104
MASTERS: Heliconius in Venezuela
Vol. 23, no. 2
the descriptions of melissa assimilis. The two females we caught were in
fresh condition and tended from brown to yellow brown on the dorsal sides
of the wings. Males were of a uniform gray-brown dorsally. Ventrally, both
sexes showed appreciable contrast between the light distal area of the
hindwing and the dark postmedian band. Both sexes seemed to be
unusually small for assimilis. In contrast to individuals of the Irony Mountain population, typical assimilis is very dark gray or black dorsally with
little or no brown in either sex, and shows less contrast between light and
dark areas on the ventral hindwings.
When I returned home from Schefferville, I took the series of melissa
to Dr. C. F. dos Passos for help in making a detennination. We agreed
that the Schefferville specimens resembled O. melissa semplei Holland
more than O. m. assimilis. In addition, Schefferville is nearer the type
locality of semplei (Little Cape Jones River, east coast of Hudson Bay)
than that of assimilis, which has a more northern distribution. From the
evidence we believe that Oeneis melissa from the Schefferville area
should be referred to as O. melissa semplei.
LITERATURE CITED
HENSEL, H., 1965. Two weeks of Butterfly Hunting in Central Laborador. J. Lep.
Soc., 19: 242-243.
MUNHOE, E. G., 1951. Field Notes on the Butterflies of Knob Lake, Northern
Quebec. Contr. no. 2788, Div. Ent., Science Service, Dept. of Agric., Ottawa,
Canada.
HELICONIUS l1ECALE AND XANTHOCLES IN VENEZUELA
( NYMPHALIDAE )
JOHN
H.
MASTERS
P.O. Box 7511, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Heliconius hecale Fabricius is an easily recognizable sp~ies that has
only been known from a limited area. in Guiana. Hall (1939) noted that
H. hecale was found at Parika (where it was locally common), Demerara
and Mabaruma, British Guiana. While Emsley (1965) records H. hecale
from El Chorro, Venezuela, I have been unable to verify its presence in
Venezuela until recently. During December of 1966, Albert and Mary
Lou Gadou, of Caracas, collected in the Guiana Highlands close to the
British Guiana border at El Carmen (25 Km northeast of El Dorado),
Bolivar, Venezuela. I recently examined their El Carmen "catch" and
was happily surprised at finding a short series of H. hecale. Emsley
(1965) noted that the pair of specimens from E1 Chorro were unique
because the white forewing bands were shifted toward the apex and did
1969
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
105
not intersect the cell. I consider the El Carmen specimens, which have
slightly wider bands than British Guiana specimens, but in the normal
position, to be nominate H. hecale. Heliconius ethillus Godart was collected sympatric with H. hecale at El Carmen. This is significant because
while ethillus and hecale are readily separated by pattern they are morphologically indistinguishable. Emsley (1965) states: "It is not known to
what degree if any H. hecale is geographically or ecologically isolated
from ostcnsibly sympatric fOlms of H. ethillus. .."
During February, 1966, I collected three specimens of Heliconius
xantlwcles Bates, not previously known from Venezuela, 85 kilometers
south of El Dorado on the El Dorado/Santa Elena road, Bolivar, Venczuela. Dr. Michael G. Emsley of the Philadelphia Academy of Science
confirmed my determinations. An examination of the Gadou collection
revealed several additional examples of H. xanthocles that had been
captured at Santa Elena de Uairena, Bolivar, Venezuela during August,
1964. All of the Venezuelan xanthocles lack rays on the hindwings
and are best referred to as nominate H. x. xanthocles. Heliconius xanthocles was found sympatric with two similarly marked species: Heliconius burneyi catharinae Staudinger and Heliconius elevatus tumatumari
Kaye at Kilometer 85 and H. b. catharinae and II. elevatus roraima at
Santa Elena. The Gadous collected about ten examples of H. e. roraima
at Santa Elena, the only known specimens outside of the type series from
Mt. Roraima.
LITERATURE CITED
EMSLEY, M. G., 1965. Speciation in Heliconbus (Lcp., Nymphalidae): morphology
and geographic distribution. Zoologica, 50: 191-254.
HALL, A., 1939. Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Rhopalocera (butterflies) of British
Guiana. British Guiana Dept. Agr. Ent. Bull., 3: 1-88.
NOCTURNAL COPULATION OF RHOPALOCERA
The article on mating behavior of butterflies by Miller and Clench (1968, J. Lepid.
Soc., 22: 125-1.32) prompts mc to report several instances of mating pairs of butterflies collected on a moth sheet using a 15 watt "BL" florescent light. Six pairs have
been taken but only two species are involved, Libytheana bachmanii (Kirtland) and
Strymon melinus Hubner. Four pairs of L. bachmanii were collected in 1966 in Lake
CorPllS Christi State Park near Mathis, Texas. Three pairs on the 15th and one pair
on the 16th of June. Collection times were 10:35 P.M. (2 pair), 11:15 P.M. and
11:45 P.M. Central Standard Time. It should be pointed out that L. bachmanii was
literally swarming all through the park at this time and 27 other individuals were
taken from the light sheet during three evenings of collecting. The specimens were
probably disturbed from the trees overhead by our activity or by other large insects
which were swarming arollnd the light. All four pairs were mated when found and
may either have been resting in coition in the trees above or joined after their arrival
on the sheet.
In the same park, 17 June, 1968 we collected another mating pair of L. bachmanii
and one pair of S. melinus. The L. bachmanii were paired when found at 11:05 P.M.