''Troides riedeli'', or Riedel's birdwing, is a

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 ...

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 ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Tanimbar Islands The Tanimbar Islands, also called ''Timur Laut'', are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku (province), Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to t ...

, part of the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...

archipelago in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Very little is known of the life history and distribution.

Biogeographic realm

Australasian realm The Australasian realm is a biogeographic realm that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua New Guinea and ...

Related species

''Troides riedeli'' is a member of the ''Troides haliphron''

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 haliphron ''Troides haliphron'', the haliphron birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly confined to Sulawesi and the lesser Sunda Islands. Description ''Troides haliphron'' is sexually dimorphic. Male: The forewings are ground colour black. The veins are bord ...

'' (Boisduval, 1836) *''

Troides darsius ''Troides darsius'', the Sri Lankan birdwing, is a species of birdwing butterfly found in Sri Lanka. It is the largest butterfly on the island and is also the national butterfly of Sri Lanka. Among the largest and most gaudy of the Ceylon Lep ...

'' (Gray,

853 __NOTOC__ Year 853 ( DCCCLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * May 22 – A Byzantine fleet (85 ships and 5,000 men) sacks and d ...

*''

Troides vandepolli ''Troides vandepolli'', the van de Poll's birdwing, is a montane birdwing butterfly occurring on Java and Sumatra. It is endemic for Indonesia and is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The species w ...

'' (Snellen, 1890) *''

Troides criton ''Troides criton'', the Criton birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly found on the islands of Morotai, Halmahera, Bali, Bacan, Ternate and Obi in Indonesia. Description ''Troides criton'' is sexually dimorphic. Male: The ground colour of the for ...

'' (C. & R. Felder, 1860) *''Troides riedeli'' (Kirsch, 1885) *''

Troides plato ''Troides plato'', the silver birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly endemic to Timor. Described forms are ''nychonia'' Jordan, 1908 (male), ''chitonia'' Jordan, 1908 (male), and ''delormei'' Le Moult, 1931 (female). Taxonomy Previously considered t ...

'' (Wallace, 1865) *''

Troides staudingeri ''Troides staudingeri'' is a birdwing butterfly in the genus ''Troides'' in the family Papilionidae. It is known from Leti Island, Moa Island, Kisar Island, Babar Island and Wetar Island. Subspecies *''T. s. staudingeri'' (Sermata, Luang, Baba ...

'' (Röber, 1888)

References

* *Kurt Rumbucher and Oliver Schäffler (2004). Part 19, Papilionidae X. Troides III. in Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Eds. ''Butterflies of the World''. Keltern: Goecke & Evers *Tsukada, E. and Nishiyama, Y. (1982). ''Butterflies of the South East Asian Islands''. Vol. I Papilionidae. (transl. K. Morishita). Plapac Co. Ltd., Tokyo. 457 pp.

External links

''Troides riedeli'' at Nagypal
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 ...

(English/German)
Banda Sea Islands Moist Deciduous Forests
riedeli Butterflies of Indonesia Endemic fauna of Indonesia Fauna of the Tanimbar Islands Butterflies described in 1885 {{papilionidae-stub