Papilio elephenor

Yellow-crested Spangle
Male upperside (right half) and underwing (left half)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae
Genus: Papilio
Species: P. elephenor
Binomial name
Papilio elephenor
Doubleday, 1845

The Yellow-crested Spangle (Papilio elephenor) is a species of swallowtail butterfly found in Northeast India. Following decades without confirmed sightings, it was rediscovered in 2009 in Assam.[1]

Description

Male upperside dull black. Fore wing with an irroration of brilliant green scales that form cellular and internervular streaks. Hind wing: anterior half to nearly the median vein and above vein 5 irrorated with brilliant blue scales that become gradually sparse towards and cease entirely along the costal margin; posterior half irrorated with brilliant green scales; tornus with a small claret-red patch touched above with a few violet scales and also with an admarginal dusky black spot. Cilia brown alternated with white. Underside black. Fore wing with very broad and prominent cellular and internervular pale streaks, the costal margin and the basal half of interspaces 1a and 1 distinctly black. Hind wing: a series of claret-red subterminal lunules, two side by side in each interspace, all more or less irrorated inwardly with violet scales ; at the tornal angle these lunules form a conspicuous oblong patch that stretches a short way along the dorsum and bears a subbasal and a subapical black spot. Antennae, the thorax and abdomen narrowly along the middle black; head pinkish red; abdomen on the sides buff-coloured.

Female "Agrees with the male. The anal (tornal) red mark on the hind wings above is larger, rounded, marginal, and includes a small black spot, the outer margin (termen) of the hind wing is distinctly sinuate between the median veins (veins 2, 3, 4), and at the, end of the upper median nervule (vein 4) produced into a short but obvious tooth as at the extremity of the lower discoidal vein (vein 5)." (Rothschild quoted in Bingham)[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Choudhury, Kushal (2010) Rediscovery of two rare butterflies Papilio elephenor Doubleday, 1845 and Shijimia moorei Leech, 1889 from proposed Ripu-Chirang Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(4): 831-834.
  2. ↑ Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2

Further reading


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, August 17, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.