Western Samoa

[Niklas Wahlberg]

Hi,
  I've lived in Western Samoa back in 1983-85 and actually started my
lepidopterist career there (at the age of 12 or 13). The lep fauna of Samoa
is indeed depauperate, probably more so on the American Samoa side, since
these islands are smaller. i checked through my collection and found that I
have collected 17 species of butterflies over the two years. I don't
remember that I missed any species (ie saw but didn't catch). Following is
a list of the species:
Papilionidae:	Papilio geffroyi (endemic)
Pieridae:	Anapheis java
		Appias paulina
		Eurema hecabe
Lycaenidae:	Lampides boeticus
		Zizula hylax
		+4 unidentified species
Nymphalinae:	Junonia villida
		Hypolimnas bolina
		Vagrans egista
Danainae:	Danaus plexippus
		Danaus melissa
		Euploea schmeltzi
Satyrinae:	Melanitis leda

As can be seen, the percentage endemism is not that high. I'm pretty sure
that all the taxa are endemic at the subspecies level though I can't say
I'm 100% sure. At any rate the fauna is distinctly Australasian, rather
than neotropic.

Cheers,
Niklas


_________________________________________________________________________

   Niklas Wahlberg                          
   Department of Ecology and Systematics    
   Division of Population Biology           
   PO Box 17 (Arkadiankatu 7)               
   00014 University of Helsinki
   Finland                                                         
   p. +358-9-191 7378, fax +358-9-191 7492  
 Check out our www-site:                    
  http://www.helsinki.fi/science/metapop/