Antheraea broschi Naumann

Antheraea rumphii celebensis Watson, 1915, Tijdschr. ent ., 58: 280.

Antheraea gschwandneri Niepelt, in Strand, 1918, Lep. Niepelt . 2, Nachtrag 1: plate 18.

Antheraea cordifolia sumatrana Niepelt, 1926, Int. ent. Z ., 20: 257.

Antheraea frithi javanensis Bouvier, 1928, Bull.Hill Mus ., Witley, 2: 137.

Antheraea frithi sensu Holloway, 1976: 85.

Antheraea celebensis Watson; Holloway, 1981: 124; Lampe, 1985: 12.

Image of [object Object] Naumann ♂ (yellow form) — ♂ (yellow form)

Diagnosis

This species has variegated grey-brown wings with a variable quantity of yellow highlights basal to the submarginals; this yellow is particularly evident in the forewing cell and subapically.

An extreme form from Tawau, Sabah, (illustrated) is more extensively yellow as in frithi Moore from mainland Asia.

Taxonomic Notes

This taxon is probably the sister-species of the mainland Asian A. frithi Moore, and the synonymy was discussed by Holloway (1981). The identity and relationship to celebensis of A. fickei Weymer from Sulawesi needs investigation.
No material referable to celebensis was taken in N. Sulawesi during Project Wallace, but there was a similar species with smaller ocelli that was common in montane forest: this may be fickei. There are also two taxa from the Moluccas, all based on females, that may prove to be conspecific and allied to celebensis when further material of both sexes has been collected.
These Moluccan taxa are: rumphii Boisduval (Amboina); buruensis Bouvier (Ceram, Buru). These taxa may be the most easterly representation of the true Antheraea. Sundanian material has less falcate forewings than typical celebensis; it could therefore be considered as A. celebensis geschwandneri Niepelt stat. n.
Nässig et al. (1996) discussed the complexity of taxa that might be involved in the A. frithi subgroup, and they treated A. gschwandneri Niepelt as a species distinct from celebensis Watson rather than as a subspecies thereof as in Part 3. Holloway et al. (1996), in describing an endemic radiation of five species of the frithi group in Sulawesi, also examined celebensis and concluded it was distinct from Sundanian populations, though more closely related to them than to the endemic radiation. The Bornean species was tentatively associated with the name gschwandneri by Nässig et al. (1996). A. gschwandneri zwicki Nässig & Treadaway (1998a) was described from Palawan with further discussion of the taxonomic complexities; this taxon was subsequently (Naumann, 2001) treated as a full species. Naumann (2001) conducted an intensive review of the complex in Sundaland, particularly Borneo and concluded that at least three species were sympatric in Borneo. He described A. broschi Naumann as new, and related the male in Part 3, Plate 11: 4 to it and also the female illustrated in Allen (1981: p. 107, pl. 11a). It appears to be the most frequently recorded species in Borneo, though was not reliably separated from A. steinkeorum U. & L. Paukstadt & Brosch by Beck & Nässig (2008), but see Note 94 below. A. zwicki Nässig & Treadaway is not closely related to gschwandneri and is also recorded from Borneo (Naumann, 2001; Beck & Nässig, 2008). The whole frithi subgroup will probably need to be resolved by molecular analysis. Naumann (2001) could find no completely reliable differences in the male genitalia.

Geographical range

Sulawesi, Sundaland.

Habitat preference

The species is infrequent in lowland forest (Ulu Temburong, Brunei; Tawau, Sabah; lowlands of G. Mulu, Sarawak) and has been taken in the upper montane zone of G. Kinabalu and Bukit Retak.