''Graphium eurypylus'', the great jay or pale green triangle, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of tropical

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 ...

belonging to 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 ...

Etymology

The specific name ''eurypylus'' likely comes from the name

Eurypylus In Greek mythology, Eurypylus (; grc, Εὐρύπυλος ''Eurypylos'') was the name of several different people: * Eurypylus, was a Thessalian king, son of Euaemon and Ops. He was a former suitor of Helen thus he led the Thessalians during Troja ...

, a Thessalian king who lead the Thessalians during the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...

Distribution

This species can be found in the

Australasian realm The Australasian realm is a biogeographic realm that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua New Guinea and ...

and in the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...

(

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Description

''Graphium eurypylus'' has a

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 ...

reaching about . The basic colour of the uppersides of the wings is black, with a chain of yellowish or greenish spots at the edges. In the middle of the forewings there is a large yellowish or greenish area. The undersides of the wings are similar to the uppersides, but the basic colour is brownish and the spots are paler or whitish. The hindwings have a few red spots. Subspecies ''G. e. jason'' (South India and Sri Lanka) — Males and females. Upperside black. Forewing: three slender, oblique, short pale green streaks in basal half of cell and two irregular small similarly-coloured spots near its apex; a discal band composed of pale green spots that gradually diminish in size anteriorly, the spot in interspace 5 the smallest, the two in the interspaces above it slightly larger; a spot at base of interspace 7 and a sinuous complete subterminal series of spots similarly coloured. Hindwing: a transverse band that extends as far as interspace 2 posteriorly and is a continuation of the discal band on the forewing; the upper portion of this band white, the lower pale green; this is followed by a sinuous subterminal series of small pale green spots as on the forewing. Underside: brownish-fulvous black; markings similar, larger, their edges diffuse and all of a silvery white, slightly tinted with pale green. Hindwing in addition has a white basal streak that extends halfway down the dorsal margin; another shorter white subbasal streak from costa to the subcostal vein coalescent with the white of the discal band in the cell, the streak of ground colour that lies between this subbasal and the discal band jet black, interrupted where it crosses vein 8 by a crimson spot; finally, quadrate black spots near apex of cell and at bases of interspaces 1, 2 and 3, all outwardly margined with crimson. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen black; beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen touched with white, the abdomen with dingy white lateral lines. Male has an abdominal fold within grey, with a fringe of white hairs. Subspecies ''G. e. axion'', Felder (Malayan region and Himalayas) can be distinguished from subspecies ''G. e. jason'' as follows: The markings that compose the discal band very much broader; all the spots and markings of pale green and white conspicuously larger, especially in the spring broods. Underside of hindwing: crimson spots more conspicuous, a line of crimson along the posterior portion of the dorsal margin; in most specimens the short subbasal narrow band of white that runs from the costa to the subcostal vein does not coalesce with the white of the discal band where it crosses the cell.

Gallery

File:GraphiumEurypylusJason 467.jpg, Subspecies ''G. e. jason'' File:Graphium eurypylus (ento-csiro-au).jpg, Dorsal view File:GraphiumEurypylusPamphylusMUpUnAC1.jpg File:GraphiumEurypylusMecistiusMUpUnAC1.jpg

Life cycle

Larva

"Very like that of '' P. agamemnon'', but the second pair of spines is entirely wanting and the third pair, which in ''agamemnon'' is rather long, curved and sharp, is reduced in this species to mere knobs encircled with a black ring. The colour is generally black or smoky until the last moult and then dull green, inclining to rusty brown on the sides, but some of our specimens remained quite black to the end." (Davidson and Aitken quoted in Bingham, 1907)

Larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e mainly feed on various species of

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest ...

family (''

Annona cherimola The cherimoya (''Annona cherimola''), also spelled chirimoya and called chirimuya by the Inca people, is a species of edible fruit-bearing plant in the genus ''Annona'', from the family Annonaceae, which includes the closely related sweetsop ...

'', ''

Annona glabra ''Annona glabra'' is a Tropics, tropical fruit tree in the family Annonaceae, in the same genus as the soursop and cherimoya. Common names include pond apple, alligator apple (so called because American alligators often eat the fruit), swamp appl ...

'', ''

Annona reticulata ''Annona reticulata'' is a small deciduous or semi-evergreen tree in the plant family Annonaceae and part of the Annonas group. It is best known for its fruit, called custard apple, a common name shared with fruits of several other species in t ...

'', ''

Annona muricata Soursop (also called ''graviola, guyabano'', and in Hispanic America, ''guanábana'') is the fruit of ''Annona muricata'', a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree. It is native to the tropical regions of the Americas and the Caribbean and is wid ...

'', ''

Annona squamosa ''Annona squamosa'' is a small, well-branched tree or shrub from the family Annonaceae that bears edible fruits called sugar-apples or . It tolerates a tropical lowland climate better than its relatives ''Annona reticulata'' and ''Annona cherimo ...

'', '' Mitrephora froggattii'', '' Artabotrys speciosus'', '' Goniothalamus macranthus'', '' Melodorum leichhardtii'', '' Melodorum rupestrum'', '' Melodorum siamense'', ''

Polyalthia longifolia ''Monoon longifolium'', the false ashoka, also commonly known by its synonym ''Polyalthia longifolia'', is an Asian small tree species in the family Annonaceae. It is native to southern India and Sri Lanka, but has been widely introduced els ...

'', ''

Polyalthia nitidissima ''Huberantha nitidissima'' (synonym ''Polyalthia nitidissima'') is a species of tree in the Annonaceae family. It is found in dry seasonal tropical forests and along moist watercourses in Australia (NSW, Queensland, and Northern Territory) and Ne ...

'', ''

Uvaria rufa ''Uvaria rufa'' is a species of vines or shrubs commonly known as ''susung-kalabaw'' ('Carabao teats') or Torres Strait scrambler, of the plant family Annonaceae. It grows naturally in Philippines (where it is called /triəl svaː/ ទ្រៀ� ...

''), as well as on ''

Michelia champaca ''Magnolia champaca'', known in English as champak (), is a large evergreen tree in the family Magnoliaceae.

'' (

Magnoliaceae The Magnoliaceae () are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two genera: ''Magnolia'' and ''Liriodendron'' (tulip trees). Unlike most angiosperms, whose flower parts are in whorls (rings), the ...

) and ''

Diploglottis australis ''Diploglottis australis'', known as the native tamarind, is a well known rainforest tree of eastern Australia. It is easily identified by the large sausage shaped leaflets. The native tamarind grows in a variety of different rainforests, on ba ...

'' (

Sapindaceae The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee. The Sapindaceae occur in tempera ...

Pupa

"The distinguishing mark of the pupa is again in the frontal horn, which is straight as in ''agamemnon'', but directed forward instead of being almost erect. Its colour is normally green, but varies with that of the object to which it is attached." (Davidson and Aitken quoted in Bingham, 1907)

Subspecies

* ''Graphium eurypylus eurypylus'' (

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus gordion'' (C. & R. Felder, 1865) (

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus artofasciatus'' Lathy (

Sula Islands The Sula Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Sula) is one of the regencies in North Maluku province of Indonesia. It covers a land area of 3,338.67 km2 and consists of two of the three large islands comprising the Sula Archipelago, together ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus pamphylus'' (C. & R. Felder, 1865) (

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus lycaon'' (C. & R. Felder, 1865) (eastern

) * ''Graphium eurypylus sangira'' (Oberthür, 1879) ( Sangir) * ''Graphium eurypylus mecisteus'' (Distant, 1885) (

Peninsular Malaya Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus sallastius'' (Staudinger, 1895) (

Wetar Wetar is a tropical island which belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Maluku Barat Daya Islands (literally ''Southwest Islands'') of the Maluku Islands. It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which in ...

Sumbawa Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. Along with Lombok, it forms the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but there ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus extensus'' (Rothschild, 1895) (

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

, New Ireland, Duke of York Group, New Hanover) * ''Graphium eurypylus lycaonides'' (Rothschild, 1895) (Waigeu, Jobi, West Papua) * ''Graphium eurypylus insularius'' (Rothschild, 1896) (Tanahdjampea, Kalao) * ''Graphium eurypylus crispus'' (Fruhstorfer, 1903) (Babber Islands) * ''Graphium eurypylus sallastinus'' (Fruhstorfer, 1903) (

Sumba Sumba ( id, Pulau Sumba) is an island in eastern Indonesia. It is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of , and the population was 779,049 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as a ...

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

Leti Leti may refer to: * Leti, Chakwal, a village and Union Council in Pakistan * Leti Islands, Maluku, Indonesia ** Leti (island), one of the Leti islands in Maluku, Indonesia * Leti language, a language in Indonesia * Leti language (Cameroon), a lan ...

Babar Babar ( ur, ), also variously spelled as Baber, Babur, and Babor is a male given name of Pashto, and Persian language, Persian origin, and a popular male given name in Pakistan. It is generally taken in reference to the Persian language, Persian ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus cheronus'' (Jordan, 1909) (

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...

– southern

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

– southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, southern

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

Indo-China Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus melampus'' (Rothschild, 1896) (

Kai Islands The Kai Islands (also Kei Islands) of Indonesia are a group of islands in the southeastern part of the Maluku Islands, located in the province of Maluku (province), Maluku. The Moluccas have been known as the Spice Islands due to regionally sp ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus macronius'' Jordan (

Andamans The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between the ...

, ?

Nicobars The Nicobar Islands are an archipelago, archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus lutorius'' (Fruhstorfer, 1907) (

Batjan The Bacan Islands, formerly also known as the Bachans, Bachians, and Batchians, are a group of islands in the Moluccas in Indonesia. They are mountainous and forested, lying south of Ternate and southwest of Halmahera. The islands are administe ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus lepidus'' Fruhstorfer (

Tanimbar The Tanimbar Islands, also called ''Timur Laut'', are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the southwest of Yamdena, Larat and Forda ...

) * ''Graphium eurypylus aloricus'' (Fruhstorfer, 1909) ( Alor) * ''Graphium eurypylus nyctimus'' (Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914) (

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

) *''G. eurypylus pauli'' Page & Treadaway 2014 (Buton Island and Muna Island. Indonesia) Malcolm G. P. Page & Colin G. Treadaway , 2013 Revisional notes on the ''Arisbe eurypylus'' species group (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea: Papilionidae) ''Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde'' A, Neue Serie 7: 253–284 Stuttga
pdf
/ref>

References

*Page, M.G.P & Treadaway, C.G. 2003 ''Schmetterlinge der Erde'', ''Butterflies of the world'' Part XVII (17), Papilionidae IX Papilionidae of the Philippine Islands. Edited by Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Keltern: Goecke & Evers; Canterbury: Hillside Books.

External links

* Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossle
Caterpillars of ''Graphium eurypylus''

* ttp://yutaka.it-n.jp/pap/10590020.html Race ''cheronus'' Thailand {{Taxonbar, from=Q5597268

eurypylus In Greek mythology, Eurypylus (; grc, Εὐρύπυλος ''Eurypylos'') was the name of several different people: * Eurypylus, was a Thessalian king, son of Euaemon and Ops. He was a former suitor of Helen thus he led the Thessalians during Troja ...

Butterflies of Asia Butterflies described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Butterflies of Borneo Butterflies of Indochina

Etymology

Distribution

Description

Gallery

Life cycle

Larva

Pupa

Subspecies

See also

References

External links