Battus laodamas

Green-patch Swallowtail
Mounted specimen of Battus laodamas on display at Museo di Scienze Naturali Enrico Caffi, Bergamo
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Battus
Species:	B. laodamas
Binomial name
Battus laodamas (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1859)
Synonyms
Papilio laodamas (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1859) Papilio chrysodamas (H.W. Bates, 1864) Papilio chromealus (Ehrmann, 1912) Papilio procas (Godman & Salvin, 1890) (preocc. Cramer, 1777)

Battus laodamas is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It is commonly known as the Green-patch Swallowtail and the Yellow-spotted Swallowtail.

Description

Battus laodamas has a wingspan reaching about 90 millimetres (3.5 in). It is a black or dark brown butterfly with green reflections. The dorsal sides of the hind wings shows a broad cream or pale green band and a series of cream or pale green spots. The under sides of the wings are lighter brown, with a submarginal line of whitish spots on the forewings and a submarginal line of red markings on the hind wings. The forewings have rounded apex and the outer edge of the hind wings is scalloped. The host plant of its caterpillars is Aristolochia tentaculata.

Distribution

This species is native to the Neotropical ecozone.^[1][2] It is present in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.

Subspecies

• Battus laodamas laodamas (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1859) Möhn, 1999, Butterflies of the World 5: 7, plate 10, figures 7-8, plate 19, figures 5-6.^[3] Smart, 1976 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World page 158 fig. 14 .^[4] Colombia - S.W. Venezuela
• Battus laodamas copanae (Reakirt, 1863) Möhn, 1999, Butterflies of the World 5: 7, plate 10, figures 3-4. S. Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras
• Battus laodamas iopas (Godman & Salvin, 1897) Möhn, 1999, Butterflies of the World 5: 7, plate 10, figures 1-2 N. Mexico
• Battus laodamas rhipidius (Rothschild & Jordan, 1906) Möhn, 1999, Butterflies of the World 5: 7, plate 10, figures 5-6. Costa Rica, Panama

Gallery

• 

  Illustration of Battus laodamas iopas from Biologia Centrali-Americana-Insecta, Vol III Plate 65. Publ. in 1881

• 

  Underside of B. l. iopas

References

1. Warren, A. D.; et al. (2010). "Battus laodamas". Butterflies of America. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
2. Glassberg, Jeffrey (2007). A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America. Sunstreak Books Inc. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-4243-0915-3.
3. Edwin Möhn, 2002 Schmetterlinge der Erde, Butterflies of the world Part V (5), Papilionidae II:Battus. Edited by Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Keltern : Goecke & Evers ; Canterbury : Hillside Books.ISBN 978-3-931374-70-9
4. Paul Smart, 1976 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World in Color.London, Salamander:Encyclopedie des papillons. Lausanne, Elsevier Sequoia (French language edition)ISBN 9780948427046 ISBN 0600313816

Further reading

• Lamas, Gerardo (2004). Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera; Checklist: Part4A Hesperioidea–Papilionoidea. Gainesville, Florida: Scientific Publishers, Inc. p. 90. ISBN 0-945417-28-4.

External links

• Savela, Markku. "Battus laodamas". funet.fi. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
• Butterfly corner Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien