| Cream striped swordtail | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Papilionidae |
| Genus: | Graphium |
| Species: | G. porthaon |
| Binomial name | |
| Graphium porthaon (Hewitson, 1865) | |
| Subspecies | |
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See text | |
| Synonyms | |
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Graphium porthaon, the coastal swordtail, cream-striped swordtail or dark swordtail, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae, found in tropical western Africa.
The wingspan is 55–60 mm in males and 60–65 mm in females. External images from Royal Museum of Central Africa.The species has continuous broods during warmer months.
The larvae feed on Artabotrys monteiroae, Annona, Uvaria, Friesodielsia obovata, Cleistochlamys kirkii, Monodora junodii, Monanthotaxis caffra, Uvaria caffra, and Uvaria kirkii.
Subspecies
- Graphium porthaon porthaon (Hewitson, 1865) (coast of Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland)
- Graphium porthaon tanganyikae Kielland, 1978 (Tanzania: Kigoma district)
- Graphium porthaon mackiei Collins & Larsen, 1991 (Kenya, Tanzania)
Taxonomy
It is a member of the Graphium policenes-clade (policenes, Graphium liponesco, Graphium biokoensis, Graphium policenoides, Graphium porthaon.)
Aurivillius in Seitz places porthaon, policenes,sisenna (polistratus), polistratus, junodi, nigrescens (policenoides) and collona in the Policenes Group Subgroup 2 circumscribed Hindwing with a long, narrow tail of uniform width at vein 4. Frons black with white lateral margins. Wings above with green or greenish white markings. Cell of the forewing with 5 — 6 transverse bands or spots. Both wings with submarginal spots. Hindwing beneath with a so-called ornamental band, formed of red spots. Besides the markings already mentioned the forewing has a spot at the base of cellules 1 a and 1 b, an oblique transverse streak in the basal part of these cellules and 8 discal spots, one each in cellules 1 a — 6 and 8; the hindwing has a narrow transverse band at the base, a narrow median band which consists only of three spots (in the cell and in cellules 2 and 7) and usually also 7 discal spots in cellules 1 c -7, of 'which, however, that in 1 c is red. The larva has four pairs of spines, one pair each on the 1., 2., 3. and penultimate segments. The pupa is very angularly widened at the beginning of the abdomen and has a long hump on the mesothorax. Subgroup 2.The apical fourth of the cell of the hindwing above unicolorous black without light spot. The cell of the forewing with a light spot or dot at the costal margin close before the apex.
References
- Hewitson, W.C. in in Hewitson,W.C. . Illustrations of new species of exotic butterflies 3: 4 . London.
- ^ Graphium, funet.fi
- ^ Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
- Kielland, J. 1978. A provisional checklist of the Rhopalocera of the eastern side of Lake Tanganyika. Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 121 (4): 147-237.
- Collins , S.C. and Larsen, T.B. 1991. Description of new genera, species, and subspecies discovered as part of the research for the book The butterflies of Kenya and their natural history. in Larsen-T, B The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History. Oxford University Press, Oxford: i-xxi, 1-490
- Aurivillius, C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Carcasson, R.H. 1960 "The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society pdf Key to East Africa members of the species group, diagnostic and other notes and figures. (Permission to host granted by The East Africa Natural History Society
Data related to Graphium porthaon at Wikispecies
| Taxon identifiers | |
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| Graphium porthaon | |
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