Byasa mencius

Byasa mencius
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae
Genus: Byasa
Species: B. mencius
Binomial name
Byasa mencius[1]
(C. & R. Felder, 1862)[1]
Synonyms
  • Papilio alcinous mencius Rothschild, 1895
  • Atrophaneura mencius (C. & R. Felder, 1862)

Byasa mencius is a species of butterfly from the Papilionidae family. It is found in China.

The wingspan is 10–11 cm. The wings are dark brown with chain of large red spots on the hind wings. The underside of the body is covered in red hairs.[2]

The larvae feed on Cocullus carolinus.

Taxonomy

In the original description (C. & R. Felder, 1862; Wien. ent. Monats. 6 (1): 22) Papilio mencius Nob. is stated to be "geographica mutatio" [Synonym of ] P. alcinous Klug var. apud. [George Robert] Gray, 1852 Catal. of Lep. Ins. I Plate 4 fig. 2, 3. shown here in the taxobox illustration.

In other words the variety of Papilio alcinous figured by Gray was raised to a "good" (one accepted) species by the Felder brothers. Their specimens were from the Chinese coastal trading city of Ningpo.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Häuser, Christoph L.; de Jong, Rienk; Lamas, Gerardo; Robbins, Robert K.; Smith, Campbell; Vane-Wright, Richard I. (28 July 2005). "Papilionidae – revised GloBIS/GART species checklist (2nd draft)". Entomological Data Information System. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  2. ButterflyCorner.net Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

External links