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 in captivity.
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.
Taxonomyedit
Papilio aristophontes belongs to an Afrotropical clade called the nireusspecies-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:
In some works aristophontes is ranked as a subspecies of Papilio nireus. D'Abrera, following Carcasson, recently reinstated it to full species rank.
Referencesedit
^Gimenez Dixon, M. (1996). "Papilio aristophontes". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1996: e.T15981A5339084. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T15981A5339084.en. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
^. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
papilio, aristophontes, species, butterfly, family, papilionidae, endemic, comoros, conservation, status, endangered, iucn, scientific, classification, domain, eukaryota, kingdom, animalia, phylum, arthropoda, class, insecta, order, lepidoptera, family, papili. Papilio aristophontes is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae It is endemic to Comoros Papilio aristophontes Conservation status Endangered IUCN 2 3 1 Scientific classification Domain Eukaryota Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda Class Insecta Order Lepidoptera Family Papilionidae Genus Papilio Species P aristophontes Binomial name Papilio aristophontesOberthur 1897 2 3 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 in captivity Contents 1 Description 2 Taxonomy 3 References 4 Sources 5 External linksDescription editMale 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 editPapilio aristophontes belongs to an Afrotropical clade 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 Oberthur 1897 Papilio nireus Linnaeus 1758 Papilio charopus Westwood 1843 Papilio chitondensis de Sousa amp Fernandes 1966 Papilio chrapkowskii Suffert 1904 Papilio chrapkowskoides 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 amp Jordan 1903 Papilio thuraui Karsch 1900 Papilio ufipa Carcasson 1961 Papilio wilsoni Rothschild 1926 In some works aristophontes is ranked as a subspecies of Papilio nireus D Abrera following Carcasson recently reinstated it to full species rank References edit Gimenez Dixon M 1996 Papilio aristophontes IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 1996 e T15981A5339084 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 1996 RLTS T15981A5339084 en Retrieved 15 November 2021 Afrotropical Butterflies File C Papilionidae Tribe Papilionini Archived from the original on 2014 02 22 Retrieved 2012 05 09 Papilio aristophontes Site of Markku SavelaSources editExternal links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Papilio aristophontes nbsp Wikispecies has information related to Papilio aristophontes Swallowtails net Images nbsp This Papilionidae related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Papilio aristophontes amp oldid 1218290014, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
