''Bhutanitis'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of swallowtail butterflies that contains four species.

Distribution

The genus reaches its peak diversity in south-western China, particularly

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

and

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

(Chou, 2000), and adjacent

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

. ''Bhutanitis lidderdali'' is the most widespread species, occurring in China, Bhutan, India and Myanmmar (Chou, 2000); it is however locally extinct in Thailand due to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

. Larval host plants known to date are all

Aristolochiaceae The Aristolochiaceae () are a family, the birthwort family, of flowering plants with seven genera and about 400 known species belonging to the order Piperales. The type genus is '' Aristolochia'' L. Description They are mostly perennial, her ...

. All ''Bhutanitis'' species are listed on CITES Appendix II, which restricts their international trade. Historically, they have been highly desired by

butterfly collectors ''Butterfly Collectors'' is a two part ITV miniseries. It was broadcast between 19 April and 20 April 1999. A two-part psychological thriller about a disillusioned policeman who develops an unlikely friendship with two teenagers arrested for m ...

; three species in particular (''B. mansfieldi'', ''B. ludlowi'' and ''B. thaidina'') were known from very few specimens until comparatively recently. However, large numbers of specimens of ''B. thaidina'' and ''B. mansfieldi pulchristriata'' have recently been available at very low prices, mainly from China, which indicates collector demand may be becoming satisfied.

Taxonomy

Two other taxa named as species of ''Bhutanitis'' (''B. nigrilima'' Chou, 1992, ''B. yulongensis'' Chou, 1992) have since been synonymised with ''B. thaidina'' (Hauser et al. 2005). Another taxon, originally named as ''B. mansfieldi pulchristriata'' Saigusa and Lee, 1982, was also regarded as a separate species by Chou (1994) and Chou (2000), but has otherwise been regarded as a subspecies (Hauser et al., 2005).

Species

References

* * Sorimachi, Y. 1994 Geographical and individual variations of Bhutanitis thaidina ''Apollo'', 3: 77-87.(in Japanese). * Hauser, CL., de Jong, R., Lamas, G., Robbins, R.K., Smith, C., and Vane-Wright, R.I. (2005). Papilionidae – revised GloBIS/GART species checklist (2nd draft). Available online at

. Verified online 5 March 2010.

External links

TOLweb.org: Overview, taxonomic discussion, photographs of ''Bhutanitis''
Bhutanitis, Butterflies of Asia Butterfly genera Papilionidae Taxa named by William Stephen Atkinson Taxa described in 1873 {{Papilionidae-stub