Papilio desmondi

Papilio desmondi, the Desmond's green-banded swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Africa.[2]

Desmond's green-banded swallowtail
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae
Genus: Papilio
Species:
P. desmondi
Binomial name
Papilio desmondi
Synonyms
  • Papilio magdae Gifford, 1961
  • Papilio brontes Godman, 1885
  • Papilio teita van Someren, 1960
  • Papilio brontes australis van Someren, 1960

The larvae feed on Vepris eugeniifolia, other Vepris species, Clausena, Zanthoxylum, Calodendrum, and Citrus species.

Subspecies
  • Papilio desmondi desmondi (Chyulu Hills of south-eastern Kenya)
  • Papilio desmondi magdae Gifford, 1961 .[3] (northern Tanzania)
  • Papilio desmondi teita van Someren, 1960 [4] (south-eastern Kenya)
  • Papilio desmondi usambaraensis (Koçak, 1980)[5] (Tanzania, northern Malawi, north-eastern Zambia)

Description

The blue median band of the upper surface is somewhat narrower than in Papilio desmondi and the spot in the cell of the forewing reaches basad at most to vein 3.Forewing beneath with large yellowish submarginal spots in cellules 1 b—4. German and British East Africa. There are sharp nervular indentations at the margin of the blue band in the fore wing.[6]

Taxonomy

Papilio desmondi belongs to a clade called the nireus species group with 15 members. The pattern is black with green or blue bands and spots and the butterflies, although called swallowtails lack tails with the exception of Papilio charopus and Papilio hornimani. The clade members are:

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Papilio desmondi.
Wikispecies has information related to Papilio desmondi.
  1. Papilio desmondi, Site of Markku Savela
  2. "Afrotropical Butterflies: File C – Papilionidae - Tribe Papilionini". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  3. Gifford, D. 1961. Notes on two Nyasaland Papilios (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Entomologist 94: 287-289.
  4. Van Someren, V.G.L. 1960. Systematic notes on the associated blue-banded black Papilios of the bromius-brontes-sosia complex of Kenya and Uganda, with descriptions of two new species. Boletim de Sociedade de Estudos (da Colonia) de Mocambique 29 (No. 123): 61-93.
  5. Koçak,A.Ö., 1983-1986, More notes on the homonymy of the specific names of Lepidoptera. Cent. ent. Stud., Priamus 2 (1983) (4)
  6. Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  • Carcasson, R.H. (1960). "The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society pdf Key to East Africa members of the species group, diagnostic and other notes and figures. (Permission to host granted by The East Africa Natural History Society)


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