Graphium policenes

Graphium policenes, the common swordtail or small striped swordtail, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae (swallowtails). It is found in tropical Africa.^[2][3]

Small striped swordtail
Dorsal side
Ventral side both in Bobiri Forest, Ghana
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Graphium
Species:	G. policenes
Binomial name
Graphium policenes (Cramer, [1775]) [1]
Subspecies
See text
Synonyms
Papilio policenes Cramer, 1775 Papilio pompilius Herbst, 1788 Papilio agapenor Fabricius, 1793 Papilio scipio Palisot de Beauvois, 1805 Papilio polixenus Godart, 1819 Papilio policenes laurentia Le Cerf, 1924 Papilio (Cosmodesmus) policenes policenes f. guineensis Dufrane, 1946 Graphium policenes f. coussementi Berger, 1960

The wingspan is 55–60 mm in males and 60–65 mm in females. The species has continuous broods during warmer months.^[3]

The larvae feed on Uvaria caffra, Artabotrys monteiroae, Uvaria bukobensis, Uvara chamae, Landolphia buchannani, Landolphia ugandensis, Polyalthia species, Annona reticulata, Annona senegalensis, Annona squamosa, and Monanthotaxis caffra.^[2][3]

Subspecies

• Graphium policenes policenes (Sub-Saharan Africa)
• Graphium policenes telloi Hecq, 1999^[4] (Nigeria, northern Cameroon, Central African Republic, southern Sudan)

Gallery

• 
  Dorsal view, from Papillions exotiques (1779)
• 
  Ventral view
• 
  Mounted specimen, at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano
• 
  Puddling
  Bobiri Forest, Ghana

Similar species

It is very similar to Graphium policenoides and Graphium liponesco ^[5] It is the nominal member of the policenes -clade (policenes, Graphium liponesco, Graphium biokoensis, Graphium policenoides, Graphium porthaon.)

Taxonomy

Aurivillius in Seitz places policenes (policenoides), nigrescens ,sisenna (polistratus), polistratus, junodi, porthaon and collona in the Policenes Group Subgroup 2 circumscribed Hindwing with a long, narrow tail of uniform width at vein 4. Frons black with white lateral margins. Wings above with green or greenish white markings. Cell of the forewing with 5 — 6 transverse bands or spots. Both wings with submarginal spots. Hindwing beneath with a so-called ornamental band, formed of red spots. Besides the markings already mentioned the forewing has a spot at the base of cellules 1 a and 1 b, an oblique transverse streak in the basal part of these cellules and 8 discal spots, one each in cellules 1 a — 6 and 8; the hindwing has a narrow transverse band at the base, a narrow median band which consists only of three spots (in the cell and in cellules 2 and 7) and usually also 7 discal spots in cellules 1 c -7, of 'which, however, that in 1 c is red. The larva has four pairs of spines, one pair each on the 1., 2., 3. and penultimate segments. The pupa is very angularly widened at the beginning of the abdomen and has a long hump on the mesothorax. Subgroup 2.The apical fourth of the cell of the hindwing above unicolorous black without light spot. The cell of the forewing with a light spot or dot at the costal margin close before the apex. ^[6] External images from Royal Museum of Central Africa.