Papilio garamas

Magnificent swallowtail
P. g. garamas
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Papilio
Species:	P. garamas
Binomial name
Papilio garamas (Geyer, [1829])
Synonyms
Euphoeades garamasGeyer, [1829] Heraclides asclepiusGeyer, [1829] Papilio cincinnatusBoisduval, 1836 Papilio garamas garamas f. amisaRothschild & Jordan, 1906 Papilio garamas ab. homeroidesDraudt, 1931 Papilio garamas f. splendidaBeutelspacher, 1976 Papilio garamas f. ampliataBeutelspacher, 1976 Papilio garamas ab. diaziBeutelspacher, 1976 Papilio abderusHopffer, 1856 Papilio abderus f. ameriasRothschild & Jordan, 1906 Papilio electryonBates, 1864 Papilio syedraGodman & Salvin, 1878 Papilio abderus baroni f. morenoide la Maza, 1977

Papilio garamas, commonly known as the mexico phoenix or magnificent swallowtail, is a species of Neotropical swallowtail butterfly found in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Costa Rica. ^[1]

Description

A large butterfly with a wingspan of 80 to 110 millimetres. The females are dimorphic, either resembling the male or dark forms lacking the cream median and postdiscal bands, contrasting with deep black ground colour.

Subspecies

Papilio garamas abderus

• Papilio garamas garamasGeyer, 1829 (central Mexico)
• Papilio garamas tapatioDe la Maza, 2023 (western Mexico)
• Papilio garamas abderusHopffer, 1856 (eastern Mexico) generally seen as conspecific with P. garamas but sometimes treated as a distinct species (Collins & Morris 1985:87, Hancock 1983, Llorente-Bousquets et al. 1997).
• Papilio garamas electryonBates, 1864 (Guatemala to Honduras) may be placed in abderus
• Papilio garamas syedraGodman & Salvin, 1878 (Panama, Costa Rica) may be placed in abderus
• Papilio garamas baroniRothschild & Jordan, 1906 (southwestern Mexico) may be placed in abderus

Taxonomy

Papilio garamas is a member of the homerus species group. The members of this clade are:

• Papilio cacicus Lucas, 1852
• Papilio euterpinus Salvin & Godman, 1868
• Papilio garamas(Geyer, [1829])
• Papilio homerus Fabricius, 1793
• Papilio menatius (Hübner, [1819])
• Papilio warscewiczii Hopffer, 1865

Papilio garamas is in the subgenus Pterourus Scopoli, 1777 which also includes the species groups: troilus species group, glaucus species group, the zagreus species group and the scamander species group.

Status

Not uncommon and not regarded as threatened. If the garamas subspecies other than garamas garamas are subspecies of abderus then garamas is a Mexican endemic, but a taxonomic clarification is required.

Etymology

Garamas was the son of Acacallis (Greek: Ἀκακαλλίς) in Greek mythology.

References

1. Papilio 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.
• Hancock, D.L. (1983). Classification of the Papilionidae (Lepidoptera): a phylogenetic approach. Smithersia 2: 1-48.
• Llorente-Bousquets, J.E., Onate-Ocana, L., Luis-Martinez, A. & Vargas-Fernandez, I. 1997. Papilionidae y Pieridae de México: distribución geográfica e ilustración. Comisión Nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad (CONABIO), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico; [x], 231 pp.
• Lewis, H. L., 1974 Butterflies of the World ISBN   0-245-52097-X Page 24, figure 20

External links

• Swallowtails.net images
• Global Butterfly Information System Images of syntypes? in Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.