''Mimoides ilus'', the

Ilus In Greek mythology, Ilus (; ) is the name of several mythological characters associated directly or indirectly with Troy: * Ilus (son of Dardanus), Ilus, the son of Dardanus (son of Zeus), Dardanus, and the legendary founder of Dardanus (city), Dar ...

swallowtail or dual-spotted swallowtail, 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 ...

. It is found from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

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

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. Little is known about this rare butterfly, but it is not considered threatened. The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of ''M. i. branchus'' feed on '' Annotata reticulata''.

Subspecies

* ''Mimoides ilus ilus'' (Fabricius, 1793) (

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 ...

to northern Colombia and central Venezuela) * ''Mimoides ilus branchus'' (Doubleday, 1846) (eastern Mexico to northern

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 ...

) * ''Mimoides ilus occiduus'' (Vázquez, 1957) (western Mexico)

Description from Seitz

P. ilus F. (= ''hostilius'' Fldr.; ''guaco'' Stgr. (14a). Male and female: under surface without red basal spots on the forewing, with 4 red basal spots on the hindwing. Forewing with or without a patch in the extremity of the cell, with 2 or 3 white spots on the disc, the posterior one, placed behind the 3. median, the largest. North Venezuela, Northern Colombia, Panama; rare in collections. Jordan, K. , in Seitz, A. ( 1907) . ''The Macrolepidoptera of the World''. 5: The Macrolepidoptera of the American faunistic region. Papilionidae 1-45. File:Macrolepidoptera15seit 0037.jpg, Seitz Plate 14 ''belesis''and ''branchus''

References

*Lewis, H. L., 1974 ''Butterflies of the World'' Page 23, figure 12 (as ''E. belesis'').

Subspecies

Description from Seitz

References

Further reading