Papilio thuraui

Papilio thuraui is a butterfly from Afrotropic ecozone (Africa). The first description was in 1900 by Karsch. The wingspan is about 9 – 10 cm. This butterfly is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE. The basic colour of Papilio thuraui is black. Blue spots dominate the wings.

Photos for easy identification

Photo © by Naturhistorisches Museum Wien; Photographer Thomas Neubauer

Photo © by Naturhistorisches Museum Wien; Photographer Thomas Neubauer

Photo © by Naturhistorisches Museum Wien; Photographer Thomas Neubauer

Photo © by Naturhistorisches Museum Wien; Photographer Thomas Neubauer

Here you can see some photos of Papilio thuraui (male above / female below). Papilio thuraui is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE from Afrotropic ecozone (Africa).

Description

The fore wings are black. A chain of blue spots dominates the wing.
The underside of Papilio thuraui is dark-brown. The wing tip is brown. Some yellow spots dominate the wing.

The hind wings of Papilio thuraui are black. The edge is very wavy. At the outer edge there is a chain of blue spots.
The underside is dark-brown. In the middle of the wing there is a brown band. At the outer edge there is a chain of yellow spots. At the inner edge there are two yellow spots.

The body (abdomen) is black. The thorax and the head are black. The underside of all parts is dark-brown.

Sex differences: The basic colour of the female is brown.

Distribution

Papilio thuraui is a butterfly from the Afrotropic (Africa) ecozone. You can observe this butterfly from Republic of the Congo until Tanzania.

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

Larval food

Rutaceae:

Toddalia

General information

The first description of this butterfly was in 1900 by Karsch. There are five subspecies.

Papilio thuraui cyclopis [Rothschild & Jordan, 1903]
Papilio thuraui heathi [Hancock, 1984]
Papilio thuraui ngorongoro [Hancock, 1984]9
Papilio thuraui occidua [Storace, 1951]
Papilio thuraui viphya [Hancock, 1984]

Protection provisions / Red List

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

-no entry-
EU regulation on trading with species of wild Fauna and Flora

-no entry-
IUCN Red List of threatened species:

-no entry-