Protesilaus earis explained

Protesilaus earis, the Rothschild's swordtail, is a species of butterfly found in the Neotropical realm (southeast Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina).

Description

Antenna dark yellowish brown. Frons yellowish at the sides. Wings slightly yellowish, beneath slightly reddish; bands narrow, 4. band of the forewing reduced to a small spot, 6. band close to the lower angle of the cell; the yellowish marginal and submarginal spots of the hindwing narrow, above and beneath smaller than in the name-typical protesilaus; hindwing beneath with long arrow-shaped patch before the abdominal margin, this patch reduced in protesilaus. Dorsal margin of the harpe slightly widened, ventral process non-dentate, not extending to the lower edge of the clasper, central process short, broad, spatulate, strongly dentate. Eastern Ecuador, widely distributed.^[1]

Status

Uncommon and little known. No known threats.^[2]

Further reading

• D'Abrera, B. (1981). Butterflies of the Neotropical Region. Part I. Papilionidae and Pieridae. Lansdowne Editions, Melbourne, xvi + 172 pp.
• D'Almeida, R.F. (1965). Catalogo dos Papilionidae Americanos. Sociedade Brasileira de Entomologia. São Paulo, Brasil.
• Rothschild, W. and Jordan, K. (1906). A revision of the American Papilios. Novitates Zoologicae 13: 411-752. online (and as pdf) (Facsimile edition ed. P.H. Arnaud, 1967).

External links

• Butterflies of the Americas Images of holotype.

Notes and References

1. Karl Jordan, 1916 Papilio In A. Seitz (editor), Macrolepidoptera of the world vol. 5: 617–738. Stuttgart: Alfred Kernen https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/126193#page/7/mode/1up also available as pdf
2. Book: Collins . N. Mark . Morris . Michael G. . 1985 . Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book . . Gland & Cambridge . 978-2-88032-603-6 . Biodiversity Heritage Library.