A color pattern difference in the fifth instar larva of two subspecies of Faunis menado Hewitson (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)

Abstract

Faunis menado (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae, Amathusiini) is an endemic species found in Sulawesi and surrounding archipelagoes, comprising about 10 subspecies. We investigated possible differences in larval morphology and color pattern between ssp. menado and ssp. chitone which currently represent subspecies from N. Sulawesi and S. Sulawesi, respectively. As a result of our investigation, we found that the color-pattern of the head in fifth instar larvae differs markedly between these two subspecies. This result supports the conclusion of the authors’ previous paper (Yamaguchi et al. 2016), in which Faunis menado was divided into two types based on adult morphological characters. Therefore, it is suggested that the color pattern differences observed here between larvae, taken together with the morphological differences previously established between adults, support the existence of two types, i.e., menado type and chitone type, which are possibly two different morphospecies.