BUTTERFLIES OF SAMOA AND SOME NEIGHBOURING ISLAND-GROUPS. 55 



23. Catochrysops lithargyrea pepe, ssp. n. 

 Lycaena platissa ; Schmeltz, p. 187. 

 Catochrysops platissa ; Druce, p. 444. 



Kebel, 1910, p. 422. 



Swezey, 1921, p. 605. 



Very closely related to Catochrysops caledonica (Lycaena kandarpa var. 

 caledonica Felder), from which it differs in the male (PI. II, fig. 7) in the 

 complete absence of the orange lunule which, in C. caledonica, borders internally 

 the large black spot at the anal angle of the hindwing on the underside, and 

 in the absence or poor development of the corresponding black spot on the 

 upperside. The female (PL II, fig. 8) greatly resembles that of C. caledonica, 

 from which it differs only in the reduction of the orange lunule at the anal angle. 

 Maximum, mean, and minimum expanse of male 31, 27, and 24 mm., of female 

 27, 26, and 24 mm. Type male from Vailutai, near Apia, Upolu Island, Samoa, 

 9.vi.24, female same place and date ; paratypes twenty-four males and nine 

 females from various localities in Western Samoa, various dates ; a series of 

 three males and one female from Tutuila agrees with those from Western 

 Samoa. Both caledonica and pepe appear to be races of C. lithargyrea, 

 described by Moore from a specimen from Ceylon ; the Australian C. platissa 

 represents another race of the same species. The name " pepe " is the Samoan 

 word for butterfly. 



Variation is very slight in both sexes ; the orange lunule of the male is 

 absent in all the specimens that I have examined, including three in the British 

 Museum, but the black spot on the upperside, though often absent, is faintly 

 developed in most specimens and fairly distinct in one. The orange lunules 

 on the upperside of the hindwing in the female vary slightly in development. 



I refer to the above form with much doubt a single male and two females 

 from Togatabu Island, Tonga, March 1926. The females do not differ from 

 those of C. lithargyrea pepe, but the male has the black spot at the anal angle of 

 the hindwing well-developed on the upperside, while the apical and subterminal 

 areas of the forewing, and subterminal area of the hindwing are strongly 

 suffused with dark brown. In both these respects this form differs from any 

 specimen of C. lithargyrea pepe that I have seen, and, when more material is 

 available, it will probably prove to be a distinct race. 



The form described above has been recorded by all previous authors as 



