Papilio palinurus

Papilio palinurus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Papilio
Species:	P. palinurus
Binomial name
Papilio palinurus Fabricius, 1787

Papilio palinurus, common name Emerald Swallowtail, Emerald Peacock, or Green-banded Peacock, is a butterfly of the genus Papilio belonging to the Papilionidae family.

Subspecies

There are several subspecies (from Burma, Borneo, Indonesia, Nias and the Philippines).

• Papilio palinurus palinurus - Burma, Malaysia Borneo
• Papilio palinurus auffenbergi (Bauer & Frankenbach, 1998) - Indonesia
• Papilio palinurus nymphodorus (Fruhstorfer) - Island of Basilan
• Papilio palinurus adventus (Fruhstorfer) - Island of Nias
• Papilio palinurus daedalus (C. & R. Felder, 1861) - Philippines
• Papilio palinurus angustatus (Staudinger, 1888) - Island of Palawan Philippines

Etymology

The genus name Papilio comes from the Latin word papilio meaning butterfly. The species name palinurus derives from Palinurus, the name of the pilot of Aeneas's boat in the Latin epic poem, written by Virgil.

Description

Ventral view of Papilio palinurus

Papilio palinurus has a wingspan reaching about 8–10 centimetres (3.1–3.9 in). This species is one of the very few green butterflies, that are unusual in nature. The dorsal sides of the wings are covered by a powder of green scales and the background vary from dark greenish to black, with broad bright emerald green metallic bands. The undersides are black with orange, white and blue spots along the edges of hind wings, that show extended tails at the end.

The flight of these butterflies is swift and quite fast. Caterpillars feed on plants of genus Euodia belonging to the Rutaceae, commonly known as the rue or citrus family.

The iridescent green sheen of the bands of this butterfly is not produced by pigments, but it is created by the microstructure of the wing scales. They refract the light and give rise to blue and yellow visible reflections, producing the perception of green colour when additively mixed.

Distribution

This species can be found primarily in South East Asia, particularly in Burma - Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Indonesia (Simeulue), Basilan, Island of Nias, Philippines (Palawan, Balabac, Cuyo, Busuanga, Dumaran).

Habitat

Papilio palinurus lives in asian primary forests.

Gallery

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  Specimen from Musée zoologique de Strasbourg

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  Dorsal view of Papilio palinurus

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  Ventral view

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  Dorsal view of Papilio palinurus

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  Papilio palinurus

References

• Matija Crne, Vivek Sharma, John Blair, Jung Ok Park, Christopher J. Summers and Mohan Srinivasarao - Biomimicry of optical microstructures of Papilio palinurus - EPL -Volume 93, Number 1, January 2011
• P. Vukusic, J.R. Sambles & C.R. Lawrence (2000) "Structural colour: Colour mixing in wing scales of a butterfly" Nature vol. 404, p. 457
• Zipcodezoo
• Biolib
• Funet.fi

External links

• Encyclopedia of Life
• Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory