| OCR Text |
Show 1897.] BUTTERFLIES OF THE GENUS TERACOLUS. 23 Teracolus pseudacaste, Butler, Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 156, pl. vi. fig. 11 (1876). Teracolus dims, Butler, ibid. p. 157, pl. vii. fig. 11 (1876). Teracolus dulcis, Butler, ibid. p. 157, pl. vii. fig. 13 (1876). Teracolus eboreolcles, Butler, ibid. p. 158, pl. vii. fig. 12 (1876). Teracolus phcenlus, Butler, Ann. Mag. N . H. (4) xviii. p. 488 (1876). Teracolus miles, Butler, ibid. (5) xii. p. 105 (1883). Teracolus immaculatus, Swinhoe, Proc. Zoo). Soc. p. 443 (1884). Teracolus subroseus, Swinhoe, ibid. p. 443, pl. xl. figs. 6 & 7 (1884). Callosune alberta, Swinhoe, Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) v. p. 356 (1890). Teracolus hlldebrancltl $ , Butler (nee Staud.), Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 735 (1895). After a very careful examination of the fine series of this group in the British Museum, which contains practically all Butler's and Swinhoe's types, I find it impossible to regard any of the above mentioned forms as specifically distinct from T. eupompe (Klug). Capt. E. T. Watson has shown that the Indian forms are inseparable, and he even sinks them all as synonymous with T. danae (Fab.). H e may be right in this latter course, but I hardly feel justified in following him at present; and I prefer to regard T. eupompe as a distinct, though highly variable species, which ranges from Central Africa through Arabia into N.W. India. The numerous species created by Felder, Swinhoe, and Butler are chiefly based on the relative development of all the black markings and the colour of the underside of secondaries; but as these are highly variable seasonal characters, it is clear that they are useless for differentiating species. In Anthopsyche anteupompe, Feld., from Abyssinia, the White Nile, and Senegal, the black markings above are well developed, but the discal spots on underside of hind wings are obsolete; T. immaculatus, Swinh., from Fao and Karachi, is inseparable from this form. The underside spots show a gradually stronger development through typical T. eupompe (Klug) (-dulcis, Butl., from Karachi) and T. pseudacaste, Butl., from the White Nile, Wadelai, and Kilimanjaro (=dlrus, Butl., and eboreolcles, Butl., from Karachi), culminating in T. phcenlus, Butl., and T. miles, Butl., which are recorded from Abyssinia southward to Kilimanjaro. Towards the arid deserts of Somaliland this species becomes dwarfed and under-coloured, and there we get the Anthopsyche theopompe and dedecora of Felder. T. alberta and subroseus are dry-season forms with pinkish undersides-the former being based on large fully developed examples, and the latter on more or less dwarfed specimens. The well-marked summer specimens show a tendency to the blackening of the nervules on the underside of hind wings: this is carried to a greater extent than usual in a black-and-white female in the British Museum, from Uganda, which has been erroneously attributed to T. hildebranclti, Staud., by Mr. Butler. |
