Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Graphium ridleyanus

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Insecta

Family
  
Papilionidae

Rank
  
Species

Phylum
  
Arthropoda

Order
  
Lepidoptera

Genus
  
Graphium

Graphium ridleyanus httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Similar
  
Graphium almansor, Graphium leonidas, Graphium illyris, Graphium hachei, Graphium latreillianus

Graphium ridleyanus, the acraea swordtail, is a butterfly in the family Papilionidae (swallowtails). It is found in eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, southern Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, western Tanzania and Zambia. Its habitat consists of the forest/savanna transition zone.

Contents

Adults mimic large brush-footed butterflies of the Acraea genus, such as Acraea egina and Acraea perenna. Males are known to mud-puddle.

The larvae feed on Popowia congoensis

Ecozone

Afrotropical ecozone

Etymology

The name honours "Mr. Ridley, a gentleman in the W African Coast Service whose love for our favourite science was displayed by a collection he made near the fort of Accra and sent to this country. He gave great promise of excelling in entomology, and fell a victim to the climate of W. Africa" according to Adam White, member of the entomological societies of London and Paris, assistant in the Zoology Department, British Museum, from: "Description of some apparently new Insects from the Congo, sent to England by Mr. Curror, Surgeon R. N., and the late Mr. John Cranch" (1843) Annals and Magazine of Natural History 12:262-268.

References

Graphium ridleyanus Wikipedia