Papilio remus, CRAMER, 1777

Chainey, John E., 2005, The species of Papilionidae and Pieridae (Lepidoptera) described by Cramer and Stoll and their putative type material in the Natural History Museum in London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 145 (3), pp. 283-337 : 309-310

REMUS CRAMER, 1777

Pap[ilio] Eq[ues] Troj[anus] remus Cramer, 1777: 60– 61 , 150, pl.135, A, pl.136, A [original plate 101, figs A, A]. ♀, Ternate and Ambon ( Willem V, Prince of Orange and Nassau).

Pap[ilio] Eq[ues] Troj[anus] remus, Stoll, 1782: 197 , pl.386, A, B [original plate 348, figs A, A]. ‘Isle d’Amboine’ [= Indonesia, Ambon] (loaned from Mrs J.J.Chatelain, née Smith) + footnote ‘je possede encore dans ma collection un male de ce Remus ’ [I possess also in my collection a male of remus ].

Papilio Eques Trojanus remus, Stoll, 1782b: 2 [No. 8].

Material examined. Possible syntype ♀, with van Lennep label ‘ No.8 REMUS Cr. II 135. 136. A. A.’ and Felder label ‘ Coll. Lenep Orig’ ( BMNH (E)#665105); it has been re-pinned and there are repairs to each wing; the apical half of the abdomen is missing but has been replaced with that of a male of another species! It is a good but not exact match for the specimen of remus illustrated by Cramer (original plate 101, figs A, A). Possible syntype ♀, with Felder label ‘Amboin. Coll. v d Cap[ellen]’ ( BMNH (E)#665106) is a very good match for original plate 101, figs A, A; it has been re-pinned and the body repaired. Possible syntype ♀ from the Felder collection but without further data ( BMNH (E)#665390) is also a better match than the specimen with the van Lennep label; it may have been re-pinned and the apex of the right forewing has been repaired. It is possible that the van Lennep label came to be attached to the wrong specimen. See also under hypolitus .

Remarks. Papilio remus Cramer, 1777 , is generally cited as preoccupied by Fabricius, 1777 (e.g. Matsuka, 2001), although it is not entirely certain which of these publications appeared first. In his autobiography, Fabricius said his Genera insectorum was published in 1776 ( Hope, 1847), although Evenhuis (1997) questions this because the preface is signed 25 December 1776, and gives the earliest known date of publication as [October 1777]. Lamas, Robbins & Field, 1975) cited the work as published in 1776. It seems unlikely that both authors came up with the same name for the same species in ignorance of each other’s work, particularly because Fabricius ([1777]) describes remus in synonymy with hypolitus Cramer [as ‘ hyppolythus ’]. Perhaps Fabricius had seen Cramer’s manuscript and plates or labelled specimens – it is known that he visited Cramer, possibly in 1770 ( Fabricius, 1792).

Current status. Junior subjective synonym of Troides (Ripponia) hypolitus ( Cramer, 1775) ( Matsuka, 2001) .