''Troides magellanus'', the Magellan birdwing, is a large and striking species of

birdwing Birdwings are butterflies in the Papilionidae, swallowtail family, that belong to the genera ''Trogonoptera'', ''Troides'', and ''Ornithoptera''. Most recent authorities recognise 36 species, however, this is debated, and some authorities inclu ...

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 ...

found in the Philippines and on Taiwan's

Orchid Island Orchid Island, known as Pongso no Tao by the indigenous inhabitants, is a volcanic island located off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, the island and the nearby are governed by Taiwan as in Taitung County, which is one of the county's two ...

. This butterfly is named for the explorer

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...

who was killed in the Philippines in 1521.

Description

Male: The forewings are ground colour black. The veins are bordered by white. The underside of the forewings is very similar to the upperside, but some veins are bordered by yellow. The hindwings are golden yellow. The veins and the marginal edge of the hindwing are black. The golden area has an opal, green or blue colour at a certain angle. The underside of the hindwing is very similar to the upperside and also has the optical effect. The body (abdomen) is yellowish, but the underside is yellow. Head and thorax are black. Female: is

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

. The female is larger than the male. The ground colour of the female is dark brown to black. The veins are bordered by white colour shading. There is a golden area with dark veins on the hindwings. At the edge there is a postdiscal chain of golden spots. The underside is very similar to the upperside. Seitz, A., 1912-1927. Die Indo-Australien Tagfalter Grossschmetterlinge Erde 9

Iridescence

''T. magellanus'' shows a blue-green sheen if viewed from an oblique angle. ''Troides magellanus'' and the much rarer '' T. prattorum'', are noted for their use of limited-view

iridescence Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear gradually to change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstru ...

: the yellow of the dorsal hindwings is modified by bright blue-green iridescence which is only seen when the butterfly is viewed at a narrow, oblique angle. This "grazing iridescence" is brought about through

diffraction Diffraction is the deviation of waves from straight-line propagation without any change in their energy due to an obstacle or through an aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a secondary source of the Wave propagation ...

light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

(after back reflection) by the wings' extremely steeply set, multilayered rib-like scales (rather than the ridge-lamellae of most other iridescent butterflies, such as ''

Morpho Morpho may refer to: * ''Morpho'' (genus), a genus of butterflies * Morpho (VTOL), a Swiss prototype drone * Morpho (company) IDEMIA (formerly known as OT-Morpho) is a French multinational technology company headquartered in Courbevoie, Fra ...

'' species). Such limited-view iridescence was previously only known from one other species, the lycaenid '' Ancyluris meliboeus''. In ''A. meliboeus'', however, the iridescence is produced by ridge-lamellar scales and features a wider range of colours. NovaraExpZoologischeTheilLepidopteraAtlasTaf5

NovaraExpZoologischeTheilLepidopteraAtlasTaf5

Distribution

Philippines

Batan Island Batan Island ( ) is the main island of Batanes, an archipelagic province in the Philippines. It is the second largest of the Batanes Islands, the northernmost group of islands in the Philippines. Geography Batan is a dumbbell-shaped volcanic is ...

Babuyan Island Babuyan Island (sometimes called Babuyan Claro or ''Curuga Mabuyan'', the clear-sighted) is the highest and northernmost island in the Babuyan Islands in Luzon Strait north of Luzon Island in the Philippines and also directly south of Taiwan via ...

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, Polillo,

Marinduque Marinduque (; ), officially the Province of Marinduque, is an island province in the Philippines located in Southwestern Tagalog Region or Mimaropa, formerly designated as Region IV-B. Its capital is the municipality of Boac, the most popul ...

Cuyo Island The Cuyo Archipelago or Cuyo Islands, is a group of about 45 islands lying to the northeast of the Philippine island of Palawan.''Traveler's Companion Philippines 1998'' p.214 Kirsten Ellis, Globe Pequot Press Globe Pequot, 1998 It lies south of ...

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol (; ), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It is home to Bohola ...

and

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

. Taiwan

only.

Biology

Larvae feed on species of ''

Aristolochia ''Aristolochia'' () is a large plant genus with over 500 species that is the type genus of the family Aristolochiaceae. Its members are commonly known as birthwort, pipevine or Dutchman's pipe and are widespread and occur in the most diverse clim ...

'' - '' A. acuminata'', '' A. debilis'', '' A. kankauensis'', '' A. tagala'' and '' A. zollingeriana''

Subspecies

*''Troides magellanus magellanus'' Philippines *''Troides magellanus sonani'' (Matsumura, 1931) 65 km south-east of Taïwan on Orchid Island Forma *''Troides magellanus'' f. ''apoensis'' Okano & Ohkura, 1978 *''Troides magellanus'' f. ''leyteanus'' Okano & Ohkura, 1983

Related species

''Troides magellanus'' is a member of the ''Troides aecus''

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. The members of this

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

are: *''

Troides aeacus ''Troides aeacus'', the golden birdwing, is a large tropical butterfly belonging to the swallowtail family, Papilionidae. Description ''Troides aeacus'' has a wingspan of about but can be as large as 194 mm. In the males the forewings are ...

'' C. & R. Felder, 1860 *''Troides magellanus'' (C. & R. Felder, 1862) *''

Troides minos ''Troides minos'', the southern birdwing, also called Sahyadri birdwing, is a large and striking species of swallowtail butterfly. It is Endemic (ecology), endemic to southern India. With a wingspan of 140–190 mm, it is the second largest ...

'' (Cramer,

779 __NOTOC__ Year 779 ( DCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 779 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europ ...

*'' Troides rhadamantus'' (Lucas, 1835) *'' Troides dohertyi'' (Rippon, 1893) *''

Troides prattorum ''Troides prattorum'', the Buru Opalescent Birdwing, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It is endemic to Buru in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. Troides prattorum is a butterfly with a large wingspan, varying from 150 mm to ...

'' (Joicey & Talbot, 1922)

References

*Haugum, J. and Low, A.M. (1985) ''A Monograph of the Birdwing Butterflies''. Scandinavian Science Press, Klampenborg. *Jumalon, Julian N. (1966) Notes on two Philippine Birdwings (''Troides magellanus'' and ''Trogonoptera trojana'') ''Philippine Scientist'' 1966:13-21. * *D'Abrera, B. (1975) ''Birdwing Butterflies of the World''. Country Life Books, London. *Okano, Masao; & Ohkura, Jozaburo, 1978 The geographical races of ''Troides magellanus'' (C. & R. Felder). ''Artes Liberales'' 23:173-175 *Kurt Rumbucher; Béla von Knötgen, 1999 Part.6, Papilionidae. 3, Troides. 1 ''aeacus''- group in Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Eds. ''Butterflies of the World'' Keltern: Goecke & Evers 1999.

External links

''Troides magellanus'' at Ngypal
Images from

Naturhistorisches Museum Wien The Natural History Museum Vienna () is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museums and non-university research institutions in Austria and an important center of excellence for all matt ...

(English/German)
Mindanao montane rain forests
Magellanus Taxa named by Cajetan von Felder Lepidoptera of the Philippines Butterflies of Taiwan Butterflies described in 1862 {{Papilionidae-stub