Papilio rex

Papilio rex, the regal swallowtail or king papilio, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Africa.^[3] It is a semi-montane and montane forest (1, 300 m. to 2 600 m.) species. The larvae feed on Teclea tricocarpa, Teclea stuhlmanni, Calodendrum, Citrus, Clausena, Fagara and Toddalia species. In the early morning and late afternoon adults of both sexes descend from the forest canopy to feed from the flowers of Lantana, Impatiens and Bougainvillea. It hilltops on granite outcrops and mud puddles.^[4]

Papilio rex
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Papilio
Species:	P. rex
Binomial name
Papilio rex Oberthür, 1886[1][2]
Synonyms
Papilio mimeticus Rothschild, 1897 Papilio schultzei Aurivillius, 1904 Papilio rex var. arnoldi Richelmann, 1909 Papilio abyssinicus Poulton, 1926 Papilio rex f. commixta Aurivillius, 1908 Papilio rexi f. commixta Aurivillius, 1908 Papilio rex var. alinderi f. lindblomi Bryk, 1928 Papilio rex f. intermediata Bryk, 1930 Papilio rex alinderi f. holmi Bryk, 1953 Papilio rex barnsi Le Cerf, 1924 Papilio rex var. regulus Le Cerf, 1919 Papilio rex ab. eisneri Bryk, 1928 Papilio rex f. endymion Stoneham, 1951

The Kenyan forms mimic Tirumala formosa, the forest monarch butterfly.

Description

The male is significantly larger than the female, but the patterns of the two sexes are similar. The male reaches a wingspan of 17 cm[1]. On the obverse, the wings are black or dark brown. The forewings are quite elongated, they are orange at the base and have white macules. The hindwings are rounded, white or cream in the basal area and crossed by black veins while the rest of the wing is studded with white macules. The underside is similar but the wings are slightly lighter and the orange part of the forewings is more extensive. The thorax and head are black and dotted with white macules, the abdomen is black above and white below and on the sides.

This species mimics the appearance of Tirumala formosa and more precisely of Tirumala formosa morgeni, a species of poisonous butterfly[

Taxonomy

Papilio rex 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

• Papilio rex rex (Kenya (east of the Rift Valley), north-eastern Tanzania, central Tanzania)
• Papilio rex mimeticus Rothschild, 1897^[5] (Congo Republic, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, north-western Tanzania, western Kenya)
• Papilio rex franciscae Carpenter, 1928 (southern Sudan, south-western Ethiopia)^[6]
• Papilio rex alinderi Bryk, 1928^[7] (Kenya (highlands west of the Rift Valley))
• Papilio rex schultzei Aurivillius, 1904^[8] (eastern Nigeria, highlands of Cameroon)
• Papilio rex abyssinicana Vane-Wright, 1995^[9] (highlands of south-eastern Ethiopia)
• Papilio rex regulana Vane-Wright, 1995 (Kenya (highlands east of the Rift Valley))

Biogeographic realm

Afrotropical realm