''Papilio sjoestedti'', the Kilimanjaro swallowtail, is a species of

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

in the family

Papilionidae Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the larges ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

Kilimanjaro Region Kilimanjaro Region (''Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The regional capital and largest city is the municipality of Moshi. With a HDI of 0.613, Kilimajaro is one among the most developed regions ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

Description

In 1960,

Robert Herbert Carcasson Robert Herbert Carcasson (5 December 1918, in Cheltenham, UK – 23 September 1982, in Victoria, B.C., Canada) was an English entomologist who specialised in butterflies, but also authored two field guides to tropical fishes. He joined the Coryn ...

wrote: "Male very similar to above (''fulleborni''), but white band very narrow in both wings. Female similar to above (''fulleborni''), but ochreous discal area of hindwing much smaller. Both sexes may be distinguished from all other species of the group by the very much darker underside."

Taxonomy

''Papilio sjoestedti'' is a member of the ''echerioides'' species-group. This clade includes: *''

Papilio echerioides ''Papilio echerioides'', the white-banded swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa. The wingspan is 65–75 mm. It has two flight periods, first from January to March and second from Septem ...

'' Trimen, 1868 *'' Papilio fuelleborni'' Karsch, 1900 *'' Papilio jacksoni'' Sharpe, 1891 *''Papilio sjoestedti'' Aurivillius, 1908 It is mostly treated as a subspecies of ''Papilio fuelleborni''.

Etymology

It was named for Swedish naturalist

Bror Yngve Sjöstedt Bror Yngve Sjöstedt (August 3, 1866, Hjo – 1948) was a Swedish naturalist. Sjöstedt gained his degree and his doctorate in 1896 at the University of Uppsala Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research universit ...

References

*Carcasson, R.H. 1960 "The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)". ''Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society'
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Key to East Africa members of the species group, diagnostic and other notes and figures. (Permission to host granted by The East Africa Natural History Society sjoestedti Butterflies of Africa Butterflies described in 1908 Insects of Tanzania Endemic fauna of Tanzania Taxa named by Per Olof Christopher Aurivillius Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Papilionidae-stub