Species Ionolyce helicon (C. Felder, 1860)

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Species Ionolyce helicon (C. Felder, 1860)

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Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

Tite, G.E. 1963. A synonymic list of the genus Nacaduba and allied genera (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) 13(4): 7-116 pl. 2 [101]

Introduction

Two subspecies from within Australian limits, Ionolyce helicon hyllus (Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914) and I. helicon caracalla (Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914), have been referred to this species, but their taxonomic status requires further evaluation. Waterhouse and Lyell (1914) originally treated these taxa as being allopatric and distantly related, with caracalla described from Darnley Island, Torres Strait, as a new species in the genus Nacaduba, and hyllus described from the Australian mainland in north-eastern Queensland (Cape York, Cooktown) as a subspecies of N. hermus Felder, 1860. Tite (1963) subsequently revised the genus Ionolyce, and Hirowatari (1992) illustrated a male syntype of I. helicon from Ambon, Maluku; Peters (1971) indicated that the types of both caracalla and hyllus are in the AM. Females of the two Australian taxa differ substantially. Ionolyce helicon caracalla females possess a small elongated central white patch on the upperside of the fore wing and closely resemble material from mainland New Guinea and adjacent islands assigned to this subspecies (Parsons 1998), whereas I. helicon hyllus females do not possess this patch but have the central area broadly suffused bluish-mauve. Common and Waterhouse (1972) expressed doubt concerning the identity of female I. helicon hyllus, particularly since a specimen resembling I. helicon caracalla was captured from Crystal Cascades near Cairns within the geographic range of I. helicon hyllus in the 1960’s by J.F.R. Kerr; however, the recent discovery of the life history and reared material of I. helicon hyllus from Mossman and Cairns, Qld, has confirmed the identity of the female sex of this subspecies (Miller and Hill 2008). It is possible that hyllus has been incorrectly assigned to this species group name or comprises a distinct species altogether (see Braby 2010).

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Extralimital distribution—Indonesia (Irian Jaya, Maluku), Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Oriental Region.

Note that conversion of the original AFD map of states, drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones to IBRA and IMCRA regions may have produced errors. The new maps will be reviewed and corrected as updates occur. The maps may not indicate the entire distribution. See further details below.

IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones (map not available)

IBRA

Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

Australia
- Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal
Indonesia
- Irian Jaya
- Maluku
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands

Oriental Region

Ecological Descriptors

Larva: herbivore.

Extra Ecological Information

Larval food plants not recorded.

Details of nominate subspecies, not present in Australia

Ionolyce helicon helicon (C. Felder, 1860)

Lycaena helicon Felder, C. 1860. Lepidopterorum Amboinensium species novae diagnosibus collustratae. I. Rhopalocera. 448–468 in Frauenfeld, G.R. Diagnosen einiger neuer Insecten und Untersuchung mehrerer Sandproben verschiedener Küstenpunkte gesammelt während der Reise Sr. Mag. Fregatte Novara. Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien 40(11): 447–468 [457].
Type data: lectotype BMNH ♂*; Felder in the original description did not mention the number of specimens described.
Subsequent designation: Tite, G.E. 1963. A synonymic list of the genus Nacaduba and allied genera (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History 13(4): 7–116 pl. 2 [101] (referred to a type); Hirowatari, T. 1992. A generic classification of the Tribe Polyommatini of the Oriental and Australian Regions (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Polyommatini). Bulletin of the University of Osaka Prefecture B 44: 1–102 [34] (illustrated and referred to a syntype male in the BMNH and illustrated labels); Parsons, M.J. 1998. The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea; their systematics and biology. San Diego : Academic Press 736 pp. [439] (referred to a syntype male in the BMNH); Edwards, E.D., Newland, J. & Regan, L. 2001. Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea, Papilionoidea. In Wells, A. & Houston, W.W.K. Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 31.6. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia. x 615 pp. (interpret Tite's (1963) incorrect reference to a type as a lectotype designation (Art. 74, ICZN 1985)).
Type locality: Ambon, Indonesia (Amboina designated in title of original description).