Danaus chrysippus chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758) ff. 'alcippus' and 'alcippoides' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Danainae) from Cyprus

Abstract

We report a recent observation of D. c. chrysippus f. 'alcippus' in Cyprus, a variant of the Plain Tiger or African Queen butterfly infrequently seen in the Mediterranean, especially in the east of the region. D. c. chrysippus f. 'alcippus' appears to have been recorded from Cyprus on just one previous occasion, by R. E. Ellison, in 1939. However, a specimen of the similar f. 'alcippoides' collected by D. M. A. Bate in Cyprus in 1901 could perhaps be the source of Ellison's otherwise undocumented claim. These records are assessed in relation to the known distributions of the various forms of D. chrysippus across the Mediterranean, North Africa and Middle East, and more briefly with respect to the vast range of this butterfly across much of the Old World tropics and subtropics. The ambiguity and potential confusion caused by using an available name to designate both a geographically circumscribed subspecies or semispecies, and a genetically controlled phenotype that can be found far beyond the range of the putative subspecies or semispecies, is also discussed.

Euploea dorippus Klug, 1845: species, semispecies, subspecies, junior subjective synonym of Danaus chrysippus chrysippus (Linnaeus), and/or form – what does Klug’s dorippus represent? (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Danainae)

“…The interaction of these two uses of available names, as contended by John & Vane-Wright (2019), creates a further problem -that of confusion in communication. Thus in this case, if I use the name Danaus dorippus, am I referring to a taxon of the species group (species, superspecies, allospecies, semispecies, subspecies - Helbig et al 2002), or to a phenotype that can transcend the boundaries of geographically circumscribed taxa, and thus be regarded as a form found in two or more species group taxa due to gene flow, shared descent (trans-species polymorphism in the sense of Ségurel et al 2012), or convergent evolution?…”