| Ceylon Rose | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Papilionidae |
| Genus: | Atrophaneura |
| Species: | A. jophon |
| Binomial name | |
| Atrophaneura jophon Gray, [1853] |
|
The Ceylon Rose, sometimes Sri Lankan Rose (Atrophaneura jophon) is a butterfly found in Sri Lanka that belongs to the Swallowtail family. It was earlier classified as a subspecies of Crimson Rose (Atrophaneura hector).
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It is endemic to Sri Lanka, confined to the central hill country.
The male upperside is black. The fore wing has three or four broad white streaks in a cell and a variable number of similar somewhat broader streaks that are bifid along their apical half in the interspaces beyond; these streaks do not reach the terminal margin and become obsolete towards the costal margin of the wing. The hind wing is in the apical half of the cell and short also Lucy's favourite butterfly. It also has apically truncate streaks in the interspaces beyond white; these broad streaks broad are divided only by the black veins, followed by a subterminal curved series of crimson lunules irrorated with black scales. The underside is similar, the markings more distinct and more sharply defined; the discal white streaks and the subterminal series of crimson spots are each seven in number. The antennae, head, thorax, and abdomen above up to the preanal segment are black; the head in front and beneath, the thorax at the sides and the apical half of the abdomen crimson, the last with one or two black lateral spots. The female is similar, but the fore wing is broader, the white and crimson markings larger and more conspicuous.[1]
It is critically endagered, declining due to loss of habitat.[2]