''Eurytides orabilis'' 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 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 native to the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

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 ...

of ''E. orabilis'' is . Both sexes are similar. The fore wing is black with the basal, postbasal, and postmedian areas being a cream-white color. A black stripe crosses through the middle of the cream-white area from the costa. The apical area has two creamy spots. The hind wing is black with cream-white basal, postbasal, and postmedian areas. A small red spot is present on the anal margin. The tails are black with yellowish tips.

Subspecies

* ''Eurytides orabilis orabilis'' (Butler, 1872) * ''Eurytides orabilis isocharis'' (Rothschild & Jordan 1906)

Distribution

The nominate subspecies, ''E. o. orabilis'', is found from

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, and is also found on

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. ''E. o. isocharis'' is found in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

Behavior

Males often fly above the tree canopy, while females fly along forest edges and streams. Adults use '' Hernandia didymantha'' and ''

Cordia megalantha ''Cordia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains about 300 species of shrubs and trees, that are found worldwide, mostly in warmer regions. Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while ''bocote ...

'' as nectar sources. Freshly emerged males will puddle on wet sand near the edges of streams.

Life cycle

Females lay their white eggs singly on the leaves of '' Guatteria oliviformis'' and '' Guatteria tonduzii''. The first

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...

s of the

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

are gray-brown, with a saddle on the abdominal segments. The head is black, and the anal plate on the abdomen is yellow-green. The fifth instar is green with black spots on the thoracic segments. The first two and last three abdominal segments are also spotted with black. The osmeterium is yellow.

References

*Lewis, H. L., 1974 ''Butterflies of the World'' Page 23, figure 24 Eurytides Butterflies of Central America Papilionidae of South America Lepidoptera of Colombia Lepidoptera of Ecuador Fauna of the Amazon Butterflies described in 1872 {{Papilionidae-stub