1. Lebendfotos

1.1. Falter

2. Biologie

2.1. Nahrung der Raupe

Noch unbekannt!

3. Weitere Informationen

3.1. Andere Kombinationen

• Thymele phalos Boisduval, 1832 [Originalkombination]

3.2. Taxonomie und Faunistik

Boisduval (1832: 162-163) beschrieb seine "Thymele dirpha" von "Nouvelle Irlande" [= Papua-Neuguinea], direkt danach seine Thymele phalos von "Nouvelle-Guinée", also wahrscheinlich aus West-Papua (Indonesien).

Evans (1949: 207) führte "Felina dirpha" mit drei Unterarten an, ssp. albicilla Joicey & Talbot 1917 von den Wandammen Mts. in "Dutch New Guinea", ssp. nota Evans, 1949 von "Goodenough Is." [einer gebirgigen Vulkaninsel in der Milne-Bay-Provinz in Papua-Neuguinea] und die nominotypische ssp. dirpha von "New Ireland" [= Papua-Neuguinea]. Und er ergänzte zu Letzterer: "Synonym. ? phalos Boisduval 1832: New Guinea."

Zhang et al. (2025: 181-182) warfen das bisherige Konzept stark durcheinander, aber ihre Folgerungen, die sie aus den Details der Originalbeschreibungen ableiten sind nachvollziehbar: "These two descriptions were consecutive in the work (No. 8 and 9), and start similarly, but otherwise they do not describe similar butterflies. For instance, the ventral hindwing in T. dirpha is yellowish and with a central silvery spot encircled by black, but in T. phalos, it is reddish-brown with a large dot near the base and four dots past the middle that are yellowish. Therefore, T. phalos is not an obvious synonym of T. dirpha. Moreover, neither of the descriptions agrees with S. albicilla nor F. dirpha nota in any characters. Among species known to us, the description of T. dirpha may refer to females of Trapezites Hübner, [1819] (type species Trapezites symmomus Hübner, 1823), e.g., Trapezites petalia (Hewitson, 1868) (type locality in Australia), which agrees with the original description fairly well; or Hesperilla Hewitson, 1868 (type species Hesperia ornata Leach, 1814), e.g., Hesperilla dirphia Hewitson, 1868 (type locality in Australia) (is the similarity in names accidental?). However, these species are not recorded from New Ireland and the entire New Guinea. Some specimens of the latter species may agree somewhat with the original description of T. phalos, for which we have no better candidates than some Hesperilla species. It is also possible that T. dirpha and T. phalos were either mislabeled (unlikely) or have not been found since their original description (more likely), and both are valid species awaiting re-discovery. Therefore, pending further research, we propose that Thymele dirpha Boisduval, 1832 and Thymele phalos Boisduval, 1832 are nomina dubia." Die Folgerung, dass es sich bei "Thymele dirpha" und "Thymele phalos einfach um zwei bisher nicht mehr wiedergefundene Arten handelt, ist auch für mich die überzeugendste. Wir legen also für beide Taxa Artseiten an mit Hinweis "Artstatus unklar!"

(Autor: Erwin Rennwald)

3.3. Literatur

• Erstbeschreibung: Boisduval (1832): Voyage de découvertes de l'Astrolabe : exécuté par ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829 sous le commendement de M. J. Dumont d'Urville : Faune Entomologique de l'Océan Pacifique avec l'illustration des insectes nouveaux recuellis pendant le voyage. Première partie. Lépidoptères. — 1-267; Paris (J. Tastu). [S. 162-163, Digitalisat auf biodiversitylibrary.org]
• Evans, W. H. (1949): A Catalogue of the Hesperiidae from Europe, Asia and Australia in the British Museum (Natural History): i-xix, 1-502, pl. 1-53. — Digitalisat auf biodiversitylibrary.org: [207], [pl. 26]
• Zhang, J., Cong, Q., Shen, J., Song, L. & N. V. Grishin (2025): Descriptions of three hundred new species of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea). — Insecta Mundi 1148: 1–369. doi.org/10.64338/im.1148.2704t. [Zum PDF auf centerforsystematicentomology.org (open-access)]