Battus (butterfly)

Battus

Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Subfamily:	Papilioninae
Tribe:	Troidini
Genus:	Battus Scopoli, 1777
Species
see text

Battus is a New World genus of butterflies that are usually found around pipevine (genus Aristolochia) plants. The caterpillars feed off the poisonous pipevines, making the insects poisonous themselves; they taste very bad to ward off predators.^[1] Since birds avoid these butterflies, other swallowtail species mimic their coloration. The common North American species are Battus polydamas and Battus philenor.

Species

Listed alphabetically within groups.^[2]
Subgenus Battus:

Species group Philenor:
- Battus devilliersii (Godart, 1823)
- Battus philenor (Linnaeus, 1771) – Pipevine Swallowtail
- Battus zetides (Munroe, 1971) – Zetides Swallowtail
Species group polydamus:
- Battus polydamas (Linnaeus, 1758) – Polydamas Swallowtail, Gold Rim Swallowtail, or Tailless Swallowtail

Subgenus Battuosa Möhn, 1999:

Species group madyes:
- Battus madyes (Doubleday, 1846) – Madyes Swallowtail

Species group belus:
- Battus belus (Cramer, 1777) – Belus Swallowtail
- Battus crassus (Cramer, 1777) – Crassus Swallowtail
- Battus eracon (Godman & Salvin, 1897) – West-Mexican Swallowtail
- Battus ingenuus (Dyar, 1907) – Dyar's Swallowtail
- Battus laodamas (C. & R. Felder, 1859) – Green-patch Swallowtail
- Battus lycidas (Cramer, [1777]) – Cramer's Swallowtail
- Battus polystictus (Butler, 1874)

References

^ Pinheiro, Carlos E.G. (1996) Palatability and escaping ability in Neotropical butterflies: tests with wild kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus, Tyrannidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 59(4): 351–365. HTML abstract
^ Battus, funet.fi

External links

Battus, Insects Online
Battus, BugGuide
Battus Butterflies of America. Mostly types.