Papilio pelaus

Papilio pelaus, the prickly ash swallowtail, is a species of Neotropical swallowtail butterfly from the genus Papilio that is found in Jamaica, Hispaniola, Cuba and Puerto Rico.[1]

Papilio pelaus
P. p. pelaus at Strawberry Hill, Jamaica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Papilionidae
Genus:
Papilio
Species:
P. pelaus
Binomial name
Papilio pelaus
Fabricius, 1775
Synonyms
  • Papilio ornofagus Weidemeyer, 1863
  • Papilio imerius Godart, 1819
  • Papilio augias Ménétriés, 1832

Description

With spatulate tail. Sexes similar, but the markings in the female somewhat enlarged and on the hindwing more numerous than in the male. Black, forewing with oblique white band from the costa to the anal angle: hindwing with complete (female) or incomplete (male) row of pale red submarginal spots: beneath there are usually also small discal spots present, which sometimes in the female also occur above.[2]

Subspecies
  • Papilio pelaus pelaus (Jamaica)
  • Papilio pelaus imerius Godart, 1819 (Hispaniola) the band of the forewing is narrower anteriorly, on the other hand its last spot is on the whole broader than in the nominate and the spots on the hindwing are smaller.
  • Papilio pelaus atkinsi Bates, 1935 (Cuba)
  • Papilio pelaus puertoricoensis (Möhn, 1999) (Puerto Rico)

See also

References
  1. Papilio at Funet
  2. Jordan, K., in Seitz, A. (1907). The Macrolepidoptera of the World. 5: The Macrolepidoptera of the American faunistic region. Papilionidae 1-45
  • Lewis, H. L., 1974 Butterflies of the World ISBN 0-245-52097-X Page 25, figure 9
  • F. Martin Brown and Bernard Heineman, Jamaica and its Butterflies (E. W. Classey, London 1972), plate VIII


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