Papilio protenor
| Spangle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Female | |
 | |
| Male | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Papilionidae |
| Genus: | Papilio |
| Species: | P. protenor |
| Binomial name | |
| Papilio protenor Cramer, 1775 | |
The Spangle (Papilio protenor) is a butterfly found in India that belongs to the Swallowtail family.
Description
Male
Upperside: velvety indigo-blue black, duller on the fore wing than on the hind wing. Fore wing with pale adnervular streaks broadened along the terminal margin and extended well into the cell. Hind wing: a broad pale yellowish-white subcostal streak; interspaces 4 to 6 irrorated with bluish scales; tornal angle marked with red.
Underside: fore wing dull black; adnervular streaks distinctly grey and much broader than on the upperside. Hind wing: ground-colour as on the upperside, a large irregularly-shaped patch at the tornal angle that extends into interspace 2. and subterminal lunules in interspaces, 2, 6, and 7 dull pinkish-red, cell irrorated more or less with a sprinkling of blue scales; the tornal patch with a black, outwardly blue-edged, round medial spot, and interspaces 4 and 5 with subterminal irrorations of blue scales. Antenna black; head, thorax and abdomen dark brownish black.
Female
Similar to male.
Upperside: groundcolour deep brownish black; adnervular streaks on fore wing yellowish; irroration of blue scales on outer portions of hind wing more dense; no white subcostal streak; red patch at tornal angle large with an oval medial black spot; another similar black spot subterminally in interspace 2 posteriorly bordered by a crescent-shaped red mark.
Underside similar to that in the male, differs in the adnervular streaks on the fore wing that are broader and paler; on the hind wing the tornal red patch is paler and larger, and is extended broadly anteriorly and outwards towards the termen into interspace 2; in the latter it coalesces with a broad subterminal black-centred red ocellus; the irroration of blue scales in interspace 5 with a small subterminal red lunule below it. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male.[1]
Range
Northern Pakistan, Jammu & Kashmir, Garhwal Himalaya (Govind Wildlife Sanctuary), Sikkim, Assam, Bangladesh, Burma, southern China (including Hainan), northern Vietnam, northern Laos, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea and Japan.
Status
Common. Not Threatened.[2]
Life history
Larva
"Green, with a yellow collar and brown lichen-like markings. Feeds on Zanthoxylum alatum." (Mackinnon quoted in Bingham.)
Pupa
"Some pupae are coloured like rough bark, others are uniformly green." (Mackinnon quoted in Bingham.)
Cultural references
- In March 1987 DPR Korea issued a postage stamp depicting Papilio protenor.
See also
References
- ↑ Bingham, C. T. (1905) Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 1
- ↑ Collins, N.M. & Morris, M.G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. IUCN. ISBN 2-88032-603-6