Red-bodied swallowtails are butterflies in the swallowtail family, that belong to the genera Atrophaneura, Byasa, Losaria, or Pachliopta. They are generally found in Asia (Indomalaya ecozone).
Collectors have found the red-bodied swallowtails difficult to kill. Pinching the thorax, a method which kills most butterflies, is withstood and apparently only stuns the butterfly temporarily.
The eggs are simple. The larvae resemble those of other Troidini. Fleshy spine-like tubercles, often with red tips, line the caterpillars' backs, and their bodies are dark red to brown and velvety black or shades of grey with a pattern of black lines. They feed on species of Aristolochia and Thottea. Chrysalids are camouflaged to look like a dead leaf or twig. They are attached by a girdle and an anal pad. Adults are nectar feeding.
Many species of red-bodied swallowtails show aposematism, and serve as models for Batesian mimicry. The biology of Pachliopta hector and Pachliopta aristolochiae are well studied.
Species limits may be either narrow (many species - forma and subspecies raised to full or "good" species) or broad (fewer species - rank reduction) see Jürgen Haffer for a discussion.
Genera and species
Listed alphabetically within genera:
genus: Atrophaneura Reakirt, [1865] (earlier considered as subgenus Atrophaneura but now raised to genus level)
Atrophaneura aidoneus (Doubleday, 1845) — lesser batwingAtrophaneura dixoni (Grose-Smith, 1900)Atrophaneura horishana (Matsumura, 1910) — aurora swallowtailAtrophaneura kuehni (Honrath, 1886)Atrophaneura luchti (Roepke, 1935)Atrophaneura nox (Swainson, 1822) — Malayan batwingAtrophaneura priapus (Boisduval, 1836) — Priapus batwingAtrophaneura semperi (C. & R. Felder, 1861)Atrophaneura schadenbergi (Semper, 1891)Atrophaneura sycorax (Grose-Smith, 1885)Atrophaneura varuna (White, 1842) — common batwingAtrophaneura zaleucus (Hewitson, [1865])genus: Byasa Moore, 1882 (earlier considered as subgenus Byasa but now raised to genus level)
Byasa adamsoni (Grose-Smith, 1886) — Adamson's roseByasa alcinous (Klug, 1836) — Chinese windmillByasa crassipes (Oberthür, 1893) — black windmillByasa daemonius (Alphéraky, 1895)Byasa dasarada (Moore, 1857) — great windmillByasa hedistus (Jordan, 1928)Byasa impediens (Rothschild, 1895)Byasa laos (Riley & Godfrey, 1921)Byasa latreillei (Donovan, 1826) — rose windmillByasa mencius (C. & R. Felder, 1862)Byasa nevilli (Wood-Mason, 1882) — Nevill's windmillByasa plutonius (Oberthür, 1876) — Chinese windmillByasa polla (de Nicéville, 1897) — De Niceville's windmillByasa polyeuctes (Doubleday, 1842) — common windmillByasa rhadinus (Jordan, 1928)genus: Losaria Moore, [1902] (earlier considered as subgenus Losaria but now raised to genus level)
Losaria coon (Fabricius, 1793) — common clubtailLosaria palu (Martin, 1912) — Palu swallowtail - has been regarded a subspecies of A. coonLosaria rhodifer (Butler, 1876) — Andaman clubtailLosaria neptunus (Guérin-Méneville, 1840) — yellow-bodied club-tail or yellow club-tailgenus: Pachliopta Reakirt, [1865] (earlier considered as subgenus Pachliopta but now raised to genus level)
Pachliopta adamas (Zinken, 1831)Pachliopta aristolochiae (Fabricius, 1775) — common rosePachliopta antiphus (Fabricius, 1793)Pachliopta atropos (Staudinger, 1888)Pachliopta hector (Linnaeus, 1758) — crimson rosePachliopta jophon (Gray, [1853]) — Ceylon rose or Sri Lankan rosePachliopta kotzebuea (Eschscholtz, 1821) — pink rosePachliopta leytensis (Murayama, 1978)Pachliopta liris (Godart, 1819)Pachliopta mariae (Semper, 1878)Pachliopta oreon (Doherty, 1891)Pachliopta pandiyana (Moore, 1881) — Malabar rosePachliopta phlegon (C. & R. Felder, 1864)Pachliopta polydorus (Linnaeus, 1763) — red-bodied swallowtailPachliopta polyphontes (Boisduval, 1836)Pachliopta strandi (Bryk, 1930)
