''Mimoides ilus'', the
Ilus
In Greek mythology, Ilus (; ) is the name of several mythological persons associated directly or indirectly with Troy.
* Ilus, the son of Dardanus, and the legendary founder of Dardania.
* Ilus, the son of Tros, and the legendary founder of Troy ...
swallowtail or dual-spotted swallowtail, 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 found from
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 ...
to
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
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
.
Little is known about this rare butterfly, but it is not considered threatened.
The
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 of ''M. i. branchus'' feed on ''
Annotata reticulata''.
Subspecies
* ''Mimoides ilus ilus''
(Fabricius, 1793) (
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 ...
to northern Colombia and central Venezuela)
[
* ''Mimoides ilus branchus'' (Doubleday, 1846) (eastern Mexico to northern ]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 ...
)[
* ''Mimoides ilus occiduus'' (Vázquez, 1957) (western Mexico)][
]
Description from Seitz
P. ilus F. (= ''hostilius'' Fldr.; ''guaco'' Stgr. (14a). Male and female: under surface without red basal spots on the
forewing, with 4 red basal spots on the hindwing. Forewing with or without a patch in the extremity of
the cell, with 2 or 3 white spots on the disc, the posterior one, placed behind the 3. median, the largest.
North Venezuela, Northern Colombia, Panama; rare in collections.[ Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, ''Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter'', 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) ]
File:Macrolepidoptera15seit 0037.jpg, Seitz Plate 14 ''belesis''and ''branchus''
References
*Lewis, H. L., 1974 ''Butterflies of the World'' Page 23, figure 12 (as ''E. belesis'').
Further reading
*
Ilus
In Greek mythology, Ilus (; ) is the name of several mythological persons associated directly or indirectly with Troy.
* Ilus, the son of Dardanus, and the legendary founder of Dardania.
* Ilus, the son of Tros, and the legendary founder of Troy ...
Papilionidae of South America
Butterflies described in 1793
{{Papilionidae-stub