Polyura

This article is about the brush-footed butterfly genus. For the plant genus Polyura, see Rubiaceae.

Polyura
Polyura narcaeus, male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Subfamily:	Charaxinae
Tribe:	Charaxini
Genus:	Polyura Billberg, 1820
Species
Many, see text

Polyura is the genus of nawab butterflies. They are native to the Indomalaya and Australasian ecozones that belong to the brush-footed butterfly subfamily Charaxinae, or leafwing butterflies. Like the large and conspicuous pasha and rajah butterflies (Charaxes) they belong to the Charaxini tribe. Recent genetic research has shown that some species of the genus Charaxes are more related to Polyura than to other Charaxes species. Polyura should therefore be included in Charaxes.

Species

Listed alphabetically.^[1][2]

• Polyura agraria (Swinhoe, 1887) – Anomalous Common Nawab [S.India, Burma]
• Polyura alphius (Staudinger, 1886 – Staudinger's Nawab [Sulawesi, Timor]
• Polyura andrewsi (Butler, 1900) – Christmas Emperor
• Polyura arja (C. & R. Felder, [1867]) – Pallid Nawab [NE.India, Sikkim - Assam, Burma, Thailand, Indo China]
• Polyura athamas (Drury, [1773]) – Common Nawab; includes P. samatha
• Polyura caphontis (Hewitson, 1863)
• Polyura clitarchus (Hewitson, 1874)
• Polyura cognatus Vollenhoven, 1861 – Sulawesi Blue Nawab
• Polyura dehanii (Westwood, 1850)
• Polyura delphis (Doubleday, 1843) – Jewelled Nawab [Assam - Burma, Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo]
• Polyura dolon (Westwood, 1847) – Stately Nawab, formerly "Stately Rajah", in Charaxes [Tibet, W.China, Kulu - Assam, Burma]
• Polyura epigenes (Godman & Salvin, 1888)
• Polyura eudamippus (Doubleday, 1843) – Great Nawab [C.China, Kumaon - Assam, Burma]
• Polyura galaxia (Butler, [1866]) – Kalao Nawab [Timor, Wetar]
• Polyura gamma (Lathy, 1898)
• Polyura gilolensis (Butler, 1869)
• Polyura hebe (Butler, [1866]) – Plain Nawab
• Polyura inopinatus (Röber, 1939)
• Polyura jalysus (C. & R. Felder, [1867])
• Polyura jupiter (Butler, 1869)
• Polyura moori (Distant, 1883) – Malayan Nawab [Malay]
• Polyura narcaeus (Hewitson, 1854) – China Nawab [China, Naga Hills, Abor Valley, N.Burma]
• Polyura nepenthes (Grose-Smith, 1883) – [E. China]
• Polyura posidonius (Leech, 1891) – [Tibet, China]
• Polyura pyrrhus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Tailed Nawab or Tailed Emperor
• Polyura sacco Smart, 1977
• Polyura schreiber (Godart, [1824]) – Blue Nawab, schreiberi is an unjustified emendation
• Polyura sempronius (Fabricius, 1793) – Tailed Emperor, Four Tail [Australia]

References

1. Smiles, R.L. (1982). The taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus Polyura Billberg (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), (Entomology) 44:115-237.
2. Ployura, funet.fi