Subspecies Delias argenthona argenthona Fabricius, 1793

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• Papilio argenthona Fabricius, J.C. 1793. Entomologia Systematica Emendata et Aucta. Secundum, Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, adjectis synonimis [sic], locis, observationibus, descriptionibus. Hafniae : Christ. Gottl. Proft. Tom. 3(Pars 1) iv 487pp. [200].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown ♀, Cooktown, QLD (Fabricius did not give a locality in original description)
  Comment: Fabricius described the species from a female illustrated in Jones Icones (vol. 2(3), pl. (12) from the Drury collection; specimens in the Banks collection are not types; Watkins, H.T.G. 1923. Notes on the butterflies of the Banks Collection. Entomologist 56: 204–209 [205] (suggested that the specimens in the Banks collection, BMNH, were not types); Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9–17 [10] (explained that butterflies were collected on Cook's first voyage by others as well as Banks); Parsons, M.J. 1998. The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea; their systematics and biology. San Diego : Academic Press 736 pp. [301] (referred to a holotype, but knew of no specimen nor evidence that Jones' figure was based on a single specimen).

  Type locality references:

  Watkins, H.T.G. 1923. Notes on the butterflies of the Banks Collection. The Entomologist 56: 204-209; Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9-17 [11] (stated reasons why Endeavour River, Cooktown, QLD, should be the type locality); Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9-17; Parsons, M.J. 1998. The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea; their systematics and biology. San Diego : Academic Press 736 pp.
• Pieris protocharis Boisduval, J.B.A.D. de 1836. Histoire Naturelle des Insectes. Species Géneral des Lépidoptères. Paris : (forms part of Roret's Suites à Buffon) Vol. 1 xii 690 pp., pls 24. [457].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown ♀, Australia (as Nouvelle-Hollande in original description)
  Comment: Boisduval in the original description did not indicate the number of specimens described, his material was in his own collection.
• Delias seminigra Fruhstorfer, H. 1910. The Indo-Australian Rhopalocera. [Pieridae]. 119-190 pls 51-73 in Seitz, A. (ed.). The Macrolepidoptera of the World: a systematic description of the hitherto known macrolepidoptera. Stuttgart : Alfred Kernen Vol. 9 1197 pp. [dated 1927] [126 pl. 55 fig. a].

  Type data:

   Lectotype whereabouts unknown ♀, Australia (designated in original description)
  Comment: Fruhstorfer in the original description did not indicate the number of specimens described; specimen(s) originally in the Fruhstorfer collection are possibly now in the BMNH.
• Delias argenthona insularis Rothschild, L.W. 1925. Descriptions of new forms of Delias, with some notes on others. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9 15: 671-677 [673].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂ (Rothschild in the original description mentioned a type), Daru Is., Papua New Guinea (designated in original description).
• Delias argenthona balli Hulstaert, G. 1923. On Lepidoptera from New Guinea, Kei, Tenimber, the Philippines, and Australia. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9 11: 178-190 [180].

  Type data:

   Holotype RMNH ♀ (Hulstaert in the original description stated that he had one specimen), Merauke, Irian Jaya (no type locality was given in original description)
  Comment: Talbot, G. 1937. A Monograph of the Pierine Genus Delias. Pt 6. London : British Museum pp. 261–656 [578] (stated that the holotype was in the collection of the Missionaires du Sacré-Coeur at Heverlee, Belgium and may now be in RMNH).

  Type locality references:

  Talbot, G. 1937. A Monograph of the Pierine Genus Delias. Pt 6. London : British Museum pp. 261-656. [Date published 23/January/1937] [578] (tacitly assumed a southern New Guinea origin after studying a photograph of the holotype; if the holotype came from New Guinea then Merauke, Irian Jaya, is the type locality as indicated by Hulstaert in his introduction); Talbot, G. 1937. A Monograph of the Pierine Genus Delias. Pt 6. London : British Museum pp. 261-656. [Date published 23/January/1937].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Talbot, G. 1932. Pieridae. 1. Lepidopterorum Catalogus 53: 1-320
• Parsons, M.J. 1998. The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea; their systematics and biology. San Diego : Academic Press 736 pp. [301]

Ecological Descriptors

Larva: herbivore (associated flora: Amyema pendula (Sieber ex Spreng.) Tiegh. [LORANTHACEAE] Drooping Mistletoe; Amyema cambagei (Blakely) Danser [LORANTHACEAE] Needle-leaf Mistletoe; Dendrophthoe glabrescens (Blakely) Barlow [LORANTHACEAE] Orange Mistletoe; Amyema miquelli (Lehm. ex Miq.) Tiegh. [LORANTHACEAE] Stalked Mistletoe; Muellerina celastroides Tiegh. [LORANTHACEAE]; Amyema bifurcata (Benth.) Tiegh. [LORANTHACEAE]; Amyema sanguinea (F.Muell.) Danser [LORANTHACEAE]; Decaisnina signata (F.Muell. ex Benth.) Tiegh. [LORANTHACEAE]; Dendrophthoe curvata Blume [LORANTHACEAE]; Diplatia furcata Barlow [LORANTHACEAE]; Santalum lanceolatum R.Br. [SANTALACEAE]).

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