Lepidoptera Science

InJuly 1973, Messrs. S. Murayama and H. Okamura reported jointly on the Philippine butterflies collected by them. But, in their work, several species were found erroneously determined, particularly in such families as Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae, hence the present paper. Before going further, I express my sincere gratitude to Prof. T. Shirozu for his kindness in giving me facilities to examine the literature concerned, and also to Mr. H. Hayashi who, in compliance with my request, had inspected some type-specimens kept in the British Museum (Natural History), London.

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This study is mainly based on the collection made by Mr. Yasuzo Honda during his stay in Palawan Island as a member of the Kawansei Gakuin University Academic Exploration Party to Palawan Island in 1967-1969. The six Eurema species dealt with in this paper all belong to the hecabe group. Both sexes of the butterflies and thier male genitalia are figured, and some important characters of them are described in detail. Of six species, two, simulatrix and andersoni, are now recorded for the first time as occurring in the island, and one, alitha, which has hitherto been treated as a subspecies of hecabe in Palawan, is recognised as a good species; three subspecies are described as new. Eurema ada prabha (Fruhstorfer) is not available for the present study, thought it is known to occur in the island. In compiling this paper I tender my warmest thanks to Mr. Yasuzo Honda for submitting the material to me and for his information on the Palawan butterflies. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Takashi Shirozu, Kyushu University, for his constant guidance and valuable advice. To Messrs. Renji Wada and Toyoho Nishida, I am indebted for the material from various parts of the Philippines. Finally I acknowledge my deepest thanks to Messrs. Yoshinobu Uemura and Syuji Tachikawa, Tokyo University of Agriculture, for taking photographs of the male genitalia.

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The Morphidae are the family found in the Neotropical Region, and include only one genus Morpho. Fruhstorfer (1924) recognized 2 subgenera and 30 species within the genus. After that, le Moult (1962) subdivided the genus into 8 subgenera and recognized 80 species, but there are some questions in his classification. The author reports the data and some ecological notes on 2 species of the genus Morpho, which were collected and observed by the 1st Scientific Expedition of Shizuoka University to the Colombian Andes, 1967. These specimens have been preserved in the Fuculty of Science, Shizuoka University, except for 1 specimen of Morpho rhodopteron rhodopteron Godaman & Salvin in the National Museum of Science, Tokyo. The author thanks the late Taro Iwase, Dr. Koroku Negishi, and Mr. Mono Wakabayashi, for offering him conveniences of investigating literature. Acknowledgements are also due to the kindness of Dr. Ryuichi Tsuchi and Mr. Takeshi Sugimoto who helped him through the butterfly survey in that expedition, and to Mr. Horst Muller who offered a valuable specimen of Morpho rhodopteron schultzei le Moult for the butterfly collection of Shizuoka University.

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