''Baronia brevicornis'', commonly known as the short-horned baronia, is a species of

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

in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus ''Baronia'' and is placed in a subfamily of its own, the Baroniinae, a sister group of the remainder of the swallowtail butterflies. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to a very small area of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where the distribution is patchy and restricted. The genus is named after a Mr Baron who collected the first specimen in the Sierra Madre region of Mexico. The species was then described by Salvin. Morphological characteristics include an abdominal scent organ in females. ''Baronia'' is unique among swallowtail butterflies or their relatives in having an ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'' species, '' Acacia cochliacanha'' (family

Leguminosae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

) as its larval food plant.

Taxonomy

''Baronia brevicornis'' is of particular importance due to its relict nature and uncertain relationship to other subfamilies such as the

Parnassiinae The Parnassiinae or snow Apollos are a subfamily of the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae. The subfamily includes about 50 medium-sized, white or yellow species. The snow Apollos are high-altitude butterflies and are distributed across ...

. It is now considered to represent the monotypic subfamily Baroniinae. The butterfly was considered as the most primitive extant papilionid taxon and shares some features with the fossil taxon

Praepapilio ''Praepapilio'' is an extinct genus of swallowtail butterfly from the middle Eocene deposits of Colorado, United States, comparable to the Lutetian epoch in age. The genus is considered to be the only representative of the fossil subfamily Praep ...

, and a comprehensive 2018 molecular phylogeny suggests that they are a sister group of the remainder of the Papilionidae.

Subspecies

* ''B. b. brevicornis'' * ''B. b. rufodiscalis''

References

Illustrated works: *Edwin Möhn, 2002 ''Schmetterlinge der Erde, Butterflies of the world'' Part XIIII (14), Papilionidae VIII: Baronia, Euryades, Protographium, Neographium, Eurytides. Edited by Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Keltern: Goecke & Evers; Canterbury: Hillside Books. All species and subspecies are included, also most of the forms. Several females are shown the first time in colour. *Lewis, H. L., 1974 ''Butterflies of the World'' Page 23, figure 6, female.

External links

Pteron
Undersides on right.
Images
Photographs of type specimens including types of subspecies Endemic Lepidoptera of Mexico Taxa named by Osbert Salvin Monotypic butterfly genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Lepidoptera-stub