''Papilio saharae'', the Sahara swallowtail, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

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 ...

. It is found in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

and

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

Biology

The larva feeds on ''

Deverra chloranthus In Roman mythology, Deverra (apparently from Latin ''deverro'' "to sweep away") was one of the three gods that protected midwives and women in labor, the other two being Pilumnus In Roman mythology, Pilumnus ("staker") was a nature deity, brot ...

'', ''

Deverra scopularia In Roman mythology, Deverra (apparently from Latin ''deverro'' "to sweep away") was one of the three gods that protected midwives and women in labor, the other two being Pilumnus In Roman mythology, Pilumnus ("staker") was a nature deity, brot ...

'', ''

Seseli varium ''Seseli'' is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Apiaceae. They are sometimes woody at base with a conic taproot. Leaf blades are 1–3-pinnate or pinnately decompound. Umbels are compound, with bracts few or absent. Petals a ...

'', ''

Ferula communis ''Ferula communis'', the giant fennel, is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae. It is related to the common fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare''), which belongs to the same family. ''Ferula communis'' is a tall herbaceous peren ...

'' and '' Pycnocyla glauca''.

Subspecies

*''Papilio saharae saharae'' (North Africa, Arabia) *''Papilio saharae rathjensi'' Warnecke, 1932 (Yemen, south-western Saudi Arabia)

References

*Pittaway, A. R., Larsen, T. B., Clarke, C. A., Smith, C. R., Crnjar, R. & Clarke, F. M. M. 1994. ''Papilio saharae'' Oberthür, 1879, specifically distinct from ''Papilio machaon'' Linnaeus, 1758 (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). ''

Entomologist's Gazette The ''Entomologist's Gazette'' is a British entomological journal. It contains articles and notes on the biology, ecology, distribution, taxonomy and systematics of all orders of insects, but with a bias towards Lepidoptera. It is produced quarte ...

'' 45: 223–249.

External links

''Papilio saharae'' von J. Fuchs
saharae Butterflies described in 1879 Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Charles Oberthür {{Papilionidae-stub