NYMPHALIDAE, Rafinesque, 1815

Cock, Matthew J. W., 2014, An updated and annotated checklist of the larger butterflies (Papilionoidea) of Trinidad, West Indies: Papilionidae, Pieridae and Nymphalidae, Insecta Mundi 2014 (353), pp. 1-14 : 30-32

NYMPHALIDAE

SATYRINAE

Morphini

Morpho deidamia (Hübner, [1819]) ?ssp.

Morpho deidamia (Hübner) : Guppy (1994)

Morpho menelaus (Linnaeus, 1758) ?ssp.

Morpho menelaus (Linnaeus) : Guppy (1994)

The late Nicholas Guppy reports catching two specimens of M. deidamia and one of M. menelaus at the top of Emperor Valley in 1936 or 1937 when he was about 11 years old ( Guppy 1994). No one else has seen these species from Trinidad before or since. I do not accept them as resident Trinidad species, but have no satisfactory explanation for the three specimens. I discussed their possible origin or affiliations with A. Neild. Morpho deidamia occurs in neighbouring Venezuela as the very distinctive subspecies M. d. guaraura Le Cerf (= lecerfi Le Moult) ( Neild 2008). Contrary to what Guppy (1994) wrote, the dorsal surface of his M. deidamia does not resemble ssp. guaraura , rather a typical continental Guianan specimen of the nominate subspecies. As P. Blandin notes in Guppy (1994), Guppy’s specimen of M. menelaus does not resemble M. menelaus orinocensis Le Moult from the relatively close Orinoco Delta, and it too looks like the Guianan nominate subspecies. Hence, Guppy’s specimens could not have strayed from the Paria Peninsula of Venezuela, and are most likely of Guianan origin. It seems extremely unlikely that three vagrant specimens of two different Morpho spp. from inland Guiana could turn up at Port of Spain together. Could mainland specimens have been added to Guppy’s collection at a later date? Could it have been the resident M. helenor that Guppy remembered collecting in the 1930s? It would be helpful to examine Guppy’s collection; if specimens had contemporary data labels attached they would be relatively plausible, but this seems unlikely as Guppy (1994) was only able to indicate the date of capture from memory. On balance, it seems appropriate to disregard these two records without any better confirmation.

Satyrini

Yphthimoides celmis (Godart, [1824])

Euptychia celmis (Godart) : Kaye (1921, no. 120), Barcant (1970, no. 19)

Yphthimoides celmis has been recorded from Trinidad, as Euptychia celmis ( Kaye 1921, Barcant 1970). I have not been able to confirm the identity of this species in Trinidad, as the true Y. celmis seems to be restricted to south of the Amazon. Kaye (1921) wrote ‘Not rare. Botanical Gardens (J. H. Hart.) ’. Barcant (1970) did not know this species, which he referred to as ‘particularly scarce’ and there are no putative specimens in the Angostura-Barcant Collection. Hart’s specimens have not been located in the BMNH or in W.J. Kaye’s material in MCLB. It is likely that Kaye misidentified this species, and another species such as Cissia modesta was intended, but labelled historical material is needed to validate this hypothesis.

BIBLIDINAE

Biblidini

Dynamine ines (Godart, [1824])

Dynamine ines (Godart) : Barcant (1970, no. 74)

At present, I have no evidence that D. ines is a Trinidad species. Barcant (1970, pp. 173-4) provides the only record. He wrote ‘Very rare in Trinidad. More likely in northern hilly areas but with no firm habitat. It has been recorded from the St. Ann’s district (A. Hall)’. There are no specimens of D. ines (or D. setabis ) from Trinidad in Hall’s collection in BMBN or in the BMNH, but there is a male D. setabis collected Trinidad, Oct-Dec 1920 by A. Hall in MCLB from the W.J. Kaye collection. It is strange that Kaye (1921, 1940) did not record it (although this is true of some species that A. Hall caught in the early 1930s, e.g. Castilia ofella ). A male in the Angostura-Barcant Collection labelled as D. ines is actually D. setabis , whereas there are no specimens identified as D. setabis in that collection, indicating that Barcant probably had the two transposed and inadvertently added an incorrect record.

NYMPHALINAE

Melitaeini

Anthanassa frisia frisia (Poey, 1832)

Anthanassa frisia (Poey) : Higgins (1981)

Higgins (1981) treated A. frisia as a monotypic species and included Trinidad in its distribution, although it is otherwise only known from the Greater Antilles, Bahamas and southern USA. Higgins (1981) treated A. dubia (A. Hall, 1929) described from Venezuela, A. hermas (Hewitson, 1864) described from Brazil, A. taeniata (Rober, 1913) described from Peru and A. tulcis (H.W. Bates, 1864) described from Guatemala as separate closely related species, but Lamas (2004) treated them all as subspecies of A. frisia . Neild (2008) supported this treatment for A. frisia dubia , which he reports from northern Venezuela including Sucre. Hence, if any subspecies of A. frisia were to occur in Trinidad, it would be A. frisia dubia and not A. frisia frisia . Since Higgins (1981) referred to Trinidad in relation to ssp. frisia and not ssp. dubia , and given that the nearest populations of ssp. frisia are in the Greater Antilles, it seems most likely that his record of A. frisia frisia from Trinidad represents an error or a mislabelled specimen.

Janatella hera (Cramer, 1779)

Phyciodes ianthe (Fabricius) : Kaye (1921, no. 35) [synonym]

Kaye (1921) includes this species stating: ‘The only specimen I have seen was one taken by Mr. P. L. Guppy, at Tunapuna. It is a very large individual with an exceptionally wide expanse of wing.’ This specimen has not been located; it is not in the BMNH or MCLB. Kaye (1940) did not remove this species from the Trinidad list, but Barcant (1970) does not mention it. Fabricius described ianthe from French Guiana ( Lamas 2004), so it would not be surprising for it to occur in Trinidad. However, more likely the record represents a misidentification for Castilia ofella , which Kaye did not record until his 1940 additions, but unless the original specimen can be located this is only a hypothesis.

Tegosa anieta anieta (Hewitson, 1864)

Warren et al. (2013) list this species as occurring in Trinidad, but I have not traced any specimens to support this record, so discount it until supported with reliable specimens. Given that T. a. anieta is common in the Venezuelan coastal range ( Neild 2008) this species might occur in Trinidad, but have been overlooked.