''Troides cuneifera'', the Mountain Birdwing,Ek-Amnuay, P. (2012). Butterflies of Thailand. 2nd Edition (English) is a large

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 ...

belonging to the swallowtail

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, Papilionidae, found in the

Thai-Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula ( Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The ar ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

. Being very similar to '' Troides amphrysus'', the butterfly was originally described as ''Ornithoptera amphrisius'' var. ''cuneifera''. The first to separate the two species was

Pieter Cornelius Tobias Snellen Pieter Cornelius Tobias Snellen (30 August 1832 – 29 March 1911) was a Dutch entomologist. Pieter Snellen was a merchant in Rotterdam. He is not to be confused with Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven, another entomologist from Rotterdam ...

in 1889. In Sumatra and Java it is a highlands species occurring up to an altitude of , but it occurs as low as in the Thai-Malay Peninsula. The species is in decline in Sumatra and Java due to human activities such as increased cultivation. ''Troides cuneifera tantalus'' remains one of the great mysteries of the

birdwing Birdwings are butterflies in the swallowtail family, that belong to the genera ''Trogonoptera'', ''Troides'', and ''Ornithoptera''. Most recent authorities recognise 36 species, however, this is debated, and some authorities include additional ...

s. The

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

is known from only one male and one female. When described, the specimens were claimed to originate from Kala Bula Hills or Kala Bala Hills, north Borneo.

Description

''Troides cuneifera'' is

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

. Male: The forewings are ground colour black. There are some yellow postdiscal stripes which may be faint. The underside of the forewings is very similar. The hindwings are golden yellow. The veins and the edge of the wing are black. There is a chain of post discal black spots. The underside of the hindwings is very similar. The abdomen is light brown and has two black spots. The underside of the abdomen is yellow. The head and thorax are black. Female: The female is larger than the male. The wing ground colour is dark brown. The veins are bordered by white shading. There is a golden-yellow area with dark veins on the hindwings. At the outer edge there is a marginal chain of yellow spots. The underside is very similar.

Biology

The larval food plant is a species of ''

Aristolochia ''Aristolochia'' () is a large plant genus with over 500 species that is the type genus of the family Aristolochiaceae. Its members are commonly known as birthwort, pipevine or Dutchman's pipe and are widespread and occur in the most diverse clima ...

'', '' A. foveolata''.

Subspecies

*''Troides cuneifera cuneifera''

. *''Troides cuneifera paeninsulae'' (Pendlebury, 1936)

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

*''Troides cuneifera sumatranus'' (Hagen, 1894)

*''Troides cuneifera tantalus'' Ehrmann, 1904

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo ...

, known from only one male and one female

Biogeographic realm

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...

Related species

''Troides cuneifera'' is a member of the ''Troides amphrysus''

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: *'' Troides amphrysus'' (Cramer,

779 __NOTOC__ Year 779 ( DCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 779 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Eur ...

*''

Troides andromache ''Troides andromache'', the Borneo birdwing , is a species of butterfly in the family (biology), family Papilionidae. It is Endemic species, found only in Borneo. Description The wingspan ranges from 150 to 180 mm (female), the hindwings ...

'' (Staudinger, 1892) *''Troides cuneifera'' (Oberthür, 1879) *''

Troides miranda ''Troides miranda'', the Miranda birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly that inhabits Borneo and Sumatra. Related species ''Troides miranda'' is a member of the ''Troides amphrysus'' species group In biology, a species complex is a group of cl ...

'' (Butler, 1869)

References

*Gabriel, Alfred George (1941) The superficial differences between ''Troides cuneifera'' Oberthür and ''Troides amphrysus'' Cramer. ''Entomologist'' 74, pp. 03-204* Haugum, J. & Low, A.M. (1983). ''A Monograph of the Birdwing Butterflies. The systematics of Ornithoptera,Troides and related genera''. Vol. 2, Part 2. Troides; amphrysus and haliphron groups. Klampenborg, Denmark: Scandinavian Science Press pp. 105–204 * *D'Abrera, B. (1975) ''Birdwing Butterflies of the World''. Country Life Books, London. Other literature at ''

Troides ''Troides'' is a genus of birdwing butterflies, comprising species found in the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, and Oceania. Species Twenty species are recognized: : subgenus: ''Ripponia'' ::* '' Troides hypolitus'' – Rippon's birdwin ...

External links

Ngypal
Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (English/German)
Indomalaysian Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Ecoregion
*Kurt Rumbucher,Béla von Knötgen and Oliver Schäffler, Knötgen 1999 Part 7, Papilionidae IV. Troides II., amphrysus-group in Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Eds. ''Butterflies of the World''. Keltern: Goecke & Evers . {{Taxonbar, from=Q3015899 Cuneifera Butterflies of Indochina Butterflies of Borneo Butterflies of Indonesia Butterflies of Java Butterflies described in 1879