Papilio elephenor
| Yellow-crested Spangle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Male upperside (right half) and underwing (left half) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Papilionidae |
| Genus: | Papilio |
| Species: | P. elephenor |
| Binomial name | |
| Papilio elephenor Doubleday, 1845 | |
The Yellow-crested Spangle (Papilio elephenor) is a species of swallowtail butterfly found in Northeast India. Following decades without confirmed sightings, it was rediscovered in 2009 in Assam.[1]
Description
Male upperside dull black. Fore wing with an irroration of brilliant green scales that form cellular and internervular streaks. Hind wing: anterior half to nearly the median vein and above vein 5 irrorated with brilliant blue scales that become gradually sparse towards and cease entirely along the costal margin; posterior half irrorated with brilliant green scales; tornus with a small claret-red patch touched above with a few violet scales and also with an admarginal dusky black spot. Cilia brown alternated with white. Underside black. Fore wing with very broad and prominent cellular and internervular pale streaks, the costal margin and the basal half of interspaces 1a and 1 distinctly black. Hind wing: a series of claret-red subterminal lunules, two side by side in each interspace, all more or less irrorated inwardly with violet scales ; at the tornal angle these lunules form a conspicuous oblong patch that stretches a short way along the dorsum and bears a subbasal and a subapical black spot. Antennae, the thorax and abdomen narrowly along the middle black; head pinkish red; abdomen on the sides buff-coloured.
Female "Agrees with the male. The anal (tornal) red mark on the hind wings above is larger, rounded, marginal, and includes a small black spot, the outer margin (termen) of the hind wing is distinctly sinuate between the median veins (veins 2, 3, 4), and at the, end of the upper median nervule (vein 4) produced into a short but obvious tooth as at the extremity of the lower discoidal vein (vein 5)." (Rothschild quoted in Bingham)[2]
See also
References
- ↑ Choudhury, Kushal (2010) Rediscovery of two rare butterflies Papilio elephenor Doubleday, 1845 and Shijimia moorei Leech, 1889 from proposed Ripu-Chirang Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(4): 831-834.
- ↑ Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2
Further reading
- Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach, 1998 Schmetterlinge der Erde, Butterflies of the world Part I (1), Papilionidae Papilionidae I: Papilio, Subgenus Achillides, Bhutanitis, Teinopalpus. Edited by Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach. Keltern : Goecke & Evers ; Canterbury : Hillside Books ISBN 9783931374624
- Collins, N.M. & Morris, M.G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. IUCN. ISBN 2-88032-603-6
- Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
- Gaonkar, Harish (1996) Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a threatened mountain system. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
- Gay,Thomas; Kehimkar,Isaac & Punetha,J.C.(1992) Common Butterflies of India. WWF-India and Oxford University Press, Mumbai, India.
- Kunte,Krushnamegh (2005) Butterflies of Peninsular India. Universities Press.
- Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.