Protographium agesilaus

Protographium agesilaus, the short-lined kite swallowtail, is a medium-sized butterfly of the family Papilionidae.

Protographium agesilaus
Mounted specimen from Colombia
P. a. agesilaus underside
Cristalino River, Southern Amazon, Brazil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Papilionidae
Genus:
Protographium
Species:
P. agesilaus
Binomial name
Protographium agesilaus
Synonyms
  • Papilio agesilaus Guérin-Méneville & Percheron, 1835
  • Papilio conon Gray, [1853]
  • Papilio conon Hewitson, 1854
  • Papilio agesilaus agesilaus septemlineatus Eimer, 1889
  • Papilio arnapes Ehrmann, 1919
  • Papilio agesilaus ab. fermata (Bryk, 1930)
  • Papilio neosilaus Hopffer, 1866
  • Papilio autosilaus var. multesilaus Ehrmann, 1919
  • Papilio glaucolaus sztolcmani Prüffer, 1922
  • Neographium agesilaus tenebricosus Möhn, 2002

Description

Protographium agesilaus has a wingspan of about 70–80 millimetres (2.8–3.1 in). The forewings are triangular shaped and the hindwings are adorned with a long sword-like tails. The basic colour of the wings is greenish white. The forewings have seven black bands and a black marking with two red spots bordered with white on the margins. On the undersides of the hindwings there are two black and red streaks. The females are like the males but have rather larger pale submarginal spots on the hindwings. They are easy to recognise by the red line of the hindwing being edged with black distally.

Biology

Larvae feed on Rollinia emarginata.

Distribution

This species is mainly present in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Subspecies
  • Protographium agesilaus agesilaus (Colombia, northern Venezuela)
  • Protographium agesilaus eimeri (Rothschild & Jordan, 1906) (Costa Rica, Panama, western Colombia) The transparent submarginal band of the forewing between the fourth and fifth subcostal at most as broad as the black postdiscal band which is placed at its proximal side.
  • Protographium agesilaus fortis (Rothschild & Jordan, 1906) (western Mexico) The black bands broad, first and second bands of the forewing about two-thirds as broad as the interspace, both continued to the hindmargin, or the second band at least extending beyond the second submedian; the white submarginal band not broader than the black postdiscal band, the latter not divided longitudinally by a pale line; abdominal margin of the hindwing black, the two red anal spots surrounded with black.
  • Protographium agesilaus neosilaus (Hopffer, 1866) (Mexico to Nicaragua) The black bands narrower than in fortis, the first and second bands of the forewing at most half as broad as the white interspace, the transparent submarginal band broader than the black postdiscal band; abdominal margin of the hindwing partly white, the red anal spots anteriorly broadly edged with white, much less broadly surrounded with black than in fortis.
  • Protographium agesilaus autosilaus (Bates, 1861) (Venezuela to Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia) Postdiscal band of the forewing divided longitudinally by a pale streak, subbasal band of the hindwing present on the upperside.
  • Protographium agesilaus montanum (Küppers, 1974) (northern Peru)
  • Protographium agesilaus viridis (Röber, 1926) (northern Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay)

Status

Protographium agesilaus is common and not threatened.

Etymology

It is named in the classical tradition. Agesilaus was an ancient Greek king.

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gollark: There are others?!
gollark: Which is probably slower and harder than just factoring the primes.
gollark: …
gollark: You are aware that ANY prime from it can be factored in less than a second with unoptimized code on my low end desktop?

References
  • Biolib
  • Funet
  • 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 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  • Lewis, H. L., 1974 Butterflies of the World ISBN 0-245-52097-X Page 23, figure 9.

Further reading
  • Edwin Möhn, 2002 Schmetterlinge der Erde, Butterflies of the world Part XIIII (14), Papilionidae VIII: Baronia, Euryades, Protographium, Neographium, Eurytides. Edited by Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Keltern: Goecke & Evers; Canterbury: Hillside Books. ISBN 978-3-931374-87-7 All species and subspecies are included, also most of the forms. Several females are shown the first time in colour.


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