Pachliopta jophon

Ceylon Rose
Conservation status

Critically Endangered  (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae
Genus: Pachliopta
Species: P. jophon
Binomial name
Pachliopta jophon
Gray, [1853]

The Ceylon Rose, sometimes Sri Lankan Rose (Pachliopta jophon) is a butterfly found in Sri Lanka that belongs to the Swallowtail family. It was earlier classified as a subspecies of Crimson Rose (Pachliopta hector).

Range

It is endemic to Sri Lanka, confined to the rain forests of the central hill country in the south-west.

Description

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]

Status

It is critically endangered, declining due to loss of habitat.[2]

See also

Cited references

  1. Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2
  2. Collins, N.M. & Morris, M.G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. IUCN. ISBN 2-88032-603-6

References

External links