly sales. It is further suggested that journal editors must bear responsibility for facilitating publication of such material. The names amelnorum, antiatlasicus, arahoui, edithae, fairuzae and megalatlasica are synonymised with existing names.

www.zobodat.at/pdf/Nota-lepidopterologica_22_0048-0057.pdf

[Sebbe]

It is treated as a valid subspecies in this e-book by Michel Tarrier who is a world authority on the butterfly fauna of Morocco.

Tarrier, M. (2020): The Pieridae of Morocco (Rif, Oriental Region, Central Plateau, Middle Atlas, High Atlas, Anti-Atlas, Sahara). An updated and annotated monography.

Extremely localized in the sub-humid central Middle Atlas, between 1500 and 1800 m, within an eco-Region of humid forests with high rainfall and fairly substantial snow cover. The data labels on the specimens kept in museum collections in Rabat, Paris and London report as localities Tioumliline (Azrou), Dayet Achlaf (Ifrane), surroundings of Timahdite (probably the riparian forests of Oued Guigou), and Aguelmame Azigza (Khenfira), all localities already known since the time of the Protectorate, and where this Butterfly has not been found since the 1970s, despite relentless research by many specialists.

Most of the old localities have been severely impacted by intensive sheep herding, especially in the close surroundings of the old Tioumliline Abbey, whose water springs has been fitted out as a drinking trough for livestock, leading to the daily back and forth movement of about teen flocks of to two hundred heads each. Many lepidopterists have therefore attempted to find this Pierid in other nearby habitats, ecologically similar and with better conservation status (at least until the 1990s), but their failure to find this species remains an enigma.

www.calameo.com/read/005869828ec1f9ecf4561