Graphium antiphates (Fivebar Swordtail)

Graphium antiphates, also called Fivebar Swordtail is a very nice butterfly from Australasia / Indomalaya ecozone (Australia). The first description was in 1775 by Cramer. The wingspan is about 7.0 – 8.0 cm. The Fivebar Swordtail is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE. The butterfly is white with some black stripes on the wing. Hind wings have long tails.

Photos for easy identification

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

These are nice photos of Graphium antiphates (Fivebar Swordtail). Graphium antiphates is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE from Australasia / Indomalaya ecozone (Australia).

Description

The fore wings are white. There are six black stripes on wing. The margin is black. Nearby the body and around the largest black strip there is a greenish area.
The underside is a copy of upside, but the greenish areas are darker.

The hind wings are white and have very long tails. The margin is ridged and black. Some black spots from underside show through the wing. In back there is an isolate black spot.
The underside is very colourful. Nearby the body the wing is green with black stripes and spots. The rest of wing is yellowish and contain a chain of orange spots an some little black spots. At the margin there are some black spots.

The body is black, but the underside is whitish.

Sex differences: None.

Distribution

The Fivebar Swordtail (Graphium antiphates) is a butterfly of the Australasia / Indomalaya ecozone (Australia) and the Palaearctic ecozone (Asiea). The distribution extend from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, India and Mongolia.

: This world map shows the ecozones in which this butterfly is distributed.

Larval food

Annonaceae:

Desmos cochinchinensis
Desmos lawii
Melodorum siamensis
Uvaria curtisii
Uvaria grandiflora
Uvaria microcarpa

Magnoliaceae:

Michelia champaca

General information

The first description of this butterfly was in 1775 by Cramer. There are some subspecies.

Graphium antiphates alcibiades [Fruhstorfer]
Graphium antiphates antiphonus [Fruhstorfer]
Graphium antiphates balius [Jordan]
Graphium antiphates ceylonicus [Eimer]
Graphium antiphates itamputi [Butler, 1885]
Graphium antiphates kalaoensis [Rothschild]
Graphium antiphates naira [Moore]
Graphium antiphates pompilius [Fabricius, 1787]
Graphium antiphates pulauensis [Eliot, 1983]

Protection provisions / Red List

CITES: (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora):

-no entry- (as at 14.06.2006)
EU regulation on trading with species of wild Fauna and Flora

-no entry- (as at 19.08.2005)
IUCN Red List of threatened species:

-no entry- (as at 2004) (see: www. redlist.org/)