Papilio menestheus

Papilio menestheus
in the Bobiri Forest, Ghana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Papilio
Species:	P. menestheus
Binomial name
Papilio menestheus Drury, 1773
Synonyms
Papilio menestheus ab. pygmaeus Aurivillius, 1899 Papilio menestheus ab. unimaculatus Strand, 1914 Papilio menestheus v. lormieri ab. latefasciatus Schultze, 1917

Papilio menestheus, the western emperor swallowtail, is a species of swallowtail butterfly from the genus Papilio that is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.

The larvae feed on Citrus species and Fagara macrophylla.

Taxonomy

Papilio menestheus is the nominal member of the menestheus species group. The members of the clade are:

• Papilio menestheus Drury, 1773
• Papilio lormieri Distant, 1874
• Papilio ophidicephalus Oberthür, 1878

Subspecies

• Papilio menestheus menestheus (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, western Cameroon)
• Papilio menestheus canui Gauthier, 1984 (Equatorial Guinea)