Papilio chrapkowskii

Papilio chrapkowskii, the broad green-banded swallowtail or Chrapkowski's green-banded swallowtail, is a species of swallowtail butterfly from the genus Papilio that is found in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.^[2]

Broad green-banded swallowtail
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Papilio
Species:	P. chrapkowskii
Binomial name
Papilio chrapkowskii Suffert, 1904 [1]
Synonyms
Papilio bromius var. brontia Strand, 1911 Papilio bromius chrapkowskii ab. obliterata Dufrane, 1946 Papilio bromius chrapkowskii ab. addenda Storace, 1951

The larvae feed on Vepris species.

Description

The ground colour is black and the light areas greenish blue. The submarginal spots on forewings below are well developed. The hindwing verso is strongly mottled with silky purplish brown.The blue spot in the cell of the forewing above reaches basad about to the middle of cellule 2; forewing beneath with large yellowish submarginal spots in cellules 1 b—4. British East Africa: Nairobi.^[3]

Taxonomy

Papilio chrapkowskii belongs to a clade called the nireus species group with 15 members. The pattern is black with green or blue bands and spots and the butterflies, although called swallowtails lack tails with the exception of Papilio charopus and Papilio hornimani. The clade members are:

• Papilio aristophontes Oberthür, 1897
• Papilio nireus Linnaeus, 1758
• Papilio charopus Westwood, 1843
• Papilio chitondensis de Sousa & Fernandes, 1966
• Papilio chrapkowskii Suffert, 1904
• Papilio chrapkowskoides Storace, 1952
• Papilio desmondi van Someren, 1939
• Papilio hornimani Distant, 1879
• Papilio interjectana Vane-Wright, 1995
• Papilio manlius Fabricius, 1798
• Papilio microps Storace, 1951
• Papilio sosia Rothschild & Jordan, 1903
• Papilio thuraui Karsch, 1900
• Papilio ufipa Carcasson, 1961
• Papilio wilsoni Rothschild, 1926

Description

It is smaller than Papilio chrapkowskoides with the blue band narrower. Submarginal spots on the forewing are below well developed. Hindwing below strongly mottled with silky purplish brown.^[4]

• 
  in the Kakamega Forest, Kenya
• 
  in the Kakamega Forest, Kenya
• 
• 
  Suffert's original description (Fig.2)