Battus crassus

Crassus swallowtail
	Mounted specimen on display at Museo di Scienze Naturali Enrico Caffi, Bergamo
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Battus
Species:	B. crassus
Binomial name
	Battus crassus; (Cramer, 1777)
Synonyms
	Papilio crassusCramer, 1777; Battus (Battus) crassusBrown & Mielke, 1967; Papilio lepidusC. & R. Felder, 1861;

Last updated August 21, 2025

Battus crassus, the Crassus swallowtail, is a species of butterfly from the family Papilionidae.

Description

A very long-winged species. Forewing with white patches in and below the cell; hindwing with large white costal area, which in the male reaches to the base. In the subspecies lepidus Fldr. the white patches on the upper surface of the forewing are absent.

The black-brown larva (probably variable in its ground colour) has no spots. The thoracic hump of the pupa is very long and divided at the tip. ^[1]

Food plants

The larvae feed on:

Aristolochia cymbifera
Aristolochia esperanzae
Aristolochia gigantea
Aristolochia macroura
Aristolochia veraguensis
Aristolochia odora
Aristolochia didyma
Aristolochia brasiliensis ^[2]

Subspecies

Battus crassus crassus (Peru, Surinam, Brazil: Amazonas, Rio de Janeiro, northern Argentina: Misiones)
Battus crassus hirundo(Röber, 1925) (northern Bolivia)
Battus crassus paraensis(Brown, 1994) (Brazil: Pará)
Battus crassus lepidus(C. & R. Felder, 1861) (Costa Rica, Venezuela, western Colombia, western Ecuador)

Status

Widespread but solitary and rarely collected. ^[3] HERE

References

↑ Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
↑ Battus at Funet
↑ Collins, N. Mark; Morris, Michael G. (1985). Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book. Gland & Cambridge: IUCN. ISBN 978-2-88032-603-6 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Lewis, H. L., 1974 Butterflies of the World ISBN 0-245-52097-X Page 23, figure 2.
Edwin Möhn, 2002 Schmetterlinge der Erde, Butterflies of the world Part V (5), Papilionidae II:Battus. Edited by Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Keltern : Goecke & Evers ; Canterbury : Hillside Books. ISBN 978-3-931374-70-9 Illustrates and identifies 14 species and 49 subspecies. Plate 14, figures 7-8, plate 15, figures 1-3, plate 20, figures 5-6, title figures 1-2.
Paul Smart, 1976 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World in Color. London, Salamander: Encyclopedie des papillons. Lausanne, Elsevier Sequoia (French language edition) ISBN 9780948427046 ISBN 0600313816 page 159 fig.16 (Peru).

External links

Media related to Battus crassus at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Battus crassus at Wikispecies
Butterflycorner Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

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[1] Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

[2] Battus at Funet

[Threatened-3] Collins, N. Mark; Morris, Michael G. (1985). Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book. Gland & Cambridge: IUCN. ISBN 978-2-88032-603-6 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.

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