''Troides magellanus'', the Magellan birdwing, is a large and striking

birdwing Birdwings are butterflies in the swallowtail family, that belong to the genera ''Trogonoptera'', ''Troides'', and ''Ornithoptera''. Most recent authorities recognise 36 species, however, this is debated, and some authorities include additional ...

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 ...

found in the

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 ...

and on

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

's Orchid Island. This butterfly is named for the explorer Ferdinand Magellan who was killed in the Philippines in 1521.

Description

Male: The forewings are ground colour black. The veins are bordered by white. The underside of the forewings is very similar to the upperside, but some veins are bordered by yellow. The hindwings are golden yellow. The veins and the marginal edge of the hindwing are black. The golden area has an opal, green or blue colour at a certain angle. The underside of the hindwing is very similar to the upperside and also has the optical effect. The body (abdomen) is yellowish, but the underside is yellow. Head and thorax are black. Female: is sexually dimorphic. The female is larger than the male. The ground colour of the female is dark brown to black. The veins are bordered by white colour shading. There is a golden area with dark veins on the hindwings. At the edge there is a postdiscal chain of golden spots. The underside is very similar to the upperside.

Iridescence

''T. magellanus'' shows a blue-green sheen if viewed from an oblique angle. ''Troides magellanus'' and the much rarer '' T. prattorum'', are noted for their use of limited-view

iridescence Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...

: the yellow of the dorsal hindwings is modified by bright blue-green iridescence which is only seen when the butterfly is viewed at a narrow, oblique angle. This "grazing iridescence" is brought about through

diffraction Diffraction is defined as the interference or bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a s ...

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...

(after back reflection) by the wings' extremely steeply set, multilayered rib-like scales (rather than the ridge-lamellae of most other iridescent butterflies, such as ''

Morpho The morpho butterflies comprise many species of Neotropical butterfly under the genus ''Morpho''. This genus includes more than 29 accepted species and 147 accepted subspecies, found mostly in South America, Mexico, and Central America. ''Morph ...

'' species). Such limited-view iridescence was previously only known from one other species, the

lycaenid Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfl ...

Ancyluris meliboeus ''Ancyluris meliboeus'' (meliboeus swordtail) is a butterfly of the family Riodinidae. It is found in Suriname, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. The wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from ...

''. In ''A. meliboeus'', however, the iridescence is produced by ridge-lamellar scales and features a wider range of colours. NovaraExpZoologischeTheilLepidopteraAtlasTaf5

NovaraExpZoologischeTheilLepidopteraAtlasTaf5

Distribution

Philippines Batan Island,

Babuyan Island Babuyan Island (sometimes called Babuyan Claro or ''Curuga Mabuyan'', the clear-sighted) is the highest and northernmost island in the Babuyan Islands in Luzon Strait north of Luzon Island in the Philippines and also directly south of Taiwan via ...

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, Polillo,

Marinduque Marinduque (; ), officially the Province of Marinduque, is an island province in the Philippines located in Southwestern Tagalog Region or Mimaropa, formerly designated as Region IV-B. Its capital is the municipality of Boac. Marinduque lies be ...

Cuyo Island Cuyo may refer to: * Cuyo (Argentina) * Cuyo Province, historic, Argentina * Cuyo, Palawan, Philippines * Cuyo Airport, Philippines * Cuyo Archipelago The Cuyo Archipelago or Cuyo Islands, is a group of about 45 islands lying to the northeast of ...

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 m ...

and

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

. Taiwan Orchid Island only.

Biology

Larvae feed on species of ''

Aristolochia ''Aristolochia'' () is a large plant genus with over 500 species that is the type genus of the family Aristolochiaceae. Its members are commonly known as birthwort, pipevine or Dutchman's pipe and are widespread and occur in the most diverse clima ...

'' - '' A. acuminata'', '' A. debilis'', '' A. kankauensis'', '' A. tagala'' and '' A. zollingeriana''

Subspecies

*''Troides magellanus magellanus'' Philippines *''Troides magellanus sonani'' (Matsumura, 1931) 65 km south-east of Taïwan on Orchid Island Forma *''Troides magellanus'' f. ''apoensis'' Okano & Ohkura, 1978 *''Troides magellanus'' f. ''leyteanus'' Okano & Ohkura, 1983

Related species

''Troides magellanus'' is a member of the ''Troides aecus'' species group. The members of this

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

are: *''

Troides aeacus ''Troides aeacus'', the golden birdwing, is a large tropical butterfly belonging to the swallowtail family, Papilionidae. Description ''Troides aeacus'' has a wingspan of about but can be as large as 194 mm. In the males the forewings are ...

'' C. & R. Felder, 1860 *''Troides magellanus'' (C. & R. Felder, 1862) *''

Troides minos ''Troides minos'', the southern birdwing, also called Sahyadri birdwing, is a large and striking swallowtail butterfly endemic to south India. With a wingspan of 140–190 mm, it is the second largest butterfly of India. It is listed as Leas ...

'' (Cramer,

779 __NOTOC__ Year 779 ( DCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 779 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Euro ...

*''

Troides rhadamantus ''Troides rhadamantus'', the golden birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly that inhabits the Philippines. The species was first described by Hippolyte Lucas in 1835. There are many subspecies on islands of the Philippines and some authors consider ' ...

'' (Lucas, 1835) *''

Troides dohertyi ''Troides dohertyi'', the Talaud black birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly endemic to the Talaud and Sangihe islands. This species is ranked as a subspecies of '' Troides rhadamantus'' by some authors. Description Size range: 140 to 160 mm ...

'' (Rippon, 1893) *''

Troides prattorum ''Troides prattorum'', the Buru Opalescent Birdwing, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It is endemic to Buru in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It is commercially bred, but supplies of this butterfly are sporadic, so it is ...

'' (Joicey & Talbot, 1922)

References

*Haugum, J. and Low, A.M. (1985) ''A Monograph of the Birdwing Butterflies''. Scandinavian Science Press, Klampenborg. *Jumalon, Julian N. (1966) Notes on two Philippine Birdwings (''Troides magellanus'' and ''Trogonoptera trojana'') ''Philippine Scientist'' 1966:13-21. * *D'Abrera, B. (1975) ''Birdwing Butterflies of the World''. Country Life Books, London. *Okano, Masao; & Ohkura, Jozaburo, 1978 The geographical races of ''Troides magellanus'' (C. & R. Felder). ''Artes Liberales'' 23:173-175 *Kurt Rumbucher; Béla von Knötgen, 1999 Part.6, Papilionidae. 3, Troides. 1 ''aeacus''- group in Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Eds. ''Butterflies of the World'' Keltern: Goecke & Evers 1999.

External links

''Troides magellanus'' at Ngypal
Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (English/German)
Mindanao montane rain forests
Magellanus Butterflies of Asia Lepidoptera of the Philippines Insects of Taiwan Butterflies described in 1862 {{Papilionidae-stub