''Papilio menatius'' 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 ...

Description

''Papilio menatius'' is a large butterfly with

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 ...

of about . Uppersides of the wings are black with yellowish bands and yellowish submarginal lines of spots. The subspecies ''P. m. menatius'' present in Guyana is black with white spots at the center of the forewings. On the hindwings there are a submarginal row of red lines and a line of spots partly red and partly white. Subspecies ''P. m. victorinus'' is treated as a species by some authors. The larvae of ''P. m. victorinus'' feed on ''

Persea americana The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for ...

''. Adults feed on flower nectar of various plants, 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 ...

'' and ''

Impatiens ''Impatiens'' is a genus of more than 1,000 species of flowering plants, widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and the tropics. Together with the genus ''Hydrocera'' (one species), ''Impatiens'' make up the family Balsaminaceae. ...

'' species.

Taxonomy

''Papilio menatius'' is in the subgenus ''Pterourus'' Scopoli, 1777 which also includes the species groups: ''troilus'' species group, ''glaucus'' species group, the ''zagreus'' species group and the ''scamander'' species group. ''Papilio menatius'' is a member of the ''homerus''

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. The members of this

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

are: *'' Papilio cacicus'' Lucas, 1852 *'' Papilio euterpinus'' Salvin & Godman, 1868 *''

Papilio garamas ''Papilio garamas'', commonly known as the magnificent swallowtail, is a species of Neotropical swallowtail butterfly found in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Costa Rica. Description A large butterfly with a wingspan of 80 to 110 millime ...

'' (Geyer,

829 __NOTOC__ Year 829 ( DCCCXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * October 2 – Emperor Michael II dies after an 8-year reign in C ...

*''

Papilio homerus ''Papilio homerus'', commonly known as the Homerus swallowtail or Jamaican swallowtail, is the largest butterfly species in the Western Hemisphere. The species is endangered and faces a potentially bleak future. Only two small populations of the ...

'' Fabricius, 1793 *''Papilio menatius'' (Hübner, 819 *''

Papilio warscewiczii ''Papilio warscewiczii'' is a Neotropical realm, Neotropical species of swallowtail butterfly from the genus ''Papilio'' that is found in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Habitat Montane forest in the Bolivian Yungas, Bolivian Yungas ecoregion. The ...

'' Hopffer, 1865 and the enigmatic '' Papilio judicael'' known only from a handful of specimens and either a valid species from the Andean region, or a hybrid ''P. menatius'' × ''P. warscewiczii''.

Subspecies

The following subspecies of ''Papilio menatius'' are recognised: *''P. m. menatius'' (Surinam, French Guiana) *''P. m. cleotas'' Gray, 1832 (Brazil (Santa Catarina, Rio de Janeiro) to Argentina) *''P. m. coelebs'' Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 (Peru) *''P. m. coroebus'' C. Felder & R. Felder, 1861 (Colombia, Venezuela) *''P. m. ctesiades'' Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 (Peru, Brazil (Amazonas, São Paulo)) *''P. m. eurotas'' C. Felder & R. Felder, 1862 (Ecuador, Peru) *''P. m. laetitia'' Butler, 1872 (Costa Rica, Panama) *''P. m. lemoulti'' Rousseau-Decelle, 1933 (Venezuela) *''P. m. lenaeus'' Doubleday, 1846 (Bolivia, Peru) *''P. m. morelius'' Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 (western Mexico) *''P. m. syndemis'' (Tyler, Brown & Wilson, 1994) (Colombia) *''P. m. victorinus'' Doubleday, 1844 (eastern Mexico to Nicaragua) - victorine swallowtail *''P. m. vulneratus'' Butler, 1872 (Costa Rica)

Distribution

This species can be found in southern North America and in most of South America (Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Suriname, Guyana, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Peru).

Gallery

File:Papilio menatius ssp. morelius.jpg, ''Papilio menatius'' ssp. ''morelius'' File:Papilio menatius ssp. victorinus.jpg, ''Papilio menatius'' ssp. ''victorinus''

References

*
"''Papilio menatius'' (Hübner, [1819])"
''Insecta.pro''. Retrieved February 5, 2020.

"]. ''Butterflies of America''. Retrieved February 5, 2020. *Lewis, H. L. (1974). ''Butterflies of the World''. Page 24, figure 18 (ssp. ''cleotas''): page 25 figure 14 (ssp. ''victorinus'').

External links

* menatius Papilionidae of South America Butterflies described in 1819 {{Papilionidae-stub