Australian Entomologist, 2009, 36 (1): 33-36 33 A RECORD OF DANAUS CHRYSIPPUS CRATIPPUS (C. FELDER) (LEPIDOPTERA: NYMPHALIDAE: DANAINAE) FROM THURSDAY ISLAND, TORRES STRAIT TREVOR A. LAMBKIN Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, 665 Fairfield Road, Yeerongpilly, Old 4105 (Email: [email protected]) © The State of Queensland (Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries) 2009 Abstract A female specimen of Danaus chrysippus cratippus (C. Felder) is recorded from Thursday Island, Torres Strait, Queensland. This constitutes the second known specimen of this taxon from Australia and the first record for Queensland. Due to the paucity of reference material of D. petilia (Stoll) from Torres Strait, it is unclear whether this specimen of D. c. cratippus is a vagrant or constitutes part of a natural sympatric distribution with D. petilia in northern Australia. The known distribution of D. petilia in Torres Strait, based primarily on observation records, is provided and encompasses almost all inhabited islands. Based on these records its temporal distribution in Torres Strait appears irregular, perhaps reflecting its dispersive and nomadic movements among the islands. Introduction The predominately Australian species Danaus petilia (Stoll) [originally described as Papilio petilia Stoll], has recently been reinstated to its former specific rank by Lushai er al. (2005). In Australia, D. petilia was considered specifically distinct by all early major butterfly workers, e.g. Masters (1873), Olliff (1889), Miskin (1891), Waterhouse (1903) and Rainbow (1907), until Waterhouse and Lyell (1914) incorporated it into the Old World species Danaus chrysippus (L.). Since then, all major Australian butterfly references to this species (Waterhouse 1932, Common 1964, Common and Waterhouse 1972, 1981, Zalucki 1999, Braby 2000) concurred with Waterhouse and Lyell (1914), including Talbot (1943) in his review of Danaus Kluk (Lushai et al. 2005). All concluded that D. c. petilia was the most easterly occurring subspecies of D. chrysippus, although Zalucki (1999) had suggested that D. c. petilia could be given specific status. Although primarily Australian, D. petilia does occur infrequently in neighbouring areas (Lushai er al. 2005). Ackery and Vane-Wright (1984) reported it as uncommon in New Guinea, including its eastern islands and in the region west of the New Guinea mainland (Lushai er al. 2005). Parsons (1999) also considered it uncommon and local in Papua New Guinea with an occasional record from the Moluccas, west of New Guinea. Further east it is an uncommon visitor to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Ackery and Vane-Wright 1984, Tennent 2002). Small numbers of specimens of D. petilia are also known from Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean (Ackery and Vane-Wright 1984). The closest area to Australia where true D. chrysippus is known is eastern Indonesia where, from the Moluccas to Timor, Tanimbar and the Aru Islands, the species is referable to D. c. cratippus (C. Felder) (Braby 2000, 34 Australian Entomologist, 2009, 36 (1) Lushai er al. 2005). D. chrysippus is highly dispersive and therefore it is not surprising that scattered records of D. c. cratippus are known from New Guinea and Australia (Ackery and Vane-Wright 1984, Braby 2000). In Australia, D. chrysippus is currently known from only two specimens: a female attributed to 8form dorippus9 allegedly from Roebourne, Western Australia and housed in The Natural History Museum, London (Talbot 1943, Common and Waterhouse 1981, Braby 2000) [typical D. c. dorippus (Klug) is from East Africa (Lushai er al. 2005) but the 8form9 is widespread]; and a male D. c. cratippus in the Australian National Insect Collection from Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory, collected in January 1977 (Common and Waterhouse 1981, Braby 2000). In this paper the discovery of an additional specimen of D. c. cratippus is reported, collected flying on the edge of monsoon vine forest at the western end of Thursday I., Torres Strait. Abbreviations used for observation and collection records are: AIK 4 All. Knight; AM 4 Australian Museum, Sydney; CGM 4 C.G. Miller; JWT 4 J.W. Turner (ex DPIF, Qld); KH 4 K. Houston (ex DPIF, Qld); PSV 4 P.S. Valentine; SJJ 4 S.J. Johnson; TAL 4 T.A. Lambkin; TLIKC 4 joint collection of T.A. Lambkin and A.I. Knight, Brisbane; UQ 4 University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane. Danaus chrysippus cratippus (C. Felder) (Fig. 1) Material examined. QUEENSLAND (TORRES STRAIT): 1 9, Green Hill, Thursday Island, 25.iv.1995, TAL (TLIKC). Discussion. During a recent examination of specimens referred to D. petilia in the author9s collection, it was noted that the external facies of a female specimen collected from Thursday Island, Torres Strait (Fig. 1), generally matched [except in size] that of D. c. cratippus as outlined in Lushai er al. (2005) and verified by M.P. Zalucki and G. Daniels (UQ). Despite Braby9s (2000) indication that D. petilia (Fig. 2) is common in the Australian tropics and the many records of sightings on almost all inhabited Torres Strait islands, there are few Torres Strait specimens known in collections. This is most likely the result of a general neglect of this species by butterfly collectors, due to its general commonness in Australia. Currently in Torres Strait what is believed to be D. petilia has been observed at various times on almost all inhabited islands: in the north of the strait on Boigu, Dauan and Saibai Islands; in the east on Darnley and Murray; in the central region on Badu, Moa and Yam; and in the south on Hammond, Horn, Prince of Wales and Thursday Islands (Mathew 1885, De Baar 1988, Talbot 1943, Valentine and Johnson 1993, observation and collection records of AIK, AM, CGM, JWT, KH, SJJ, PSV and TAL). In addition, the temporal records of D. petilia on almost all Torres Strait islands appear irregular, Australian Entomologist, 2009, 36 (1) 35 perhaps reflecting its dispersive and nomadic movements among the islands (Tennent 2002, Lushai er al. 2005). Figs 1-2. Danaus spp. Both figures to scale, upperside left, underside right [forewing lengths in parentheses]. (1) D. chrysippus cratippus, female: Green Hill, Thursday Island, Torres Strait, Qld, 25.iv.1995, TAL [35 mm]; (2) D. petilia, female: Jamboree Heights, Brisbane, Qld, 20.ix.1980, TAL [38 mm]. Taking into account that larval host plants of D. petilia are not often observed on many of the Torres Strait islands (TAL unpublished data), its irregular occurrence on these islands might reflect local introductions and extinctions of the host plant and the butterfly. Therefore, due to the paucity of Torres Strait material available for examination, it is unclear whether the specimen of D. c. cratippus reported here is an isolated vagrant to Torres Strait or represents part of a natural sympatric distribution with D. petilia in northern Australia. Certainly, more intensive collecting of D. petilia and its congeners in the tropical areas of Australia would be rewarding in supplementing the current knowledge of their distributions in Australia. Acknowledgements Appreciation is given to A.I. Knight, S.J. Johnson, C.G. Miller and P.S. Valentine for making available their observation records and the Australian Museum, Sydney for access to their collection records. Prof M.P. Zalucki and Mr G. Daniels (UQ) confirmed the identity of the Thursday Island specimen. References ACKERY, P.R. and VANE-WRIGHT, R.I. 1984. Milkweed butterflies. British Museum (Natural History), London; ix + 425 pp. BRABY, M.F. 2000. Butterflies of Australia: their identification, biology and distribution. CSIRO publishing, Collingwood, Victoria; xx + 976 pp. COMMON, LF.B. 1964. Australian butterflies. Jacaranda Press, Brisbane; 131 pp. COMMON, I.F.B. and WATERHOUSE, D.F. 1972. Butterflies of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney; xii + 498 pp. 36 Australian Entomologist, 2009, 36 (1) COMMON, LF.B. and WATERHOUSE, D.F. 1981. Butterflies of Australia. Revised edition. Angus and Robertson, Sydney; xiv + 682 pp. DE BAAR, M. 1988. Insects collected during a trip to Torres Strait 27 March to 10 April, 1987. News Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Queensland 15(9): 107-117. LUSHAI, G., ZALUCKI, M.P., SMITH, D.A.S., GOULSON, D. and DANIELS, G. 2005. The lesser wanderer, Danaus petilia (Stoll 1790) stat. rev. (Lepidoptera: Danainae), reinstated as a species. Australian Journal of Entomology 44: 6-14. MASTERS, G. 1873. Catalogue of the described diurnal Lepidoptera of Australia. Sydney; iv + 24 pp. MATHEW, G.F. 1885. An afternoon among the butterflies of Thursday Island. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 10(2): 259-266. MISKIN, W.H. 1891. A synonymical catalogue of the Lepidoptera Rhopalocera (butterflies) of Australia with full bibliographical reference; including descriptions of some new species. Annals of the Queensland Museum 1: i-xx, 1-93, i-ix. OLLIFF, A.S. 1889. Australian butterflies: a brief account of the native families. The Natural History Association of New South Wales, Sydney; 49 pp. PARSONS, M.J. 1998. The butterflies of Papua New Guinea: their systematics and biology. Academic Press, London; xvi + 736 pp, xxvi+ 136 pls. RAINBOW, W.J. 1907. A guide to the study of Australian butterflies. Wayside Press, Melbourne; 272 pp. TALBOT, G. 1943. Revisional notes on the genus Danaus Kluk (Lep. Rhop. Danaidae). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 93: 115-148. TENNENT, W.J. 2002. Butterflies of the Solomon Islands: systematics and biogeography. Storm Entomological Publications, Dereham, Norfolk; 413 pp, 90 pls. VALENTINE, P.S. and JOHNSON, S.J. 1993. The butterflies of Moa Island, Torres Strait. Victorian Entomologist 23: 116-121. WATERHOUSE, G.A. 1903. A catalogue of the Rhopalocera of Australia. Memoirs of the New South Wales Naturalists9 Club No. 1. WATERHOUSE, G.A. 1932. What butterfly is that? Angus and Robertson, Sydney; x + 291 pp. WATERHOUSE, G.A. and LYELL, G. 1914. The butterflies of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney; vi + 239 pp. ZALUCKI, M.P. 1999. The lesser wanderer, Danaus chrysippus, with comparative notes on Danaus plexippus (Nymphalidae: Danainae). Pp 173-189, in: Kitching, R.L., Scheermeyer, E., Jones, R.E. and Pierce, N.E. (eds), Biology of Australian butterflies. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, Vol. 6. CSIRO publishing, Collingwood, Victoria; xvi + 395 pp.