Papilio camerta Cramer, 1780

Papilio camerta Cramer, 1780 is a nomen dubium

Only the ventral side is illustrated in the original description of Papilio camerta Cramer, 1780 (type locality Suriname). The wings exhibit 2 median lines, 3 marginal lines, and small and similarly-sized submarginal dark eyespots: 4 on the forewing (no eyespot in cell R 5 -M 1 by the apex) and 6 on the hindwing, each encircled with yellow and pupillated with silvery-blue. We also inspected and photographed the original drawing of P. camerta by G. W. Lambertz in the Library of the Natural History Museum, London, that served as a model for published engravings ( Gilbert 2000). The Lambertz drawings, which are usually more accurate than stylized engravings, could help identify the species illustrated. Indeed, the Lambertz drawing of P. camerta reveals differences between the eyespots in this specimen: all forewing eyespots and the 4 th eyespot on the hindwing (in cell M 3 -CuA 1) are brown, others are black.

The ventral wing pattern combined with small size (forewing length 17 mm on the drawing) suggest that P. camerta may indeed be a Hermeuptychia species as currently placed ( Lamas 2004). However, there is no dark dash at the end of the ventral forewing discal cell, and the description clearly mentions an eyespot (encircled yellow and pupillated with a silvery dot) on the dorsal forewing "extremities" ( Cramer 1780). We know of no species worldwide that match the P. camerta description together with the Lambertz illustration. Similarly to Weymer (1910 -1912), we cannot explain the dorsal forewing eyespot mentioned in the original description, and for this reason place Papilio camerta Cramer, 1780 as a nomen dubium until a meaningful explanation can be found.

Assuming a number of inaccuracies, we can offer a hypothesis about the identity of P. camerta . Silver pupils in some eyespots on the Lambertz drawing are not round but irregular, and seemingly made by more than one stroke of a brush (they are rounder on the engraving though) ( Fig. 38 View Fig ). It is unclear whether this is an imperfection of the drawing, or it meant to depict bipupillated eyespots. If the eyespots were bipupillated, then this species could have been Paryphthimoides poltys (Prittwitz, 1865) or a relative, and the dorsal eyespot might have been on the "extremities" of the hindwings (not forewings: a possible mistake in the description), as in Paryphthimoides Forster, 1964 . In some specimens of P. poltys , the differences between eyespots agree with the Lambertz illustration: the forewing eyespots and the 4 th hindwing eyespot are more brown than black, and the dashes at the end of the discal cells are vestigial on both wings. Thus, if "tippen" (Dutch) / "extremités "(French) meant anal angle, forewing was a lapsus calami for hindwing, and with irregular silvery-blue dots in the eyespots Lambertz was depicting bipupillation, then P. camerta may be conspecific with P. poltys . Alternatively, is it conceivable that the dorsal eyespot mentioned in the description may have been on a specimen of a different species than the one illustrated by Lambertz, making the type series polytypic. These issues remain to be investigated and the best compromise reached. While we are not able to solve the problem of the P. camerta identity, to facilitate its eventual resolution, we illustrate the Lambertz drawing, the published engraving, and provide translations of the original description ( Fig. 38 View Fig ).