Papilio antimachus

Papilio antimachus, the African giant swallowtail, is a butterfly in the family Papilionidae. With a wingspan between 18 and 23 centimetres (7.1 and 9.1 in), it is the largest butterfly in Africa and among the largest butterflies in the world. The shape of the wings differ between the males and females.

African giant swallowtail
Male, upperside
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Papilio
Species:	P. antimachus
Binomial name
Papilio antimachus Drury, 1782 [1][2]
Synonyms
Drurya antimachus var. gigantea Watkins, 1899 Drurya antimachus ab. plagiata Stichel, 1903 Papilio antimachus f. parvus Reuss, 1922 Papilio antimachus f. karschi Reuss, 1922 Papilio antimachus f. rothschildiana Reuss, 1922 Papilio antimachus f. staudingeri Reuss, 1922 Papilio antimachus f. centrispila Le Cerf, 1924 Papilio antimachus f. melanescens Le Cerf, 1924 Papilio antimachus congolanus Dufrane, 1929 Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. vreuricki Dufrane, 1929 Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. pupillata Dufrane, 1929 Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. obsoleta Dufrane, 1929 Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. lagai Dufrane, 1929 Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. virgularia Dufrane, 1929 Papilio antimachus coffea Talbot, 1936 Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. burgeoni Dufrane, 1946

The wings are long and narrow and the ground colour is orange brown with black markings. P. antimachus live in the tropical rainforests of west and central Africa. The distribution area (range) stretches from Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. It is much rarer in the west of its range (Guinea to Cameroon) than in the eastern parts of its range. It probably stays in forest canopy but males come down to mud-puddle. The male is larger than the female and can be seen in groups at nectar. The females show themselves less, continually flying high above the treetops. It has been seen hill-topping in Liberia.^[3] The butterfly may have no natural enemies because it is very toxic and advertises it with a resemblance of other similar butterflies including the much smaller Acraea. The larval foodplant is unknown and nothing is published on the early stages (egg, larva, pupa). Cardiac glycosides found in the Imago by Miriam Rothschild^[4] indicate that the so-far unidentified larva, most probably, sequesters foodplant toxins which persist through pupation into the imago as an aposematic protection against predation, and therefore that the larval foodplant is probably an asclepiad vine.

The type specimen was probably collected by Henry Smeathman from whose collections it was described by Dru Drury. The specimens were later bought by Alexander Macleay (1767–1848).^[5]

Subspecies

• Papilio antimachus antimachus — Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, southern Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, western Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, northern Angola
• Papilio antimachus parva Jackson, 1956 — eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda^[6][7]

• 
  1. dorsal view of male imago
  2. lateral view of male imago
  3. wing venation of female
  4. magnified head of male

  Illustrated by Rippon (1894)
• 
  1. dorsal view of female imago
  2. lateral view of female imago
  3. lateral view of male imago
  4. wing venation of male

  Illustrated by Rippon (1894)

References

1. Drury, D. 1782. Illustrations of Natural History 3: xxvi, 1-769 + 2pp. London.
2. Papilio, Site of Markku Savela
3. Sáfián, Sz. (2013). Observation of hill-topping behaviour by the Giant African Swallowtail - Papilio antimachus Drury, 1782 and other recent records from Liberia (West Africa) (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Shilap Revista de Lepidopterología. 41(163):323-329.
4. Rothschild, Miriam; Reichstein, T.; von Euw, J.; Aplin, R.; Harman, R.R.M. (1970). "Toxic lepidoptera". Toxicon. 8 (4): 293–296. doi:10.1016/0041-0101(70)90006-1.
5. Coleman, D.; Blackburn, R. (2017). "Eighteenth-century West African insects in the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney". Archives of Natural History. 44 (2): 356–362. doi:10.3366/anh.2017.0455. ISSN 0260-9541.
6. Jackson, 1956 Notes on the Rhopalocera of the Kigezi District of Uganda with descriptions of new species and subspecies J. E Afr. Nat. Hist. Soc. 23 (1) : 63-102, pl. 1-13 Full text
7. "Afrotropical Butterflies: File C – Papilionidae - Tribe Papilionini". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2012-05-09.

External links

• Butterflycorner Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
• Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests - WWF Terrestrial Ecoregions