''Papilio maackii'', the alpine black swallowtail, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

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 larg ...

. It is found in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, Japan, China and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. The larvae feed on ''

Zanthoxylum ailanthoides ''Zanthoxylum ailanthoides'', also called ailanthus-like prickly ash, (, lit. " Ailanthus-leaved pepper",; the name is obviously adaptation of latin ailanthoides "ailanthus-like" , lit. " Yue pepper",, p.503 食茱萸 ''shi zhu yu'',, 「澳名� ...

'', '' Euodia meliaefolia'', '' Orixa japonica'' and ''

Phellodendron amurense ''Phellodendron amurense'' is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae, commonly called the Amur cork tree. It is a major source of '' huáng bò'' ( or 黄檗), one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. The Ainu pe ...

''.

Anatomy and morphology

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 o ...

ranges from 12 to 14 cm. The body of ''P. maackii'' is black and dotted with some green scales. The forewings of males are black and speckled with many green scales. The underside of the wings are brown. The hindwings are black and speckled with blue and purple scales and have a tail. There is an eyespot on the side closest to the body. The underside of the hindwings are a darker brown and lined with red or orange spots. Females are more brightly colored and vibrant than males.

References

External links

''Japan Times'' article on ''Papilio maackii'', accessed 26 July 2010

Anatomy and morphology

References

External links

Other reading