''Papilio macilentus'', the long tail spangle, is a butterfly of the family

Papilionidae Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful 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 includes the larges ...

. The species was first described by

Oliver Erichson Janson Oliver Erichson Janson (1850 – 25 November 1925) was an English entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera. He was the son of Edward Wesley Janson and took over the family natural history and publishing business. Janson's early years were s ...

in 1877.

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

of ''Papilio macilentus'' reaches about . Wings are black, with red spots, wavy edges and long tails on its hindwings. At the outer edge of the hindwings there is row of small red spots, while at the inner edge there is a red eyespot. This species has one of the longest and nicely-shaped tails in the family Papilionidae. Males have a yellow transversal band in the overlapping part between the forewings and the hindwings.Butterfly Corner
/ref> The underside of the forewings is dark brown, with black veins. The thorax, the head and the abdomen are black. The spring type is found from April to June, and the summer type from July to August. During daytime, females fly low and lay eggs one by one on the leaves of the plants. The larvae feed on ''

Rutaceae The Rutaceae is a family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in BoDD – Botanical Der ...

'' species (''

Orixa japonica ''Orixa japonica'', commonly called East Asian orixa or Japanese orixa, is a deciduous shrub growing to with an equal spread. Native to Japan and South Korea, it is found on forested, sunny slopes at elevations from 500 to 1300 m. A recent ...

'', ''

Poncirus trifoliata The trifoliate orange, ''Citrus trifoliata'' or ''Poncirus trifoliata'', is a member of the family Rutaceae. Whether the trifoliate oranges should be considered to belong to their own genus, ''Poncirus'', or be included in the genus ''Citrus'' i ...

'', ''

Ruta graveolens ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...

'', ''

Zanthoxylum ailanthoides ''Zanthoxylum ailanthoides'', also called ailanthus-like prickly ash, (, lit. "Ailanthus-leaved pepper",; the name is obviously adaptation of latin ailanthoides "ailanthus-like" , lit. " Yue pepper",, p.503 食茱萸 ''shi zhu yu'',, 「澳名に ...

'', ''

Zanthoxylum piperitum ''Zanthoxylum piperitum'', also known as Japanese pepper or Japanese prickly-ash is a deciduous aromatic spiny shrub or small tree of the citrus and rue family Rutaceae, native to Japan and Korea. It is called sanshō () in Japan and chopi () ...

'', ''

Zanthoxylum schinifolium ''Zanthoxylum schinifolium'', also called mastic-leaf prickly ash, is a species of flowering plant in the Rutaceae, the citrus family. Its peppercorns are the source of the spice Sancho (spice) which is used in Korean cuisine. References Ext ...

''). The spring brood hibernates in the pupal stage. Pupae have two types of colors - green and gray brown.

Distribution and habitat

This species can be found in Japan, China and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

. It lives in the valleys or the margins of the forest.

References

* GloBIS (GART): Global Butterfly Information System. Häuser C., Holstein J. & Steiner A. (eds).

External links

"''Papilio macilentus'' Janson, 1877"
''Catalogue of Life''.
"''Papilio macilentus'' Janson, 1877"
''Insecta.pro''. macilentus Butterflies of Japan Insects of Korea Taxa named by Oliver Erichson Janson Butterflies described in 1877 {{Papilionidae-stub