Papilio phorcas

Papilio phorcas, the apple-green swallowtail or green-banded swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Africa.

Apple-green swallowtail
both Kakamega Forest, Kenya
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Papilio
Species:	P. phorcas
Binomial name
Papilio phorcas Cramer, [1775] [1][2]
Synonyms
List Princeps phorcas Papilio doreus Fabricius, 1775 Papilio thersander Fabricius, 1793 Papilio phorcas f. media Le Cerf, 1924 Papilio nandina Rothschild & Jordan, 1901 Papilio phorcas tippelskirchi Suffert, 1904 Papilio phorcas f. thersandroides Aurivillius, 1908 Papilio phorcas bardamu f. velledae Canu, 1994 Papilio phorcas caspor Suffert, 1904 Papilio phorcas ab. kassaiensis Strand, 1916 Papilio phorcas f. bergeri Storace, 1955 Papilio phorcas f. xera Storace, 1955 Papilio phorcas f. viridissima Basquin & Turlin, 1986 Papilio phorcas congoanus f. ponzonii Sala, 1992 Papilio phorcas leopoldi Suffert, 1904 Papilio phorcas ab. phorcadius Strand, 1911 Papilio phorcas f. ruscoei Krüger, 1928 Papilio phorcas f. mutans Le Cerf, 1924 Papilio phorcas f. furcula Bryk, 1927 Papilio phorcas f. inexpectata Bryk, 1927 Papilio phorcas pseudothersander Krüger, 1937 Papilio phorcas f. polyxena Stoneham, 1951 Papilio phorcas f. bayoni Storace, 1955 Papilio phorcas nilotica Storace, 1961 Papilio phorcas tenuifasciatus f. meto Kielland, 1990

The larvae feed on Teclea nobilis, Teclea simplicifolia, Macrostylis villosa, Vepris, Calodendrum, Clausena, Citrus, Fagara and Toddalia species.^[3]

Description

A tailed species. The ground colour is black, with green markings.

• 
  Female dorsal view
• 
  Same, ventral
• 
  Male, dorsal
• 
  Same, ventral
• 
  More green looking male

Taxonomy

Papilio phorcas is a member of the dardanus species group. The members of the clade are:

• Papilio dardanus Brown, 1776
• Papilio constantinus Ward, 1871
• Papilio delalandei Godart, [1824]
• Papilio phorcas Cramer, [1775]
• Papilio rex Oberthür, 1886

Subspecies

• P. p. phorcas (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria)
• P. p. ansorgei Rothschild, 1896.^[4] (Kenya (highland forest east of the Rift Valley))
• P. p. congoanus Rothschild, 1896 (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, northern Angola, Congo Republic, western Uganda, western Tanzania, northern Zambia)
• P. p. nyikanus Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 ^[5] (highland forest of north-eastern Zambia, Malawi and eastern Tanzania)
• P. p. ruscoei Krüger, 1928 ^[6] (eastern Uganda, Kenya (highlands west of the Rift Valley))
• P. p. sudanicola Storace, 1965 ^[7] (southern Sudan)
• P. p. tenuifasciatus Kielland, 1990^[8] (northern Tanzania, Kenya)
• P. p. bardamu Canu, 1994 ^[9] (Bioko Island)

Biogeographic realm

Afrotropical realm.