''Bhutanitis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of swallowtail butterflies that contains four species.

Distribution

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

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

and

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...

(Chou, 2000), and adjacent

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountai ...

. ''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. 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, ...

. 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 Insects of Bhutan Butterfly genera Papilionidae Taxa named by William Stephen Atkinson {{Papilionidae-stub