the Frail Whites, or GhostsAndrew V. Z. Brower
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This genus of small, delicate Afrotropical pierids has been considered to be the sister taxon of all other Pieridae. The Braby et al. (2006) cladogram places it as sister group to Dismorphiinae. Long viewed as a single species, the recent combined analysis of Mitter et al (2011) shows the genus to be comprised of a complex of five allo- or parapatric species.
- Pseudopontia paradoxa (R. Felder, 1869) is found in Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Gabon
- Pseudopontia australis (F.A. Dixey, 1923), formerly considered a subspecies, is found in Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), Congo (Brazzaville), and eastern Gabon, usually at low elevation
- Pseudopontia gola (Sz. Safian and K. Mitter, 2011) is found in Sierra Leone and Liberia in far western Africa
- Pseudopontia mabira (K. Mitter and S. Collins, 2011) is found in central Africa, in Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo within about 5 degrees latitude north and south of the Equator
- Pseudopontia zambezi (K. Mitter and W. De Prins, 2011) is found in riverine forests in the southern African highlands in Democratic Republic of Congo, northwestern Zambia, and Angola at elevations over 800m above sea level
- Vernacular Names: the Frail Whites, or Ghosts
Braby, M. F. 2005. Provisional checklist of genera of the Pieridae (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Zootaxa 832:1–16.
Braby, M., R. Vila, and N. E. Pierce. 2006. Molecular phylogeny and systematics of the Pieridae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea): higher classification and biogeography. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 147(2):239-275.
Dixey, F.A. 1923. Pseudopontia paradoxa: its affinities, mimetic relations, and geographical races. Proceedings of the Entomological Society (London), lxi–lxvii + plate B.
Felder, R. 1869. [no title]. Petites Nouvelles Entomologiques, 1, 30–31.
Felder, R. 1870. Gonophlebia (Globiceps), Paradoxa (Felder). Petites Nouvelles Entomologiques, 1, 95.
Larsen, T. B. 2005 Butterflies of West Africa. Stenstrup, Denmark: Apollo Books.
Mitter, K.T., Larsen, T.B., de Prins, W., de Prins, J., Collins, S., Vande Weghe, G., Sáfián, S., Zakharov, E.V., Hawthorne, D.J., Kawahara, A.Y.,Regier, J.C. 2011. The butterfly subfamily Pseudopontiinae is not monobasic: marked genetic diversity and morphology reveal three new species of Pseudopontia (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). Syst. Entomol. 36: 139-163. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3113.2010.00549.x
Plötz, C. 1870. Pseudopontia Calabarica n. gen. et n. sp. Stettiner Entomologischer Zeitung, 31, 348–349, 1 pl.
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- First online 04 October 2006
- Content changed 20 March 2011
Citing this page:
Brower, Andrew V. Z. 2011. Pseudopontiinae http://tolweb.org/Pseudopontia/12214/2011.03.20 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/. Pseudopontia . the Frail Whites, or Ghosts. Version 20 March 2011 (under construction).