Papilio phorcas, the apple-green swallowtail or green-banded swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Africa.
The larvae feed on Teclea nobilis, Teclea simplicifolia, Macrostylis villosa, Vepris, Calodendrum, Clausena, Citrus, Fagara and Toddalia species.
Description A tailed species. The ground colour is black, with green markings.
Taxonomy Papilio phorcas is a member of the dardanus species group. The members of the clade are:
Papilio dardanus Brown, 1776 Papilio constantinus Ward, 1871 Papilio delalandei Godart, Papilio phorcas Cramer, Papilio rex Oberthür, 1886
Subspecies P. p. phorcas (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria) P. p. ansorgei Rothschild, 1896.Rothschild, W. 1896. New Lepidoptera. Novitates Zoologicae 3: 322-328. (Kenya (highland forest east of the Rift Valley)) P. p. congoanus Rothschild, 1896 (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, northern Angola, Congo Republic, western Uganda, western Tanzania, northern Zambia) P. p. nyikanus Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 Rothschild, W. and Jordan, K. 1903. Some new African Papilios. Novitates Zoologicae 10: 488-490. (highland forest of north-eastern Zambia, Malawi and eastern Tanzania) P. p. ruscoei Krüger, 1928 Bryk. F. & Krüger, E.? 1927 Zool. Anz. 74:77. (in Lepindex) (eastern Uganda, Kenya (highlands west of the Rift Valley)) P. p. sudanicola Storace, 1965 Storace, L., 1965 J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist. Soc. Nat. Mus. 25 (1): 71 Full text (southern Sudan) P. p. tenuifasciatus Kielland, 1990Kielland, 1990 Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363 (northern Tanzania, Kenya) P. p. bardamu Canu, 1994 Canu, J.G. 1994. Souvenirs entomologiques d'Afrique et des iles voisines (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera). Lambillionea 94 (3) (Tome I): 311-320 (Bioko Island)
Biogeographic realm Afrotropical realm.
References
Carcasson, R.H. 1960 "The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society pdf Key to East Africa members of the species group, diagnostic and other notes and figures. (Permission to host granted by The East Africa Natural History Society)
Storace, L.,1955 Su alcune Papilionidae Africane, con descrizioni di nuove forme (Lepidoptera, Diurna). Memorie della Societa Entomologica Italiana 33:120-137.
External links
Butterfly Corner Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien