Papilio desmondi explained

Papilio desmondi, the Desmond's green-banded swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Africa.^[1]

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 .^[2] (northern Tanzania)
• Papilio desmondi teita van Someren, 1960 ^[3] (south-eastern Kenya)
• Papilio desmondi usambaraensis (Koçak, 1980)^[4] (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.^[5]

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:

• Papilio aristophontes Oberthür, 1897
• Papilio nireus Linnaeus, 1758
• Papilio charopus Westwood, 1843
• Papilio chitondensis de Sousa & Fernandes, 1966
• Papilio chrapkowskii Suffert, 1904
• Papilio chrapkowskoides Storace, 1952
• Papilio desmondi van Someren, 1939
• Papilio hornimani Distant, 1879
• Papilio interjectana Vane-Wright, 1995
• Papilio manlius Fabricius, 1798
• Papilio microps Storace, 1951
• Papilio sosia Rothschild & Jordan, 1903
• Papilio thuraui Karsch, 1900
• Papilio ufipa Carcasson, 1961
• Papilio wilsoni Rothschild, 1926

References

• 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)

External links

• Book: Collins . N. Mark . Morris . Michael G. . Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book . 1985 . . Gland & Cambridge . 978-2-88032-603-6 . Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Afrotropical Butterflies: File C – Papilionidae - Tribe Papilionini . 2012-05-09 . 2014-02-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140222060901/http://atbutterflies.com/downloads/papilionidae_papilionini.doc . dead .
2. Gifford, D. 1961. Notes on two Nyasaland Papilios (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Entomologist 94: 287-289.
3. 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.
4. Koçak, A.Ö., 1983-1986, More notes on the homonymy of the specific names of Lepidoptera. Cent. ent. Stud., Priamus2 (1983) (4)
5. 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.