''Graphium illyris'', the cream-banded swordtail, is a forest butterfly of the swallowtail family (Papilionidae). It is native to the

Afrotropical realm The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...

Description

The markings of the upper surface yellow; the median band curved slightly basad at the costal margin of the forewing and without spot in cellule 7; the tail of the hindwing only white at the extreme tip; the hindwing with red-yellow marginal lunules. Ashanti to the Congo. — ab. (var. ?) ''flavisparsus'' Fruhst. has the submarginal spots of the hindwing and the red spots on the under surface larger than in the normal form. Island of Fernando Po.

Habitat

Tropical and subtropical ecoregions.

Status and biology

It is an uncommon to rare species and is seasonal in West Africa (with adults on wing mainly in February and March). Males mud-puddle, and are attracted to rotten fish as well as perspiration on humans.Afrotropical Butterflies: File C – Papilionidae - Tribe Leptocercini
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Subspecies

*''G. i. illyris'' (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, C.Ghana) *''G. i. flavisparsus'' (Fruhstorfer, 1903) (Equatorial Guinea) *''G. i. girardeaui'' (Guilbot & Plantrou, 1978) (Central African Republic) *''G. i. hamatus'' (Joicey & Talbot, 1918)Joicey , J.J., & Talbot, G. 1918. New butterflies from Africa and the east. ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'' 1917: 271-272 (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Congo Republic, Tanzania)

Taxonomy

''Graphium illyris'' is a member of the ''antheus'' -

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

Graphium antheus ''Graphium antheus'', the large or larger striped swordtail, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae (swallowtails), found in tropical and sub-Saharan Africa.Graphium colonna'', '' Graphium evombar'' , '' Graphium kirbyi'', '' Graphium junodi'', ''

Graphium polistratus ''Graphium polistratus'', the dancing swordtail, is a butterfly in the family Papilionidae (swallowtails). It is found in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the coast of Kenya, Tanzania, northern Malawi and Mozambique. Its habitat con ...

'', ''Graphium illyris'', '' Graphium gudenusi'').

References

Sources

*Guilbot, R. and Plantrou, J. (1978). Note sur ''Graphium illyris'' (Hewitson) et revision systematique de I'espece. ''Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France'' 83: 68–73. *Smith, C.R. & Vane-Wright, R.I. 2001 A review of the Afrotropical species of the genus ''Graphium'' (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera: Papilionidae) ''Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Ent. Ser.'' 70 (2): 503-719 illyris Butterflies of Africa Butterflies described in 1873 Taxa named by William Chapman Hewitson {{Papilionidae-stub