A more than a century-old mystery has been surrounding Taiwanese butterfly fauna since the father of zoogeography, Alfred Russel Wallace, in collaboration with Frederic Moore, wrote a landmark article in 1866: He was the first to study butterflies. of the island. Back then, Moore studied moths and Wallace researched butterflies.
Together, they documented 139 species, 93 nocturnal and 46 diurnal. Of the latter, five species were described as new to science. Although the correct location of four of those five butterflies has been verified multiple times since 1886, one of those butterflies, Lycaena nisa , would never be examined again, until very recently.
In a current research project on Taiwanese butterflies, scientists recovered the original specimen from Wallace’s collection at the London History Museum. Having also examined historical specimens housed at the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, as well as new butterflies from Australia and Hong Kong, Dr. Yu-Feng Hsu from National Taiwan Normal University has worked out the identity of Alfred Wallace’s mysterious butterfly. , now known as Famegana nisa . Additionally, two other species names ( Lycaena alsulus and Zizeeria alsulus eggletoni ) have been shown to be coined for the same butterfly after Wallace’s original description.
The Wallace’s butterfly has haunted entomologists around the world for more than a century. It can be easily distinguished from other local species by the uniform grayish-white underside of the wings, combined with dark submarginal bands and a large black spot on the hind wing.
However, the species shows high seasonal variability, which means that individuals reared in the dry season have a reduced black spot, a darker background color on the underside of the wings, and distinct submarginal bands compared to specimens. of the wet season. That is why Dr. Yu-Feng Hsu points out that it may be unnecessary to divide the species into subspecies, and as many as four have already been recognized.
Who was Alfred R. Wallace?
Alfred Russel Wallace, a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist, and illustrator, was a contemporary of Charles Darwin and also worked on debates within the theory of evolution, including natural selection. He was also the author of the famous book Darwinism in 1889, which explained and defended natural selection.
While Darwin and Wallace exchanged ideas, often challenging each other’s conclusions, they each developed the idea of natural selection on their own. For his part, Wallace argued that, rather than a random natural process, species evolved to suit the specificity of their environment. Wallace was also one of the first prominent scientists to express concern about the environmental impact of human activity.
Referencias:
YuFeng Hsu, The identity of Alfred Wallace’s mysterious butterfly taxon Lycaena nisa solved: Famegana nisa comb. nov., a senior synonym of F. alsulus (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Polyommatinae), ZooKeys (2020). DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.966.51921
