Delias pellos Lachlan 2000

recto Male verso recto Female verso

SE slope of Mt. Akrik, 15K W of Tabubil, Mt. Binnie, 2200m., Ok Tedi Mine,

Western Prov. PNG - 29 October 1993 (Paratype) Western Prov. PNG - 15 January 2000(Paratype)

A recently described species. When described, Lachlan had not seen Henk van Mastrigt's paper on the clathrata group. It is very similar to D. roepkei cieko, and it may turn out that the latter is, in fact, a subspecies of D. pellos, or possibly a separate intermediate distinct species.

Original Description: R B Lachlan: Australian Entomologist, 2000, 27 (3), p.79 - "Male: Forewing upperside basal third white with black costa; distal two thirds black; 1-3 very small faint subapical spots; inner edge of black border mainly straight from discal cell to inner margin; posterior half of cell white but not reaching discocellulars; posterior cell vein blackish in most specimens; light grey suffusion at wing base and outer edge of white area. Hind wing upperside mostly white with underside pattern partly visible; black border widest at vein M¹ at 5-6 mm, narrowest at tornus but variable. Fore wing underside black with some white scaling on basal third of costal vein; white below vein 1A+2A to inner margin; three subapical spots and one smaller terminal spot, often a second faint terminal spot, all dark yellow. Hind wing underside very dark brown; sometimes a black spot in cell M² and more often black spots at inner edge of cream area, this spotting variable and in many specimens these dark spots are absent; cream area at distal end of cells 1A+2A, CuA² and CuA¹, often reduced in space CuA¹, inner edge of cream suffused with dark brown when black spots are absent; black border undulate to triangulate, faint white scaling at inner edge of black border in cell M³, less scaling in cell M²; black basal area and costal area encloses a small slightly elongated yellow spot pointed basally and distally, small thin white line above at costa; small white spot midway along costa; anal area with yellow and black suffusion. Length of fore wing: 26-28mm.

Female: Fore wing upperside with pale blueish-white area slightly less than in male; outer edge of white suffused with black and curved slightly basad between cell and inner margin; four small white subapical spots. Hind wing upperside with broader black border than in male; yellowish at base near costa and long anal fold. Fore wing underside with three larger subapical spots and on terminal spot, all yellow; slight white diffusion above vein 1A+2A, white below. Underside as in male. Length of fore wing 28mm."

Wingspan:	60 mm
Range :	pellos	- Mt. Akrik, Mt. Binnie. Ok Tedi, Western Province, PNG