Neptis philyra and Pieris melete from the Tsushima Islands : Lepidoptera:Nymphalidae & Pieridae

Abstract

Tsushima, a group of rocky islands in Nagasaki prefecture, Japan, is situated in the strait separating the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It rouses our particular interest in the zoogeographical subject. Neptis philyra (Nymphalidae) occurs in the Far East, especially in the districts surrounding the Japan Sea. A female was captured from Tsushima by the author. This is the second record from there. It is possible to distinguish it from ssp.philyra occurring in Korea and also from ssp. exceflens in Japan main islands, because of the better developed white spots on both surfaces. Pieris melete (Pieridae) is also distributed in the Far East. In 1910, Fruhstorfer described a new subspecies, ssp. juba, from Tsushima, but it is considered at present that he erroneously treated P. canidia, commonly found there, as P. melete. Since the first discovery of P. inelete in 1954, only ten individuals have so far been reported. In this report, the eleventh example is recorded and all of the records hitherto reported are reviewed.