Papilio androgeus (Queen Swallowtail, Androgeus Swallowtail)

Papilio androgeus, also called Queen Swallowtail is a nice butterfly from Neotropic ecozone (South America). The first description was in 1775 by Cramer. With a wingspan of 11.0 – 12.0 cm Papilio androgeus is a big member of the family PAPILIONIDAE. The butterfly is black with chartreuse areas on wings. Hind wings have 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 Papilio androgeus (Queen Swallowtail) (female). Papilio androgeus is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE from Neotropic ecozone (South America).

Description

The forewings are black. At the wing leading edge there is a small, yellowish area.
The underside is a copy of upside, but the ground is dark brown.

The hind wings are black and have tails. The margin is ridged. At the margin there are two chains of small yellowish spots. There is a big chartreuse area in the middle of wing. In back there is a red eye.
The underside is dark brown. At the margin there are one chain of small yellowish spots and one chain of small bluish spots. Furthermore there is a chain of big red spots.

The body is black, but there is a yellow line at side.

Sex differences: The male is smaller than the female. It has a broad, yellow band on forewings and hind wings.

Distribution

The Queen Swallowtail (Papilio androgeus) is a butterfly of the Neotropic ecozone (South America). The distribution include the whole ecozone without Venezuela, Guyana and Chile.

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

Larval food

Rutaceae:

Choisya dumosa
Citrus aurantium
Citrus reticulata
Citrus sinensis
Zanthoxylum americanum
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
Zanthoxylum elephantiasis
Zanthoxylum fagara
Zanthoxylum setulosum

General information

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

Papilio androgeus epidaurus [Godman & Salvin, 1890]
Papilio androgeus laodocus [Fabricius]

The female is very covert, but you can often run across a male.

Protection provisions / Red List

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

-no entry- (as at 23.06.2005)
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/)