Papilio rex explained

Papilio rex, the regal swallowtail or king papilio, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Africa.^[1] It is a semi-montane and montane forest (1, 300 m. to 2 600 m.) species.The larvae feed on Teclea tricocarpa, Teclea stuhlmanni, Calodendrum, Citrus, Clausena, Fagara and Toddalia species.In the early morning and late afternoon adults of both sexes descend from the forest canopy to feed from the flowers of Lantana, Impatiens and Bougainvillea. It hilltops on granite outcrops and mud puddles.^[2]

The Kenyan forms mimic Tirumala formosa, the forest monarch butterfly.

Description

The ground colour is black. There are numerous white markings and the base of the forewing is orange brown (sometimes black with a white streak in males).

Taxonomy

Papilio rex is a member of the dardanus species group. The members of the clade are:

• Papilio dardanus Brown, 1776
• Papilio constantinus Ward, 1871
• Papilio delalandei Godart, [1824]
• Papilio phorcas Cramer, [1775]
• Papilio rex Oberthür, 1886

Subspecies

• Papilio rex rex (Kenya (east of the Rift Valley), north-eastern Tanzania, central Tanzania)
• Papilio rex mimeticus Rothschild, 1897^[3] (Congo Republic, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, north-western Tanzania, western Kenya)
• Papilio rex franciscae Carpenter, 1928 (southern Sudan, south-western Ethiopia)^[4]
• Papilio rex alinderi Bryk, 1928^[5] (Kenya (highlands west of the Rift Valley))
• Papilio rex schultzei Aurivillius, 1904^[6] (eastern Nigeria, highlands of Cameroon)
• Papilio rex abyssinicana Vane-Wright, 1995^[7] (highlands of south-eastern Ethiopia)
• Papilio rex regulana Vane-Wright, 1995 (Kenya (highlands east of the Rift Valley))

Biogeographic realm

Afrotropical realm

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)
• 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.

External links

• • • Butterfly Corner Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

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. Larsen, 1991 The butterflies of Kenya and their natural history 352, 443 (490 pp.). Oxford.
3. Rothschild, W., 1897 On a new species of Papilio from Uganda Entomologist 30 165 Full text
4. [Geoffrey Douglas Hale Carpenter|Carpenter]
5. Bryk, F. 1928. Ueber den Mimetismus der afrikanischen Papilio-Arten. Societas Entomologia 43: 13-16.
6. Aurivillius, Per Olof Christopher, 1904 Insekten-Börse 21 (48): 363 Full text
7. Ackery, P.R., Smith, C.R., Vane-Wright, R.I. 1995. Carcasson's African Butterflies: An annotated Catalogue of the Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea of the Afrotropical Region. British Museum (Natural History), London: i-xi, 1-803. ISBN 978-0-643-05561-2