''Papilio mayo'', the Andaman Mormon, is a species of

swallowtail butterfly 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 large ...

that 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 the

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 ...

in the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...

. It is a species that is protected by Indian Law. The

scientific name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

honours

Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, (; ; 21 February 1822 – 8 February 1872) styled Lord Naas (; ) from 1842 to 1867 and Lord Mayo in India, was a British statesman and prominent member of the British Conservative Party who serve ...

, who was assassinated at

Port Blair Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South An ...

the year before the butterfly was discovered.

Description

The male Andaman Mormon resembles the blue Mormon (''

Papilio polymnestor ''Papilio polymnestor'', the blue Mormon, is a large swallowtail butterfly found in south India and Sri Lanka. It is the "state butterfly" of the Indian state of Maharashtra. With a wingspan of 120–150 mm, it is the fourth largest butterfly of I ...

'') while the female resembles the female form ''alcanor'' of the great Mormon (''

Papilio memnon ''Papilio memnon'', the great Mormon, is a large butterfly native to southern Asia that belongs to the swallowtail family. It is widely distributed and has thirteen subspecies. The female is polymorphic and with mimetic forms. Range Its range ...

'') and is a mimic of the Andaman clubtail ('' Losaria rhodifer''). The male has the upperside of its wings a rich velvety black. The forewing has a subterminal series of greenish-yellow irrorated (speckled) internervular streaks, sometimes very faint. The hindwing has a very broad discal band pale blue, composed of broad outwardly more or less emarginate streaks in interspaces 1 to 7; cilia: forewing black, hindwing black alternated with white in the interspaces. Underside opaque blue black. Forewing with a dark red streak at base and the subterminal internervular streaks as on the upperside but grey and more prominent. Hindwing with four or five small patches of dark red at base, a complete dark red eyespot in interspaces 1 and 2, and indistinct subterminal very variable markings of red in the other interspaces, sometimes formed into half eyespots in interspaces 3 and 4; within this line of markings there is an incomplete discal lunular series of mixed red and blue scaling. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black. The female closely resembles the tailed form of the female of ''

'' race ''agenor'', but on the disc of the forewing the internervular broad pale streaks are nearly white, and on the hindwing the white streaks in the interspaces beyond and outside the cell shorter and strongly tinged with red along their edges, while the dark red is more extended, especially in the tornal area where it covers the terminal three-fourths of interspaces 1 and 2, interrupted in 1 by a comparatively round oval black spot and in 2 by a broad elongate black patch; apical half of tail vermilion red, whitish at apex.

Range

Andaman Islands 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 th ...

of India in the Bay of Bengal.

Status

It is not common. It is protected by law in India. Males are reported to be more common than females.

Description

Range

Status

See also

References

Other reading