''Papilio aristophontes'' 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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Comoros The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni, ...

. It is listed as a red list species due to its rarity and the threats to its survival. The eggs are laid on the plant '' Toddalia asiatica'', but the caterpillars have been reared on other members of the

Rutaceae The Rutaceae () is a family (biology), family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in Bo ...

in captivity.

Description

Male: The upper forewing of the male is black with an iridescent blue bands and five blue spots. The under hindwing is black with an iridescent blue band and a row of blue submarginal spots. The hindwing has a scalloped margin and no tail. The lower forewing is entirely blackish-brown and the lower hindwing is red-brown with black veins. The lower hindwing has a narrow cream submarginal band with silver reflections. Female: The female is olive-green and brown. The upper forewing and under hindwing are brown with a dull olive green median band and a submarginal band consisting of yellowish-olive lunules. These are continuous over both wings. The lower forewing and the lower hindwing are red-brown with a silvery submarginal band which is continuous over both wings. There is a fawn brown median band on the hindwing with pinkish-grey scales on the outside, and a white abdominal spot.

Taxonomy

''Papilio aristophontes'' belongs to an Afrotropical

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 ...

called the ''nireus'' species-group with 15 members. The pattern is black with green or blue bands and spots and the butterflies, although called swallowtails lack tails with the exception of ''Papilio charopus'' and ''Papilio hornimani''. The clade members are: *''Papilio aristophontes'' Oberthür, 1897 *''

Papilio nireus ''Papilio nireus'', the green-banded swallowtail, narrow-banded blue swallowtail, or African blue-banded swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa. Description The wingspan is in males and in f ...

'' Linnaeus, 1758 *''

Papilio charopus ''Papilio charopus'', the tailed green-banded swallowtail, is a species of swallowtail butterfly from the genus ''Papilio'' that is found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. Subspecies *' ...

'' Westwood, 1843 *'' Papilio chitondensis'' de Sousa & Fernandes, 1966 *'' Papilio chrapkowskii'' Suffert, 1904 *''

Papilio chrapkowskoides ''Papilio chrapkowskoides'', the broadly green-banded swallowtail, is a species of swallowtail butterfly from the genus ''Papilio'' that is found in the Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivo ...

'' Storace, 1952 *'' Papilio desmondi'' van Someren, 1939 *'' Papilio hornimani'' Distant, 1879 *'' Papilio interjectana'' Vane-Wright, 1995 *'' Papilio manlius'' Fabricius, 1798 *'' Papilio microps'' Storace, 1951 *'' Papilio sosia'' Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 *'' Papilio thuraui'' Karsch, 1900 *'' Papilio ufipa'' Carcasson, 1961 *'' Papilio wilsoni'' Rothschild, 1926 In some works ''aristophontes'' is ranked as a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of ''Papilio nireus''. D'Abrera, following Carcasson, recently reinstated it to full species rank.

References

Sources

External links

Swallowtails.net
Images. Lepidoptera of the Comoros aristophontes Endemic fauna of the Comoros Butterflies described in 1897 Taxa named by Charles Oberthür Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Butterflies of Africa {{papilionidae-stub