Papilio Paris

''Papilio paris'', the Paris peacock(Myanmar name: ဒေါင်းစိမ်းလိပ်ပြာ), is a species of swallowtail butterfly found in the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia.

Subspecies

*''P. p. arjuna'' Horsfield, 1828 (central Java)
*''P. p. battacorum'' Rothschild, 1908 (north-eastern Sumatra)
*''P. p. chinensis'' Rothschild, 1895 (western China)
*''P. p. gedeensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1893 (western Java)
*''P. p. hermosanus'' Rebel, 1906 (central Taiwan, southern Taiwan)
*''P. p. nakaharai'' Shirôzu, 1960 (northern Taiwan and Japan (Ryukyu Islands))
*''P. p. paris'' Linnaeus, 1758 (north-western India, south-western China, northern Thailand, Vietnam, southern Burma)
*'' P. p. tamilana'' Linnaeus, 1758 (southern India)
*''P. p. tenggerensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1893 (eastern Java)
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File:Papilio paris decorosa.JPG, ''P. p.'' f. ''decorosa'' — dorsal view
File:Papilio paris nakaharai back 20120526.jpg, ''P. p. nakaharai'' — dorsal view
File:Papilio paris nakaharai 20140628.jpg, ''P. p. nakaharai'' — lateral view
File:PapilioTamilanaF 492 1a.jpg, '' P. p. tamilana'' — dorsal view

Description

Male

Upperwings are black and irrorated (sprinkled) with dark green scales, which on the outer portion of the forewing coalesce and form an incomplete postdiscal narrow band which is straighter than the similar subterminal band on the forewing of '' Papilio polyctor''.

On the hindwing, the irroration of dark green scales does not extend to the costal margin and is interrupted posteriorly by a broad postdiscal area, on both sides of which the green scales coalesce to form narrow diffuse bands; a conspicuous upper discal shining blue patch occupies the base of interspace 4 and outer portions of interspaces 5 and 6; this patch is variable in size, and in many specimens extends narrowly below and above the interspaces 3 and 7, respectively, its outer margin is uneven, its inner margin evenly arched; a prominent claret-red largely black-centred eyespots at the tornal angle, its inner margin with a transverse short violet-blue superposed line; in many specimens an obscure claret-red subterminal lunule in interspace 7.

Underside opaque black; bases of both forewings and hindwings, up to basal half of cell in forewing and up to apex of cell in hindwing, with an irroration of yellowish scales; also present more obscurely on the subterminal area in both wings. Forewing with a very broad elongate triangular pale area that does not extend to the termen, formed of internervular broad very pale ochraceous-white streaks, short near the tornus, gradually longer up to the costa. Hindwing: a prominent subterminal series of ochraceous-red lunules traversed by short violet-blue lines; in interspaces 1,2 and sometimes in 3, these lunules are formed into more or less complete largely black centred eyespots by the addition of an admarginal portion of the red ring. Cilia conspicuously white in the interspaces. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black, the latter three sprinkled with green scales above.

Female

Similar to the male but somewhat paler and duller. Upperside of the forewing has the green postdiscal band shorter and more incomplete than in the male. Hindwing with the upper discal patch smaller, often green and not blue, the red subterminal lunule in interspace 7 is always present and more prominent than in the male.

Underside of wings similar to that in the male, but the tornal and subtornal markings generally formed into more or less complete eyespots.

Wingspan: 106–132 mm

Distribution

The Himalayas from Kumaon to Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan; the hills of Assam, Burma and Tenasserim, extending to Thailand and the Malay Peninsula. A common insect in Sikkim, where it is found from the Terai up to . It is rare in Burma and Tenasserim. It also occurs in some parts of the Western Ghats in India.

Gallery

File:Mud-puddling of Paris Peacock Papilio paris WLB DSC 0403.jpg, Mud-puddling in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India
File:Paris peacock Papilio paris.jpg, In Namdapha Tiger Reserve
File:Paris Peacock (Papilio paris) at Samsing, Duars, WB W IMG 6453.jpg, The underside of the wings
File:Common banded peacock.jpg, Mud-puddling in Thattekad, Kerala, India

See also

* Tamil peacock ''Papilio paris tamilana''
*Papilionidae
*List of butterflies of India
*List of butterflies of India (Papilionidae)

References

Other reading

*Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach, 1998 ''Schmetterlinge der Erde'', Butterflies of the World Part I (1), Papilionidae Papilionidae I: ''Papilio'', Subgenus ''Achillides'', ''Bhutanitis'', ''Teinopalpus''. Edited by Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach. Keltern: Goecke & Evers; Canterbury: Hillside Books,

External links

*

{{Taxonbar, from=Q977492

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