''Papilio astyalus'', the broad-banded swallowtail or Astyalus swallowtail, is a

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 ...

south to

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 ...

. It is occasionally reported from southern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and rare strays can be found up to southern

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and northern Texas. 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 117–120 mm. Adults are on wing from April to October. There are probably two generations per year. The larvae feed on the leaves of ''

Citrus ''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 ...

'' trees. Adults feed on the nectar of various flowers, including ''

Lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in ...

'' species.

Subspecies

*''P. a. astyalus'' (Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Parana), Argentina, Paraguay) *''P. a. pallas'' Gray,

853 __NOTOC__ Year 853 ( DCCCLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * May 22 – A Byzantine fleet (85 ships and 5,000 men) sacks and d ...

/small> (Texas, Mexico, Costa Rica) *''P. a. bajaensis'' Brown & Faulkner, 1992 (Mexico (Baja California Sur)) *''P. a. hippomedon'' (C. & R. Felder, 1859) (Colombia, Venezuela) *''P. a. phanias'' Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Goias) *''P. a. anchicayaensis'' Constantino, Le Crom & Salazar, 2002 (Colombia)

Biogeographic realm

Neotropical realm 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 ...

References

*Lewis, H. L., 1974 ''Butterflies of the World'' Page 25, figure 6

External links

*
nearctica.com
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 ...

astyalus Butterflies of North America Papilionidae of South America Butterflies described in 1819 {{papilionidae-stub