LEMAIREIA OF THE WORLD

"This small Oriental genus consists of three (six and counting; up to ten species/subspecies end of 2018) orange-marked yellow species, reviewed by Nassig & Holloway (in press). Diagnostic features are: uniformity, rather than asymmetry, of the rings of the ocelli; an undivided, dorsally domed uncus in the male genitalia; a short broad aedeagus with two apical fields of scobination, and a densely and robustly scobinate apex to the conical vesica; strong pouches lateral to the ostium in the female genitalia; a signum consisting of a single spine in the bursa copulatrix."

The genus name is honourific for Dr. Claude LEMAIRE, Gordes, France, for his great life work on the family Saturniidae".

First described from Borneo in 1880 as an Antheraea species, the type species (loepoides) was moved to the newly created Lemaireia genus when Naessig and Holloway proposed that new genus name to honour Claude Lemaire in 1987. Since then quite a number of new species have been designated. As of end of December 2018, ten species/subspecies are recognized.

Generally the Lemaireia genus can be split into two groups based on the characters of the ocelli. Those in the loepoides group (loepoides and schintlmeisteri) have each ocellus outwardly bounded by a thick, dark, reddish-brown ring. This is generally more prominent on the lower or hind wing. Those in the chrysopeplus group have each ocellus outwardly bounded by a relatively thin, but very distinct, black ring, again more prominent on the lower or hind wings. It is very difficult to identify those specimens from the chrysopeplus group from their outward appearance. Location is the most useful tool if examination of genitalia and/or DNA borcoding is not an option.

P indicates an image is available.

Listing of Lemaireia: Loepoides Group: Thick, dark-reddish-brown ring around hindwing ocellus

P loepoides (Butler, 1880) northern Borneo: Sabah: Kinabalu; northern Sumatra: Aceh; western peninsular Malaysia: Pahang: Tanah Rata
P schintlmeisteri Nässig & Lampe, 1989 Philippines: Mindanao

Listing of Lemaireia: Chrysopeplus Group: Thin black ring around hindwing ocellus

P chrysopeplus (Toxopeus, 1940) Sundaland: Sumatra; Jawa (Java): West Jawa Province, East Jawa Province; possibly this species is limited to Java
P hainana Nässig & Wang, 2006, China: Hainan
P inexspectata Nässig, 1996 southern Vietnam: Lam Dong Province: Bao Loc: Rung Cat Tien.
P jaegeri U. Paukstadt & L.H. Paukstadt, 2010 Type locality: Indonesia, Sumatera Island, Province Nanggroe, Aceh Darussalam, Kabupaten [=District] Gayo Lues, street Ise-Ise / Blangkejeren, 24.6 km off Ise-Ise, Pusat Gayo Mts., 04°10'26.5"N, 097°12'30.5"E, 1680 m. Holotype: BZM. male ?. 05-06.II.2009. leg. U. & L. H. Paukstadt. BC-ULP 0652. Aceh; possibly this species replaces luteopeplus aureopeplus in Sumatra
P luteopeplus Nässig & Holloway, 1988 northeastern India: Assam: Khasia Hills; possibly northern Myanmar (Burma)
P luteopeplus aureopeplus Nassig & Holloway, 1988 northern Myanmar (Burma), northern Thailand, northern Laos, northern Vietnam, China: Yunnan; Guangdong.
P mediovietnamNaumann, Naessig, Loeffler, 2017 central Vietnam: Ha Tinh Province: Huong Son District: Vu Quang NP
P naessigi Brechlin, 2001 southeastern Myanmar (Burma); western Thailand.

Unfortunately for those trying to do id work from a "distance" (digital images only) some species may be sympatric in parts of their respective ranges, and the genera is not sufficiently well documented to determine range limitations.

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