''Papilio desmondi'', the Desmond's green-banded swallowtail, is a

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 ...

of 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 in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. The larvae feed on '' Vepris eugeniifolia'', other ''

Vepris ''Vepris'' is a genus of plant in family Rutaceae. It comprises around 90 species, mainly from tropical Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands and at a lesser extent Arabia and India. Species , Plants of the World Online (PoWO) accepted t ...

'' species, ''

Clausena ''Clausena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. It was first defined by the Dutch botanist Nicolaas Laurens Burman in 1768. It is distributed in Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

'', ''

Zanthoxylum ''Zanthoxylum'' is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs and climbers in the Family (biology), family Rutaceae that are native to warm temperate and Subtropics, subtropical areas worldwide. It is the type gen ...

'', ''

Calodendrum ''Calodendrum'' is a genus of medium-sized evergreen trees comprising two species from Africa. '' Calodendrum capense'', the Cape chestnut, is a well known tree that is widely cultivated, while '' Calodendrum eickii'' is a rare forest tree from T ...

'', and ''

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

'' species.

Subspecies

*''Papilio desmondi desmondi'' (Chyulu Hills of south-eastern Kenya) *''Papilio desmondi magdae'' Gifford, 1961 . (northern Tanzania) *''Papilio desmondi teita'' van Someren, 1960 (south-eastern Kenya) *''Papilio desmondi usambaraensis'' (Koçak, 1980) (Tanzania, northern Malawi, north-eastern Zambia)

Description

The blue median band of the upper surface is somewhat narrower than in ''Papilio desmondi'' and the spot in the cell of the forewing reaches basad at most to vein 3.Forewing beneath with large yellowish submarginal spots in cellules 1 b—4. Found in east Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Malawi. There are sharp nervular indentations at the margin of the blue band in the fore wing.Aurivillius, .O.. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. ''Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde'' Band 13: Abt. 2, ''Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter'', 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.

Taxonomy

''Papilio desmondi'' belongs to a

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 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 ...

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''.

References

*Carcasson, R.H. (1960). "The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)". ''Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society'
pdf
Key to East Africa members of the species group, diagnostic and other notes and figures. (Permission to host granted by The East Africa Natural History Society)

External links

* Butterflies described in 1939 desmondi Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Victor Van Someren {{papilionidae-stub