Parides phosphorus

Parides phosphorus is a butterfly from Neotropic ecozone (South America). The first description was in 1861 by Bates. The wingspan is about 7 – 9 cm. Parides phosphorus is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE. The basic colour of this butterfly is dark-brown or black. Red spots and yellow-green areas dominate the wings. The hind wings have no tails.

Photos for easy identification

Photo © by Naturhistorisches Museum Wien; Photographer Thomas Neubauer

Photo © by Naturhistorisches Museum Wien; Photographer Thomas Neubauer

Here you can see some photos of Parides phosphorus (male). Parides phosphorus is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE from Neotropic ecozone (South America).

Description

The fore wings are dark-brown or black. Next to the body there is a yellow-green area with yellow spots.
The underside of Parides phosphorus is dark-brown. Three yellow spots dominate the wing.

The hind wings of Parides phosphorus are black. The edge is wavy. Three red spots dominate the wing. The red spots have a structure-colour.
The underside is dark-brown. A chain of red spots dominates the wing.

The body (abdomen) is black. The thorax is black. The head is black with red spots. The underside of all parts is black and it has red spots.

Sex differences: ---

Distribution

Parides phosphorus is a butterfly from the Neotropic (South America) ecozone. You can observe this butterfly from Argentina until Peru and Brazil.

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

Larval food

Aristolochiaceae:

Aristolochia sp.

General information

The first description of this butterfly was in 1861 by Bates. There are four subspecies.

Parides phosphorus gratianus [Hewitson, 1861]
Parides phosphorus laurae [Bollino & Costa, 2004]
Parides phosphorus vavi [Racheli, 1992]
Parides phosphorus zopyron [Lamas, 1998]

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-