''Eurytides orabilis'' is a species of

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the family

Papilionidae Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful Butterfly, 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 includ ...

and is native to the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

of ''E. orabilis'' is . Both sexes are similar. The fore wing is black with the basal, postbasal, and postmedian areas being a cream-white color. A black stripe crosses through the middle of the cream-white area from the costa. The apical area has two creamy spots. The hind wing is black with cream-white basal, postbasal, and postmedian areas. A small red spot is present on the anal margin. The tails are black with yellowish tips.

Subspecies

* ''Eurytides orabilis orabilis'' (Butler, 1872) * ''Eurytides orabilis isocharis'' (Rothschild & Jordan 1906)

Distribution

The nominate subspecies, ''E. o. orabilis'', is found from

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, and is also found on

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. ''E. o. isocharis'' is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Behavior

Males often fly above the tree canopy, while females fly along forest edges and streams. Adults use '' Hernandia didymantha'' and '' Cordia megalantha'' as nectar sources. Freshly emerged males will puddle on wet sand near the edges of streams.

Life cycle

Females lay their white eggs singly on the leaves of '' Guatteria oliviformis'' and '' Guatteria tonduzii''. The first

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

s of the

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

are gray-brown, with a saddle on the abdominal segments. The head is black, and the anal plate on the abdomen is yellow-green. The fifth instar is green with black spots on the thoracic segments. The first two and last three abdominal segments are also spotted with black, while the

osmeterium The osmeterium is a defensive organ found in all papilionid larvae, in all stages. The organ is situated in the prothoracic segment and can be everted when the larva feels threatened. The everted organ resembles a fleshy forked tongue (not unlik ...

is yellow.

References

*Lewis, H. L., 1974 ''Butterflies of the World'' Page 23, figure 24 Eurytides Butterflies of Central America Papilionidae of South America Lepidoptera of Colombia Lepidoptera of Ecuador Fauna of the Amazon Butterflies described in 1872 Taxa named by Arthur Gardiner Butler Lepidoptera of Panama Lepidoptera of Costa Rica {{Papilionidae-stub