''Papilio rex'', the regal swallowtail or king papilio, 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

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. It is a semi-montane and montane forest (1, 300 m. to 2 600 m.) species. The larvae feed on '' Teclea tricocarpa'', '' Teclea stuhlmanni'', ''

Calodendrum ''Calodendrum'' is a genus of medium-sized evergreen trees comprising two species from Africa. ''Calodendrum capense'', the Cape chestnut, is a well known tree that is widely cultivated, while ''Calodendrum eickii'' is a rare forest tree from Tan ...

'', ''

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

'', ''

Clausena ''Clausena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. It was first defined by the Dutch botanist Nicolaas Laurens Burman in 1768. It is distributed in Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

'', ''

Fagara ''Zanthoxylum'' is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs and climbers in the family Rutaceae that are native to warm temperate and subtropical areas worldwide. It is the type genus of the tribe Zanthoxyleae i ...

'' and ''

Toddalia ''Zanthoxylum asiaticum'' is a species of plant in the family Rutaceae. Under its synonym ''Toddalia asiatica'', it was the only species in the monotypic genus ''Toddalia'', now included in ''Zanthoxylum''. It is known by the English name orange c ...

'' species. In the early morning and late afternoon adults of both sexes descend from the forest canopy to feed from the flowers of ''

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 ...

'', '' Impatiens'' and ''

Bougainvillea ''Bougainvillea'' ( , ) is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees belonging to the four o' clock family, Nyctaginaceae. It is native to eastern South America, found from Brazil, west to Peru, and south to southern Argentina. ...

''.It hilltops on granite outcrops and mud puddles. The Kenyan forms

mimic MIMIC, known in capitalized form only, is a former simulation computer language developed 1964 by H. E. Petersen, F. J. Sansom and L. M. Warshawsky of Systems Engineering Group within the Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson AFB in ...

'' Tirumala formosa'', the forest monarch butterfly.

Description

The ground colour is black. There are numerous white markings and the base of the forewing is orange brown (sometimes black with a white streak in males).

Taxonomy

''Papilio rex'' is a member of the ''dardanus''

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 the clade are: *''

Papilio dardanus ''Papilio dardanus'', the African swallowtail, mocker swallowtail or flying handkerchief, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae (the swallowtails). The species is broadly distributed throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The British e ...

'' Brown, 1776 *'' Papilio constantinus'' Ward, 1871 *'' Papilio delalandei'' Godart, 824/small> *'' Papilio phorcas'' Cramer, 775/small> *''Papilio rex'' Oberthür, 1886

Subspecies

*''Papilio rex rex'' (Kenya (east of the Rift Valley), north-eastern Tanzania, central Tanzania) *''Papilio rex mimeticus'' Rothschild, 1897 (Congo Republic, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, north-western Tanzania, western Kenya) *''Papilio rex franciscae'' Carpenter, 1928 (southern Sudan, south-western Ethiopia) *''Papilio rex alinderi'' Bryk, 1928 (Kenya (highlands west of the Rift Valley)) *''Papilio rex schultzei'' Aurivillius, 1904 (eastern Nigeria, highlands of Cameroon) *''Papilio rex abyssinicana'' Vane-Wright, 1995 Ackery, P.R., Smith, C.R., Vane-Wright, R.I. 1995. ''Carcasson's African Butterflies'': An annotated Catalogue of the Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea of the Afrotropical Region. British Museum (Natural History), London: i-xi, 1-803. ISBN 978-0-643-05561-2 (highlands of south-eastern Ethiopia) *''Papilio rex regulana'' Vane-Wright, 1995 (Kenya (highlands east of the Rift Valley))

Biogeographic realm

Afrotropical realm

References

*Carcasson, R.H. 1960 "The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)". ''Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society'
pdf
Key to East Africa members of the species group, diagnostic and other notes and figures. (Permission to host granted by The East Africa Natural History Society) *

External links

* *

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 ...

Butterflies described in 1886 rex Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Charles Oberthür {{papilionidae-stub