Troides criton

Criton birdwing
Male (above) and female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Troides
Species:	T. criton
Binomial name
Troides criton Felder, 1860

Troides criton, the Criton birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly found on the islands of Morotai, Halmahera, Bacan, Ternate and Obi in Indonesia.

Description

For terms see External morphology of Lepidoptera.

Troides criton is sexually dimorphic.

Male: The ground color of the forewings is black. A large discal golden area has veins are black veins. The underside is very similar.

Female: In the female some of the veins are bordered by white. There is a chain of internervular black spots in the golden area. The underside is very similar.

In both sexes the abdomen is brown with a yellow underside. The head and thorax are black and the underside of thorax has a red hair.

Subspecies

• Troides criton criton Sulawesi, Moluccas, Morotai, Ternate, Tidore, Halmahera, Kasiruta, Sula Islands, Bacan
• Troides criton critonides (Fruhstorfer, 1903) Obi Islands

Related species

Troides criton is a member of the Troides haliphron species group. The members of this clade are:

• Troides haliphron (Boisduval, 1836)
• Troides darsius (Gray, [1853])
• Troides vandepolli (Snellen, 1890)
• Troides criton (C. & R. Felder, 1860)
• Troides riedeli (Kirsch, 1885)
• Troides plato (Wallace, 1865)
• Troides staudingeri (Röber, 1888)

References

• D'Abrera, B. (1975). Birdwing Butterflies of the World. Country Life Books, London.
• Collins, N. Mark; Morris, Michael G. (1985). Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book. Gland & Cambridge: IUCN. ISBN 978-2-88032-603-6. 
• Felder, C. & R. Felder (1865-1875). Rhopalocera. In Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte "Novara" um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen Commodore B. von Wullerstorf-Urbair. Zoologischer Theil. Zweiter Band:Abtheilung. Wien: vi + 548 + [1] pp in 5 parts, 140 pls.
• Haugum, J. & Low, A.M. (1978-1985). A Monograph of the Birdwing Butterflies. 2 volumes. Scandinavian Press, Klampenborg; 663 pp.
• Kurt Rumbucher and Oliver Schäffler (2004). Part 19, Papilionidae X. Troides III. in Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Eds. Butterflies of the World. Keltern: Goecke & Evers ISBN 978-3-937783-02-4

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Troides criton.

Wikispecies has information related to: Troides criton

• Butterflycorner Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (English/German)
• Nagypal
• Halmahera Rain Forests Ecoregion
• Sulawesi Lowland Rain Forests