Collecting on Oahu

Collection on Oahu

I assume from this reasoning that the collection really took place on Oahu.

Wallengren states in his new description of Colias ponteni that the butterfly was collected by Kinberg and Pontén. We do not know how Wallengren got this information. The most likely would probably be that Kinberg, as the expedition's scientific leader, gave these tasks together with all other information about the collected butterflies that Wallengren had the responsibility to describe. Samuel Pontén, however, must have been mostly involved in the actual collection, since he was given the name of the butterfly. We have no information about when and where the collection took place or if they took the butterfly as imago, larva or pupa. Many, like me, have probably considered this but some definite answer is not likely to be obtained so we have to leave this question to speculation based on what is considered most likely with regard to location and time. The lack of information on the species' normal flight time in Hawaii is of course a great drawback. We know that the collection should have taken place during the last 10 days of June and that this was in Honolulu by Kinberg and Pontén. The task of collecting in Honolulu, however, hardly means that this happened in the town itself, but it was most probably in the outskirts of the town.

Personally, I am very doubtful that Kinberg really participated in the collecting as he was not an entomologist but among other things an expert on amphibians. Also we do not know whether any other entomologists were included in the scientists. However, I can observe that on Oahu they only collected two species of lepidoptera, Colias ponteni, and the moth Omiodes kontinuatalis out of the 81 newly described lepidoptera collected on this world voyage. The little Pyralidae of the Crambidae-family Omiodes kontinuatalis described by Wallengren 1860 was, as Colias ponteni, new to science and is rare and endemic on the archipelago of Hawaii.

Master Andersson, who was mainly responsible for collecting plants on this world voyage, has in his notes described the stay on Oahu. He mentions among other things that he, along with a number of boatmen and at least once with Samuel Pontén, went up through Nuuanu-Valley to the Pali Pass and further down to the plateau on the island's north-eastern side. Once, Andersson had accommodation with a canoe family and had to share their hut at a price that corresponded to a better hotel in Stockholm.

Anderson writes among other things “The Kanakes, so commendably cheerful and really decent they otherwise, do not seem to have a great concept of the importance of money; at least they always took unreasonably for themselves and are in their claims exaggerated and unwilling”.

Andersson really had to experience this helpfulness, solely for cash payment, which was considered quite natural as with the help of the Kanakes he collected plants on the island. The Kanakes were very helpful and willing to collect plants for Andersson, but soon they stopped abruptly and held up two fingers in the air and said "Two dollars" This form of collection, however, quickly became too expensive for Master Andersson. When the Kanakes understood this, they quickly disappeared into their favourite occupation of lazing and eating.

Why do I add this little piece to this article? Well Andersson tells us that one day together with Pastor Pontén he made an excursion to collect plants. According to Christer Hägg's research, they would have passed the Pali pass to the plateau across the mountain ridge east of Honolulu. As far as I could find, this is the only excursion Pastor Pontén made on Oahu outside the city of Honolulu. It seems very likely that Pastor Pontén, who collected butterflies for his brother Jonas Otto at home in Strängnäs, during this excursion with Master Andersson, found the small population of the Colias butterfly that would later bear his name. Christer Hägg has also, as stated in his letter in Appendix 4, been given information that Master Johan Andersson also collected insects during this trip.

This excursion was certainly rewarding for the two gentlemen, although they apparently did not go too far from "civilized areas" because they suddenly heard well known Strauss waltzes among the trees.

The Swedes walked in the direction of the music and arrived at a small villa where the Kanakes had a big private party. Andersson and Pontén were cordially invited. The orchestra turned out to belong to the king and among the guests was the Crown Prince Alexander with his courtiers. According to Lieutenant Fries, the two gentlemen remained for a long time at this party at Midsummer. I don't know if the gentlemen from Eugenie met the Crown Prince's parents King Kamehameha III and Queen Kalama. However, when it comes to interesting butterflies in Hawaii, there is a reason to remember these royal names.

King Kamehameha III and Queen Kalama of Hawaii from watercolour by C. Skogman.

Perhaps the finest butterfly in the Hawaiian Islands is the Red Admiral like "Kamehameha Butterfly" Vanessa tameamea, an endemic and thus a unique species for the archipelago. As everyone can see, the Latin name also resembles the royal family name and that is of course no coincidence. This unique butterfly was named in 1821 by the Estonian/German doctor and entomologist Johan Friedrich von Eschscholtz. During a three-year long voyage around the world 1815-18 with one of the greatest seafarers, the Estonian/German Otto von Kotzeube, he visited the Hawaiian Islands in November- December 1816. With the ship Rurick, Otto von Kotzebue explored the North-West American coast during the following summer along the Bering Strait. These northern regions, i.e. the current Alaska belonged to Russia at that time, were these remote areas were the main goal of the Russian expedition? Could they possibly find the Northwest Passage? This was the same reason why James Cook was in this northern part of The Pacific Ocean 50 years earlier! When the second trip failed they returned to the Hawaiian Islands in October 1817 before returning home via the Cape of Good Hope.

I have included this butterfly because, in addition to Colias ponteni, it is one of the two, or three if we include C. ponteni, endemic butterflies in the Hawaiian Islands. The second, or possibly the third endemic butterfly on the islands, is the "Hawaiian Blue" or "Blackburn's Blue" Udara blackburni, described by Tuely in 1878.

I think it might be interesting to include these two endemic species from the Hawaiian Islands as these say something about how many entomologists really examined the islands' butterfly fauna before the frigate Eugenie's arrival in Oahu in Midsummer of 1852. As far as I can see Eschscholtz would probably be one of the extremely few entomologists who studied the islands' butterflies before. However, the fact that Eschscholtz did not discover Colias ponteni is easy to explain when, as stated above, he visited the islands from October to December, while the species' flight time, based on Pontén's and/or Kinberg's information to Wallengren, should be June / July or possibly August if the gentlemen found the butterfly as larvae. We can also note that it took just over 25 years after Colias ponteni was discovered on Oahu before the island's only indigenous Blue was discovered. During the 25 years that elapsed until the Blue Udara blackburni was discovered, Colias ponteni may well have been exterminated by the multitude of new colonizers and their activities on Oahu in the late 19th century.

There is also another thing that one can think about when comparing these two endemic butterflies from Hawaii with their closest relatives in the rest of the world. Namely that if one can possibly draw any conclusion from which areas these unique butterflies originated from and then based on this, also do the same with regard to Colias ponteni’s descent. As for Vanessa tameamea, it is very easy to see that this Admiral originated from the Indian Admiral, Vanessa indica. The latter species is peculiar to its range as it has its main distribution from India to south-eastern Siberia - Japan - China - Indochina and the Philippines. The interesting thing is, however, that it also has a slightly darker and clearer coloured subspecies in the Canary Islands and Madeira as well as possibly introduced into Portugal and southern Spain. However, this previously described “sub-population” of Vanessa indica is now elevated to the status of a so-called "good species" with the name Vanessa vulcanica.

Vanessa indica has probably also been in northern Africa as well as the Middle East and Arabia, but has probably competed there with our common and extremely migratory "Red Admiral" Vanessa atalanta. In the Canary Islands and Madeira, Vanessa atalanta flies with Vanessa vulcanica However, there is no doubt about the lineage of Vanessa vulcanica since it is clearly similar to Vanessa indica. If we now compare Vanessa indica with Vanessa tameamea, we see a similar pattern. Here it is clear that Vanessa tameamea has similarities with Vanessa indica but that it, like Vanessa vulcanica in Madeira and the Canary Islands, has a much darker reddish colour.

Vanessa tameamea. Vanessa indica. Vanessa vulcanica.

An interesting detail highlighted by Bernard D´Abrera is that the antennae are longer with Vanessa indica and vulcanica than with Vanessa atalanta. The same also applies to Vanessa tameamea, which suggests that it should originate from Vanessa indica. Can one then draw any conclusion from all this? The conclusion that I see from this species is completely clear. It originates from the Indian Admiral and has thus come to Hawaii from eastern Asia - something that might also suggest that Colias ponteni could originate from the Colias species that are similar to Colias ponteni, namely Colias fieldii, which mainly flies in the same areas as Vanessa indica. About Colias fieldii see Footnotes page 92!

This pattern of origin for endemic species also applies to the island's other endemic butterfly noted, namely Hawaiian Blue Udara (Vaga) blackburni. The Udara genus covers some forty species all located along the East Coast of Asia from China and Indochina to New Guinea and Australia. The type-local for this species is supposed to be the mountain pass in Oahu. Why hasn't Pontén, Kinberg or Andersson found this relatively common species that occurs on the larger islands in the Hawaiian archipelago? The simplest explanation I can imagine is that this species, which is closest to our Holly Blue, Celastrina argiolus, had passed its flying stage when Eugenie visited Oahu. Like our Holly Blue, it flies in spring and early summer, i.e. mainly during the months of March to mid-June. It had then passed its flight time when these gentlemen visited Oahu. However, it has also a second generation that extends from late July to early October. According to the great butterfly book, “The Butterflies of North America” by James Scott, “males seem to patrol the canopy of trees on hilltops to seek females”. The flight time in spring and autumn can explain why neither Eschscholtz nor the gentlemen from Eugenie found the species. Normally the blues belong to the butterflies that are the easiest to both see and catch.

Is there anything