''Papilio androgeus'', the

Androgeus Androgeos or Androgeus (Ancient Greek: Ἀνδρόγεως, la, Androgeum or Androgeōs derived from ''andros'' "of a man" and ''geos'', genitive ''gē'' "earth, land") was the name of two individuals in Classical mythology. * Androgeus, son of ...

swallowtail, queen page, or queen swallowtail, is a

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

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 ...

of 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 ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

with a small population in southern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Description

The sexes are different and the female occurs in many districts in two forms. Tail narrow, pointed. Hindwing above with narrow bluish submarginal crescents, beneath with a regular row of reddish yellow crescents between cell and outer margin. Female ''P. androgeus'' has on the forewing two large yellow patches, sometimes also a small spot; in the female ''P. piranthus'' these spots are wanting or are merely indicated, the metallic scaling of the hindwing is not dense and extends into the cell.Jordan, K. , in Seitz, A. ( 1907) . The Macrolepidoptera of the World. 5: The Macrolepidoptera of the American faunistic region. Papilionidae 1-45 The

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 ...

is 134–140 mm. File:Papilioandrogeosmale.jpg, Male File:Papilioandrogeusfemale.jpg, Female File:Papilioandrogeusgynandromorph.jpg,

Gynandromorph A gynandromorph is an organism that contains both male and female characteristics. The term comes from the Greek γυνή (''gynē'') 'female', ἀνήρ (''anēr'') 'male', and μορφή (''morphē'') 'form', and is used mainly in the field ...

Biology

Adults are on wing from April to October in multiple generations per year. The larvae feed on the leaves of '' Zanthoxylum elephantiasis'', ''

Citrus reticulata The mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), also known as the mandarin or mandarine, is a small citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. Tangerines are a group of orange-coloured ...

'', and ''

Citrus sinensis ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

''. Adults feed on nectar of various flowers.

Subspecies

*''Papilio androgeus androgeus'' – (Suriname, Colombia, Ecuador to Bolivia, Brazil (Amazonas, Pará, Mato Grosso)) *''Papilio androgeus epidaurus'' Godman & Salvin, 1890 – (Florida, Mexico, Panama, Cuba to Santa Lucia) male: the yellow area very broad: female: forewing with indications of a yellow band outside the cell; the grey-blue scaling on the hindwing dense. *''Papilio androgeus laodocus'' (Fabricius, 1793) – (Brazil (Minas Gerais, Paraná), Paraguay, Argentina) the yellow area of the male is pale, the small spots placed before the extremity of the cell are smaller and often entirely wanting. Only one female known; this is similar to the female ''androgeus'' of the nominate subspecies, but the upper yellow spot is smaller than the second.

Threats

Generally common and not so far threatened. Tolerant of open areas and secondary growth.

References

*Lewis, H. L. (1974). ''Butterflies of the World'' Page 24, figures 11 (female), 12 (male).

External links

*
Butterflies and Moths of North America
Images from

Naturhistorisches Museum Wien The Natural History Museum Vienna (german: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the most important natural history museums worldwide. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museum ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2387185

androgeus Androgeos or Androgeus (Ancient Greek: Ἀνδρόγεως, la, Androgeum or Androgeōs derived from ''andros'' "of a man" and ''geos'', genitive ''gē'' "earth, land") was the name of two individuals in Classical mythology. * Androgeus, son of ...

Butterflies of North America Butterflies of Central America Butterflies of the Caribbean Papilionidae of South America Butterflies of Cuba Butterflies described in 1775