Papilio thoas

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Papilionidae

'The Papilionidae belong to the Superfamily Papilionoidea, the true butterflies. Swallowtails are worldwide in distribution and comprise approximately 560 species. They are richest in the tropics, and their brilliant colors make them favorites of butterfly enthusiasts. Many swallowtail species, especially in the tropics, mimic other butterflies that are distasteful, while others are distasteful and cause birds and other vertebrate predators to regurgitate. Swallowtail adults are medium to large and may or may not have tails, while parnassian adults are medium, tailless, and have translucent wings . All adult parnassians and swallowtails have three pairs of walking legs , and adults of all species visit flowers for nectar.

'[1]

Subfamily Papilioninae

Swallowtails are members of the Family Papilionidae. They comprise about 560 species, have a worldwide distribution, and are richest in the tropics. Many are brilliantly colored and are favorites of butterfly enthusiasts. Many species, especially those in the tropics, mimic other butterflies that are distasteful, while others are distasteful and cause birds and other vertebrate predators to regurgitate. Adults are medium to large, may or may not have tails, and have three pairs of walking legs . Adults of all species visit flowers for nectar. Males of most species patrol for mates, while males of one group (Black, Old World, Anise, and Indra Swallowtails) perch on hilltops or ridges instead of patrolling . Swallowtails lay globular eggs and overwinter as pupae. Some species spend more than one year in the pupal stage, likely to survive drought years when little caterpillar food is available. In arid areas, the Black, Anise, and Indra Swallowtails often display this strategy.

Physical Description

Habitat

Mid-elevation tropical forests and lowland edges .

Biology

Diet

Caterpillar hosts: Plants in the citrus family (Rutaceae) including Citrus spp. , prickly ash (Zanthoxylum americanum), hop tree (Ptelea trifoliata); six species in the Piperaceae family. Adult food: Flower nectar, including lantana, cesalpina, and bougainvilla.

Reproduction

Caterpillars resemble bird droppings and rest exposed on leaves.

Behavior

Flight: Year-round in the tropics, April-July in south Texas.

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Papilio Thoas Autocles • Papilio thoas autocles Rothschild • Papilio thoas autocles Rothschild & Jordan • Papilio thoas brasiliensis Rothschild & Jordan • Papilio thoas nealces Rothschild & Jordan

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Comment: ST

Last scrutiny: 20-Jan-2007

Similar Species

Members of the genus Papilio

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 81 species and subspecies in this genus:

P. aegus (Citrus Swallowtail) · P. anchisiades (Ruby-Spotted Swallowtail) · P. andraemon (Bahaman Swallowtail) · P. androgeus (Androgeus Swallowtail) · P. antimachus (African Giant Swallowtail) · P. appalachiensis (Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail) · P. aristodemus (Schaus' Swallowtail) · P. aristodemus ponceanus (Papilio Aristodemus) · P. aristor (Scarce Haitian Swallowtail) · P. astyalus (Broad-Banded Swallowtail) · P. brevicauda (Short-Tailed Swallowtail) · P. brevicauda bretonensis (Short-Tailed Swallowtail) · P. brevicauda brevicauda (Short-Tailed Swallowtail) · P. brevicauda gaspeensis (Short-Tailed Swallowtail) · P. caiguanabus (Poey's Black Swallowtail) · P. canadensis (Canadian Tiger Swallowtail) · P. chikae (Luzon Peacock Swallowtail) · P. cresphontes (Giant Swallowtail) · P. cyproeofila (Common White-Banded Swallowtail) · P. demodocus (Citrus Swallowtail) · P. demodocus demodocus (Citrus Swallowtail Butterfly) · P. demoleus (Checkered Swallowtail Butterfly) · P. echerioides (White-Banded Swallowtail) · P. eurymedon (Pale Swallowtail) · P. garamas abderus (Abderus Swallowtail) · P. garamus (Magnificent Swallowtail) · P. glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail) · P. glaucus australis (Tiger Swallowtail) · P. glaucus canadensis (Canadian Tiger Swallowtail) · P. glaucus garcia (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail) · P. glaucus glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail) · P. homerus (Homerus Swallowtail) · P. hospiton (Corsican Swallowtail) · P. hyppason (Hyppason Swallowtail) · P. indra (Indra Swallowtail) · P. indra calcicola (Indra Swallowtail) · P. indra fordi (Ford's Swallowtail) · P. indra kaibabensis (Grand Canyon Swallowtail) · P. indra martini (Martin's Swallowtail) · P. indra minori (Minor's Swallowtail) · P. indra panamintensis (Panamint Swallowtail) · P. indra pergamus (Edwards' Swallowtail) · P. indra phyllisae (Indra Swallowtail) · P. indra pygmaeus (Indra Swallowtail) · P. joanae (Ozark Swallowtail) · P. jordani (Jordan's Swallowtail) · P. leucotaenia (Cream-Banded Swallowtail) · P. machaon (Old World Swallowtail) · P. machaon aliaska (Alaskan Old World Swallowtail) · P. machaon bairdii (Baird's Swallowtail) · P. machaon hudsonianus (Hudsonian Old World Swallowtail) · P. machaon oregonius (Oregon Swallowtail) · P. memnon (Great Mormon Butterfly) · P. menatius (Menatius Swallowtail) · P. morondavana (Madagascan Emperor Swallowtail) · P. multicaudata (Two-Tailed Swallowtail) · P. multicaudata multicaudata (Two-Tailed Swallowtail) · P. multicaudatus (Two-Tailed Swallowtail) · P. ornythion (Ornythion Swallowtail) · P. palamedes (Palamedes Swallowtail) · P. palinurus (Emerald Swallowtail) · P. phorbanta (Papillon La Pature) · P. pilumnus (Three-Tailed Swallowtail) · P. polytes (Common Mormon) · P. polyxenes (Black Swallowtail) · P. polyxenes asterius (Black Swallowtail) · P. polyxenes coloro (Desert Black Swallowtail) · P. polyxenes asterius f. pseudoamericus (Black Swallowtail) · P. rogeri (Pink-Spotted Swallowtail) · P. rogeri pharnaces (Pink-Spotted Swallowtail) · P. rumanzovia (Scarlet Mormon Swallowtail) · P. rutulus (Western Tiger Swallowtail) · P. sjoestedti (Kilimanjaro Swallowtail) · P. thoas (Thoas Swallowtail) · P. torquatus (Torquatus Swallowtail) · P. troilus (Coastal Spicebush Swallowtail) · P. victorine (Victorine Swallowtail) · P. victorinus (Victorine Swallowtail) · P. xuthus (Xuthus Swallowtail) · P. zelicaon (Anise Swallowtail) · P. zelicaon nitra (Nitra Swallowtail)

More Info

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Further Reading

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• A manual for the study of insects. Rev. ed. By John Henry Comstock, and Anna Botsford Comstock, and Glenn W. Herrick. Ithaca, N. Y., Comstock Pub. Co., 1930. url p. 1.
• A manual of North American butterflies by Charles J. Maynard. Boston: De Wolfe, Fiske, 1891. url .
• A year of Costa Rican natural history, by Amelia Smith Calvert. .. and Philip Powell Calvert. .. with maps and illustrations. New York, The Macmillan company, 1917. url p. 179.
• An introduction to entomology, by John Henry Comstock. Ithaca, New York, The Comstock publishing co., inc., 1933. url p. 101, p. 1033, p. 173.
• An introduction to entomology. Ithaca, N.Y., Comstock, 1949. url p. 101, p. 1052, p. 173.
• Annual report / Albany: University of the State of New York, 1902-1918. url p. 64.
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• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. url p. 396.
• Annual report of the Ohio State Academy of Science. Columbus: The Academy, 1893-1930. url p. 25.
• Annual report of the Quebec Society for the Protection of Plants from Insects and Fungous Diseases. Quebec: The Society, 1909-1920. url p. 10.
• As nature shows them: moths and butterflies of the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains: with over 400 photographic illustrations in the text and many transfers of species from life / by Sherman F. Denton. Boston: J.B. Millet, c1900. url p. 11, p. 345, p. 346.
• Bibliographical catalogue of the described tranformations of North American Lepidoptera by Henry Edwards. Washington: G.P.O., 1889. url .
• Bibliography (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) / Charles A. Bridges. Urbana, Ill.: C.A. Bridges, c1993. url p. 119.
• Bibliography of the more important contributions to American economic entomology. Washington: Govt. print. off., 1889-1905. url p. 146, p. 151.
• Birds and nature. Chicago, Ill.: A.W. Mumford, Publisher, 1900-1907. url p. 71.
• Brief guide to the commoner butterflies of the northern United States and Canada being an introduction to a knowledge of their life histories / by Samuel Hubbard Scudder. New York: H. Holt, 1893. url .
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• Bulletin - State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut. [Hartford]State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut, 1904- url p. 339, p. 472.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url p. 12.
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• Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society. Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Society, url , p. 22.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 78 1935 Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1863- url p. 104, p. 109, p. 110.
• Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick. St. John, N. B., Natural History Society of New Brunswick. url p. 120.
• Bulletin of the Wisconsin Natural History Society. Milwaukee, The Society, [1900-1920] url p. 9.
• Butterflies worth knowing / by Clarence M. Weed; illustrated by forty-eight plates, thirty-two in color. [Garden City, N.Y.]Pub. by Doubleday, Page & Company for Nelson Doubleday, 1923 [c1917] url p. 285, p. 62.
• Catalogue of the described Lepidoptera of North America. Prepared for the Smithsonian Institution / By John G. Morris. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1860. url p. 7.
• Edge of the jungle, Garden City, N. Y., Garden City Publishing Co., Inc.[1921] url .
• Edge of the jungle, by William Beebe. .. New York: H. Holt and Company, 1921. url , .
• Entomologica Americana. [Lawrence, Kan., etc.]New York Entomological Society [etc.] url p. 84.
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• Entomology, with special reference to its ecological aspects, by Justus Watson Folsom. .. Philadelphia, P. Blakiston's Son & Co.[c1922] url p. 196, p. 213.
• Entomology: with special reference to its ecological aspects / by Justus Watson Folsom. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son, c1922. url p. 196.
• Guide to the insects of Connecticut, prepared under the direction of Wilton Everett Britton. .. Hartford, Printed for The State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1911-27. url p. 339, p. 472.
• Hardwicke's science-gossip: an illustrated medium of interchange and gossip for students and lovers of nature. London: Robert Hardwicke, 1866- url p. 96.
• How to know the butterflies; a manual of the butterflies of the eastern United States, New York, D. Appleton, 1904. url , , .
• Hymenoptera Orientalis: or contributions to a knowledge of the Hymenoptera of the Oriental zoological region. Manchester: Literary and Philosophical Society, 1889-1903. url p. 59.
• Illustrations of exotic entomology: containing upwards of six hundred and fifty figures and descriptions of foreign insects, interspersed with remarks and reflections on their nature and properties / by Dru Drury. London: Henry G. Bohn. .., 1837. url p. 40, p. 40.
• Index to the literature of American economic entomology. Melrose Highlands, Mass. [etc.], American Association of Economic Entomologists [etc.], 1917-62. url p. 156, p. 226, p. 230, p. 264.
• Insects affecting park and woodland trees / by Ephraim Porter Felt. Albany: New York State Education Department, 1905-06. url p. 510, p. 554, p. 729, p. 729, p. 827, p. 835, p. 850, p. 850.
• Insects injurious to fruits / By William Saunders. Illustrated with four hundred and forty wood-cuts. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1889. url p. 427.
• Insects injurious to fruits. By William Saunders. .. Illustrated with four hundred and forty wood-cuts. Philadelphia [etc.]J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1883. url p. 427, p. 427.
• Journal of economic entomology. [College Park, Md., etc.]Entomological Society of America [etc.] url p. 154, p. 423.
• Journal of the Field Naturalists' Club. Port-of-Spain: Field Naturalists' Club, 1892-1896 url p. 267.
• Museum bulletin / New York State Museum. Albany, N.Y.: University of the State of New York, 1908-1916. url p. 64.
• Narrative of an expedition to the source of St. Peter's river, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, &c., performed in the year 1823, . .. under the command of Stephen H. Long. Compiled from the notes of Major Long, Messrs. Say, Keating, and Calhoun, by William H. Keating. Philadelphia, H. C. Carey & I. Lea, 1824. url p. 76.
• Nature neighbors, containing articles by Gerald Alan Abbott, Dr. Albert Schneider, William Kerr Higley...and other eminent naturalists. Ed. by Nathaniel Moore Banta: six hundred forty-eight full-page color plates, con 5 1914 Chicago, American Audobon association[c1914] url plate .
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• The butterflies of the eastern United States and Canada: with special reference to New England / By Samuel Hubbard Scudder. Cambridge: The author, 1889. url p. 1327.
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Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed March 27, 2012.
• GloBIS (GART)
• GloBIS (GART): Global Butterfly Information System. Release date: November 23, 2008
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 03, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from provider.
• LepIndex: The Global Lepidoptera Names Index
• Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Mountain Prairie Information Node. March 26, 2007.
• Opler, Paul A., Kelly Lotts, and Thomas Naberhaus, coordinators. 2009. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Big Sky Institute. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ (Version of April 17, 2009).
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 03, 2008:

• University of Helsinki, Department of Applied Biology: Rancho Grande

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2631156
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Gar-249
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 165520

Footnotes

1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=14&sci=Papilionidae&com=Parnassians and Swallowtails [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.