''Parthenos sylvia'', the clipper,
[ is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in south and southeast ]Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
, mostly in forested areas.[ The clipper is a fast-flying butterfly and has a habit of flying with its wings flapping stiffly between the horizontal position and a few degrees below the horizontal. It may glide between spurts of flapping.]
Description
The various forms or subspecies are closely aligned and greatly resemble one another.[
]
Range
The species lives in the Western Ghats, Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...
, Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
, Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...
, Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, Laos, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
( Malaya, Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, and New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...
).[
]
Life history
Larva. Cylindrical; head and anal segment with short simple spines; segments three to 12 with longer branched spines, reddish brown, those on three and four comparatively very long. Pale green, with yellowish-white lateral stripes one on each side.[
Pupa. "brown, boat-shaped." (After Davidson & Aitken)][
]
Subspecies
Listed alphabetically:["''Parthenos'' Hübner, [1819]"]
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
* ''P. s. admiralia'' Rothschild, 1915
* ''P. s. apicalis'' Moore, 1878
* ''P. s. aruana'' Moore, 897/small>
* ''P. s. bandana'' Fruhstorfer
* ''P. s. bellimontis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899
* ''P. s. borneensis'' Staudinger, 1889
* ''P. s. brunnea'' Staudinger, 1888
* ''P. s. couppei'' Ribbe, 1898
* ''P. s. cyaneus'' Moore, 1877
* ''P. s. ellina'' Fruhstorfer, 1899
* ''P. s. gambrisius'' (Fabricius, 1787)
* ''P. s. guineensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899
* ''P. s. joloensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899
* ''P. s. lilacinus'' Butler, 1879 – blue clipper
* ''P. s. nadiae '' (Casteleyn, 2020)
* ''P. s. nodrica'' (Boisduval, 1832)
* ''P. s. numita'' Fruhstorfer
* ''P. s. obiana'' Fruhstorfer, 1904
* ''P. s. pherekrates'' Fruhstorfer, 1904
* ''P. s. pherekides'' Fruhstorfer, 1904
* ''P. s. philippinensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899 – brown clipper
* ''P. s. roepstorfii'' Moore, 897/small>
* ''P. s. salentia'' (Hopffer, 1874)
* ''P. s. silvicola'' Fruhstorfer, 1897
* ''P. s. sulana'' Fruhstorfer, 1899
* ''P. s. sumatrensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899
* ''P. s. sylla'' (Donovan, 1798)
* ''P. s. theriotes'' Fruhstorfer
* ''P. s. thesaurinus'' Grose-Smith, 1897
* ''P. s. thesaurus'' Mathew, 1887
* ''P. s. tualensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899
* ''P. s. ugiensis'' Fruhstorfer
* ''P. s. virens'' Moore, 1877
Parthenos sylvia cat.jpg, Larva
2014-05-01 15-07-34-Parthenos-sylvia-hunawihr.jpg, Blue clipper
Parthenos sylvia philippensis.jpg, Race ''philippensis''
Parthenos sylvia Richard Bartz.jpg, Brown clipper
Clipper - Parthenos sylvia-7.JPG, Ventral view
Seitz9FaunaIndoAustralicaPlate120a.JPG, Races depicted in Seitz
MooreThe Lepidoptera of CeylonPlate24.jpg, Plate from Frederic Moore
Frederic Moore FZS (13 May 1830 – 10 May 1907) was a British entomologist and illustrator. He produced six volumes of ''Lepidoptera Indica'' and a catalogue of the birds in the collection of the East India Company.
It has been said that Moo ...
's ''The Lepidoptera of Ceylon'' depicting the imago, larva and pupa
Clipper (Parthenos sylvia borneensis) B.jpg, ''P. s. borneensis'', 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 e ...
ParthenosSylviaButterfly.jpg, A Parthenos sylvia
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1955014
Limenitidinae
Butterflies of Asia
Taxa named by Pieter Cramer
Butterflies described in 1776
Articles containing video clips