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Papilio ophidicephalus

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Insecta

Family
  
Papilionidae

Scientific name
  
Papilio ophidicephalus

Phylum
  
Arthropoda

Order
  
Lepidoptera

Genus
  
Papilio

Rank
  
Subspecies

Papilio ophidicephalus Emperor Swallowtail Butterfly papilio ophidicephalus Flickr

Similar
  
Papilio lormieri, Papilio menestheus, Papilio constantinus, Papilio echerioides, Papilio hornimani

Papilio ophidicephalus


Papilio ophidicephalus, the emperor swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Contents

The wingspan is 90–110 mm in males and 100–120 mm in females. It has two broods, one from August to December and the second from January to April.

Papilio ophidicephalus Gallery Our Butterflies Butterfly World

The larvae feed on Clausena inqequalis, Calodendrum capense, Citrus species, Clausena anisata, Zanthoxylum capense and other Zanthoxylum species.

Taxonomy

Papilio ophidicephalus is a member of the menestheus species group. The members of the clade are:

  • Papilio menestheus Drury, 1773
  • Papilio lormieri Distant, 1874
  • Papilio ophidicephalus Oberthür, 1878

    • Subspecies

    Listed alphabetically:

    Papilio ophidicephalus httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

  • P. o. ayresi van Son, 1939 (South Africa, Swaziland)
  • P. o. chirinda van Son, 1939 (west-central Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe)
  • P. o. cottrelli van Son, 1966 (south-central Zambia)
  • P. o. entabeni van Son, 1939 (South Africa: Limpopo Province)
  • P. o. mkuwadzi Gifford, 1961 (south-western Tanzania, northern Malawi, north-eastern Zambia)
  • P. o. niassicola Storace, 1955 (southern and central Malawi)
  • P. o. ophidicephalus Oberthür, 1878 (eastern Kenya, Tanzania, north-eastern Zambia, south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • P. o. phalusco Suffert, 1904 (South Africa)
  • P. o. transvaalensis van Son, 1939 (South Africa: Limpopo Province)
  • P. o. zuluensis van Son, 1939 (South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal to the north-east)

    • Papilio ophidicephalus ButterflyCornernet Papilio ophidicephalus Emperor Swallowtail

    Papilio ophidicephalus ophidicephalus Emperor swallowtail

    Papilio ophidicephalus ButterflyCornernet Papilio ophidicephalus Emperor Swallowtail

    Papilio ophidicephalus Pophidicephalus

    Papilio ophidicephalus Pophidicephalus

    References

    Papilio ophidicephalus Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA