''Papilio sakontala'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

swallowtail butterfly 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 large ...

from the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Papilio ''Papilio'' is a genus in the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae, as well as the only representative of the tribe Papilionini. The word ''papilio'' is Latin for butterfly. It includes the common yellow swallowtail (''Papilio machaon''), ...

'' that is found in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

.Papilio at Funet
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Taxonomy

The taxonomic rank of ''Papilio sakontala'' is uncertain. It is a member of the ''fuscus'' species-group. 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 albinus'' Wallace, 1865 * '' Papilio diophantus'' Grose-Smith, 1883 * '' Papilio fuscus'' Goeze, 1779 * '' Papilio hipponous'' C. & R. Felder, 1862 * '' Papilio jordani'' Fruhstorfer, 1906 * ''

Papilio pitmani ''Papilio pitmani'' is a species of swallowtail butterfly from the genus ''Papilio'' that is found in Burma, Thailand and Vietnam. Subspecies *''Papilio pitmani pitmani'' *''Papilio duboisi'' Vitalis de Salvaza, 1921 (central Vietnam) Taxonom ...

'' Elwes & de Nicéville, 887/small> * ''

Papilio prexaspes ''Papilio prexaspes'', the blue Helen, is a swallowtail butterfly found in Southeast Asia. The race found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, ''Papilio prexaspes andamanicus'' (earlier placed under ''Papilio fuscus''), is also known as the Andam ...

'' C. & R. Felder, 1865 * ''Papilio sakontala'' Hewitson, 1864

References

External links

The Global Butterfly Information System
Images of

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

deposited in the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

. Taxonomic history. sakontala Butterflies described in 1864 Butterflies of Asia Taxa named by William Chapman Hewitson {{Papilionidae-stub