Troides hypolitus

Rippon’s Birdwing
Troides hypolitus cellularis. Female, upperside
Troides hypolitus. Male, at National Museum (Prague)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae
Genus: Troides
Species: T. hypolitus
Binomial name
Troides hypolitus
(Cramer, 1775)
Synonyms
  • Papilio hypolitus Cramer, [1775]
  • Ripponia hypolitus
  • Papilio remus C. & R. Felder, 1864
  • Ornithoptera hypolitus var. sulaensis Staudinger, 1895

Rippon’s Birdwing (Troides hypolitus) is a birdwing butterfly endemic to the Moluccas and Sulawesi. It is not significantly threatened, but it is protected.

Troides hypolitus is a butterfly from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone. The first description was in 1775 by Cramer. This butterfly is a member of the family Papilionidae. Troides hypolitus is black. It has a chain of golden spots on the hind wings. The females are dark-brown and they are bigger than the males.

Original figure in Uitlandsche Kapellen

Description

For terms see External morphology of Lepidoptera.

The wingspan is from 180–200 mm.

The male's forewings are black. Some veins are bordered by white colour. The underside is very similar to the upperside. The hindwings are grey. The outer edge is black and it contains a chain of golden spots. The veins are black. The underside is similar to the upperside, but the basic colour is white.

The body (abdomen) is black and yellow, but the underside is white and yellowish. It looks like a wasp. Head and thorax are black. The nape has a red hair-coat.

The female is sexually dimorphic. The female covers the upper range of the wingspan and is usually larger than the male. The basic colour of the female is dark-brown. Many veins are bordered by white. The golden spots are bigger and they contain a black core. The underside is a very similar to the upperside.

as Ornithoptera hippolytus in Robert Henry Fernando Rippon Icones Ornithopterorum (1898 to 1906)

Distribution

Troides hypolitus is found in the Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone. The distribution is restricted on the Molucca Islands and Sulawesi.

Subspecies

There are four subspecies:

Conservation

This butterfly is strictly protected. It is listed in the appendix II from CITES.

Etymology

In Greek mythology Hippolytus was the son of Theseus.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Troides hypolitus.
Wikispecies has information related to: Troides hypolitus


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