The Butterflies ofPohnpei, Eastern Caroline Islands, Micronesia1 Donald W Buden2 andJacqueline Y Miller3 Abstract: Fourteen species of butterflies are recorded from Pohnpei, Micro­ nesia, seven for the first time. None is endemic to the island; all are widely dis­ tributed in the western Pacific, including parts of Indo-Australia, with many extending into or beyond southeastern Asia. A long history of plant intro­ ductions and agricultural experimentation may have facilitated dispersal of but­ terflies to the island and provided a broad selection of host plants for those arriving otherwise unassisted. At least one, and possibly two or more, un­ identified species apparently confined to deep forest habitats were seen but not collected during this study. Compared with the local odonate fauna, the butter­ flies of Pohnpei differ in reaching their greatest abundance and species diversity in the lowlands, in lacking endemic species, and probably in having a higher turnover rate. IN THE MOST RECENT and comprehensive number of species recorded from the island assessment of the distribution and status of and is based largely on collections and ob­ butterflies in Micronesia, Schreiner and Na­ servations from throughout the island during fus (1997) recorded five species on Pohnpei: March 2000-September 2001. Jamides bochus, Danaus plexippus, Hypolimnas bolina, Junonia villida, and Melanitis leda. Ear­ lier reports on Pohnpei butterflies are scanty, Study Area sketchy, and scattered among several obscure and for the most part not readily available Pohnpei W 52' N, 158° 13' E) is the largest journals. A collection of butterflies assembled (355 km 2 [MacLean et al. 1986]) and highest from the field surveys of the Insects of Mi­ island (approximately 800 m), and the capital, cronesia Project described in Gressitt's (1954) of the Federated States ofMicronesia (FSM), introduction was sent on loan to someone which also includes Yap, Chuuk (formerly in Japan many years ago and apparently has Truk), and Kosrae States (Figure 1). Warm, since been lost (S. E. Miller, pers. comm.); wet conditions persist year-round on Pohn­ there has never been a report published on pei. The average annual temperature is 27°C, butterflies in the Insects ofMicronesia publi­ and the monthly average does not vary from cation series. This lack of available informa­ that by more than 1°C (Laird 1982). The tion and paucity ofrecords provided incentive high rainfall-485 cm annually in the low­ for our further investigation into butterfly lands and up to 1015 cm estimated for the diversity on Pohnpei. Our study doubles the mountains (Merlin et al. 1992)-contributes to a lush tropical vegetation. Densely forested ridges and valleys radiate outward and down­ 1 Manuscript accepted 30 April 2002. ward from the central highlands. Mosses, 2 Corresponding author: Division of Natural Science ferns, and other epiphytes festoon the trees and Mathematics, College ofMicronesia-FSM, P.O. Box and shrubs of the cloud forest, usually oc­ 159, Kolonia, Pohnpei FM 96941 (phone: 691-320-2480; fax: 691-320-2479; E-mail: [email protected]). curring above 600 m. A tropical rain forest 3 Allyn Museum of Entomology, Florida Museum of dominated by broadleaf trees reaching 30 or Natural History, 3621 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota, Florida more meters high covers much of the area 34234 (E-mail: jrniller®virtu.sar.usf.eclu). betWeen 200- ana 600 ffi, wtrh-rhe endemic kotop palm (Clinostip;ma ponapensis) forming Pacific Science (2003), vol. 57, no. 1:1-8 nearly pure stands on plateaus and gentle © 2003 by University of Hawai'i Press slopes, especially above about 450 m. The All rights reserved clearing of numerous small 1- to 2-ha plots 2 PACIFIC SCIENCE· January 2003 0 MARIANA 160 ISLANDS / __ Guam MARSHALL PHILIPPINES ISLANDS .i Yap 'I Pohnpei • '. I> • Palau Chuuk .. Kosrae CAROLI NE ISLANDS NAURU,·..,...· KIRIBATI 1000 km AUSTRALIA FIGURE 1. Location map of Pohnpei and surrounding western Pacific islands. for the cultivation of sakau (= kava, Piper islands, the largest and nearest of which (So­ methysticum) has been steadily encroaching kehs, Takaieu, and Temwen) are connected deeper and higher into this forest; Trustrum to mainland Pohnpei by causeways. (1996) reported a decline in intact native up­ land forest from 42% of the total vegetation MATERIALS AND METHODS cover in 1975 to 15% in 1995. The lowlands (below 200 m) include Specimens were collected opportunistically mainly secondary woodland and areas other­ and intermittently throughout the island wise modified for subsistence agriculture and by D.W.B. during March 2000-September human occupation; some intact rain forest 2001. The more remote montane forest re­ occurs at the upper extreme. Approximately gions were visited by backpacking for 2-4 8000 of the nearly 35,000 islanders live in days at a time. Localities were identified using Kolonia; the others are distributed in smaller a topographic map (U.S. Geological Survey settlements along the 87-km-Iong circum­ 1983), an altimeter (Barigo) scaled in 20-ft ferential road. Spur roads extend short dis­ (6.1-m) increments, and a global positioning tances into the interior but none traverses system (GPS) navigator (Garmin III Plus) the island;- the- central highlan-ds" are unin­ wnere the canopy- aio nof 15l"ocKsatellife re:' habited. Mangroves form nearly a continuous ception. All specimens were deposited in the belt around the island, covering about 55 km2 collections of the Allyn Museum of Ento­ (Petteys et al. 1986). A barrier reef encloses a mology (Sarasota, Florida), American Mu­ lagoon with numerous volcanic and coral reef seum of Natural History (New York), Bishop Butterflies of Pohnpei . Buden and Miller 3 Museum (Honolulu), and CSIRO Long and another in a seepage area with Cassia Pocket Laboratory (Indooroopilly, Australia). alata, taro, and banana on Takaieu Island on Species recorded for the first time in 1 September 2001 are the only records for Pohnpei appear in boldface type in the spe­ Pohnpei. This species is more abundant than cies accounts. The name Pale pea-blue for the scanty records indicate. It occurs syntopi­ Catochrysops panormus follows Braby (2000), cally with C. pomona but is less common, with whereas all other English names follow an estimated ratio of about 1: 30. Schreiner and Nafus (1997). Lycaenidae SPECIES ACCOUNTS Acytolepis puspa (Horsfield). Common hedge blue. Hesperiidae Matsumura (1915) described Cyaniris Badamia exclamationis (Fabricius). Brown (= Acytolepis) puspa watasei as a new "variety" skipper. (subspecies) from Angaur (Palau) and Po~­ Previously recorded in Micronesia from pei, but he did not indicate island localities Palau, the Marianas, and the Marshall Islands for individual specimens. He reported that (Schreiner and Nafus 1997). The nine speci­ the new form differed from the "type" in its mens collected in Kolonia and vicinity during smaller size, narrower marginal black bands 12-16 September (5), 22 April 2000 (2), and on the wings, and smaller patches (= spoj:s?) 2-15 September 2001 (2) are the first for on the undersurface of the wings. Schreiner Pohnpei. All were on or near Terminalia and Nafus (1997) reported A. puspa from catappa. Caterpillars and pupae of B. exclama­ Palau but did not mention Pohnpei in their tionis occasionally were observed in the rolled account. or folded-over leaves of Terminalia, and the many damaged leaves with ragged edges pre­ Catochrysops panormus (c. Felder). Pale pea­ sumably had been eaten by these larvae. blue. Schreiner and Nafus (1997) reported Ca­ Pieridae tochrysops amasea from Palau, Yap, and Chuuk, Catopsilia pomona (Fabricius). Lemon IIll­ and no other congeners in Micronesia. grant. Semper (1906) recorded C. strabo from the Previously recorded in Micronesia only Caroline Islands [Micronesia] and made ·no from westernmost islands, in Palau and the mention of C. amasea or any other congeqers Marianas (Schreiner and Nafus 1997). The 21 in his account. Twenty-nine specimens of specimens collected during this study are the Catochrysops were collected on Pohnpei, in the first reported from Pohnpei. Catopsilia pomona vicinity ofKolonia, during our study. Twenty is one of the most common species in the of them were critically examined by j.YM. lowlands, especially along roadsides in wet and identified as C. panormus based on the areas where the candle flower, Cassia alata, is wing and genitalic characters described in present. It was abundant also in the vicinity of Corbet and Pendlebury (1978) and Seki eF .al. a Cassia fistula tree in bloom at the Agricul­ (1991), and three others from this series were tural Experiment Station in Kolonia in June identified by D. Sands also as C. panorfnus. 2000, where 20 to 30 were in view at anyone We include the remaining six also under C. time. panormus though we did not examine them critically and the identifications by colleagues Catopsilia pyranthe (Linnaeus). Common to whom they were sent were uncertain. migrant.- CfitochrysopspaiiorinZis is Widely Clistrlouied Previously recorded in Micronesia in Palau from India to Sri Lanka and the Philippines and Yap (Schreiner and Nafus 1997). One southward through Indonesia to northern collected on a roadside adjacent to a taro and eastern Australia, and eastward to the patch on Temwen Island on 30 April 2000, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Loyalty 4 PACIFIC SCIENCE· January 2003 Islands (Tite 1959, Seki et al. 1991, Braby September 2000 are the only records for 2000). It has also been recorded in Micro­ Pohnpei. Larval host plants elsewhere include nesia on Guam (parsons 1999). The speci­ Hygrophila angustifolia and Ruellia tuberosa mens from Pohnpei are the first records for (Acanthaceae) (Braby 2000). the genus on the island and the first for the species in the Federated States ofMicronesia. Danaidae We have not examined examples of Gatochry­ Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus). Monarch. sops from elsewhere in Micronesia and can­ Widespread throughout Micronesia; oc­ not comment further on the identification of curring on all major islands or island groups those recorded as C.