List of butterflies of India (Papilionidae)

This is a list of the butterflies of family Papilionidae (superfamily Papilionoidea), or the swallowtails, which are found in India. This family of large and beautiful butterflies is well represented with 89 species found within Indian borders.[1] Two of the three papilionid subfamilies are represented in India, namely, the Parnassiinae or Apollos, with 19 species, and the Papilioninae or swallowtails, with 70 species.

Three Indian swallowtails mud-puddling:
Blue Mormon (Papilio polymnestor), common Mormon (Papilio polytes) and common bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon). (left to right anticlockwise)
The five-bar swordtail (Graphium antiphates)
A pair of common peacocks (Papilio bianor)
Malabar banded peacock (Papilio buddha), an endemic species of the coastal forests

The area of India falls in the Indomalayan realm, except for the Himalayas above and beyond the foothills adjoining the Indo-Gangetic Plains, and which fall in the Palearctic realm,[2] resulting in increased diversity of papilionid butterflies, especially the Parnassiini or snow Apollos, all species of which are Palearctic.

Indian swallowtails are spread over all the biomes/ecoregions of India. The Malabar banded peacock (Papilio buddha) and the Malabar banded swallowtail (Papilio liomedon) fly at sea level while the Apollos (Parnassius species), are to be found only in the highest alpine meadows of the Himalayas. Some species such as the common Mormon (Papilio polytes) and the blue Mormon (Papilio polymnestor) fly at ground level whereas others, such as the tailed jay (Graphium agamemnon) are normally found flying high in the forest canopy. The lime butterfly (Papilio demoleus) is a creature of arid scrub-land, occasionally being spotted even in the Thar Desert, while the tropical evergreen forests have their own representatives, such as the red Helen (Papilio helenus), the common bluebottle (Graphium cloanthus) and the Malabar raven (Papilio dravidarum).[3] Indian papilionids such as the common Mormon (Papilio polytes) and great Mormon (Papilio memnon) show polymorphism with many mimetic female forms.[4][5]

Amongst swallowtails, endemism is found only in the Western Ghats. Notable endemics are the southern birdwing (Troides minos), Malabar banded swallowtail (Papilio liomedon), Malabar raven (Papilio dravidarum), Malabar rose (Pachliopta pandiyana) and the Malabar banded peacock (Papilio buddha).[6]

This list is based on A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India by R. K. Varshney and Peter Smetacek (2015).[7]

Subfamily Papilioninae

The swallowtails are generally easily identified in the field by their large size, prominent markings, colour, patterns and variable wing and tail shape.

Tribe Troidini

Troides Huebner, [1819] – birdwings

The birdwings, as the Troides butterflies are called are large, yellow-and-black coloured butterflies, two species of which are found in the forests of the Himalayas and one species in the Western Ghats. These are the largest butterflies found in India.

Red-bodied swallowtails

The genera Losaria, Pachliopta and Byasa of the Indian Troidini are commonly called as the red-bodied swallowtails along with the Atrophaneura. They were formerly considered to be subgenera under genus Atrophaneura till several authorities elevated them to genus level in their publications (e.g. LepIndex; GLoBIS; Racheli & Cotton (2010)).[8][9][10][11] These butterflies sequester toxins from plants and are inedible or poisonous to predators. They also have warning colouration, a phenomenon also known as aposematism. The red-bodied swallowtails are involved in Batesian mimicry complexes as aposematic models which are mimicked by edible species.

Atrophaneura Reakirt, [1865] – batwings

Red-bodied swallowtails with black wings hat are found in low elevation forests along the Himalayas and the Northeast of India.

Byasa Moore, 1882 – windmills

Black-coloured red-bodied swallowtails with elongated wings, prominent white and red spots, and tails that are found in low elevation forests along the Himalayas and the Northeast of India.

Losaria Moore, 1902 – clubtails

Red-bodied swallowtails with club-shaped tails that are found in low elevation forests along the Himalayas and the Northeast of India.

Pachliopta Reakirt, [1865] – roses

Red-bodied swallowtails commonly found all over India (except for the endemic Malabar rose), which serve as aposematic models for Papilio polytes in Batesian mimicry complex.

Tribe Papilionini

Papilio Linnaeus, 1758 – swallowtails

Black-bodied swallowtails, often distinctively marked, some widely distributed, which are edible and form Batesian mimicry complexes with danaines or red-bodied swallowtails. Some species are polymorphic, mostly in the female forms.

Papilio (Chilasa) – mimes
Tawny mime

Medium-sized tailless swallowtail butterflies which mimic the milkweed butterflies, which they fly alongside, both in appearance and methods of flight. Except for the Common Mime which is also found in peninsular India, they are confined to the lower Himalayas and Northeast India.

Papilio (Papilio) – yellow swallowtails
Common yellow swallowtail
species group machaon
Papilio (Princeps) – Mormons, Helens, ravens
species group demodocus
species group demolion
species group polytes
species group helenus
Large, tailed, black butterflies with prominent yellow patch on upper hindwing markings, which occur along the low elevation forests of the Himalayas, the Western Ghats and some peninsular Indian forests.
species group memnon
Large, tailless, black butterflies with blue and white markings, which occur along the low elevation forests of the Himalayas, the Western Ghats and some peninsular Indian forests. Despite the name, only the great Mormon is polymorphic.
species group protenor
Large tailless swallwtails which are black above with no white marking and which do not have basal red markings below. Found in Himayas and Northeast India in low elevation jungles.
Tailed redbreast, (Papilio bootes)
species group bootes
species group castor
Tailless black or blackish-brown butterflies with white markings, the females or both sexes of which mimic inedible milkweed butterflies.
Papilio (Achillides) – peacocks
Paris peacock

Large strong-flying black butterflies with distinctive colourful markings, most species of which occur along the low elevation forests of the Himalayas while a few species occur in the Western Ghats and some peninsular Indian forests.

species group paris
species group: palinurus
Chinese yellow swallowtail
Papilio (Sinoprinceps) – Chinese swallowtails
species group: xuthus

Tribe Leptocircini
Graphium (Graphium) – bluebottles and jays
Graphium (Paranticopsis) – zebras

The zebras are tailless swallowtails found in the Himalayas and Northeast that mimic the aposematic bluish-white Danaus milkweed butterflies.

Swordtails

These butterflies, formerly Graphium, are now divided into two genera Pathysa and Pazala. They are large white butterflies with black bars in the cells of the forewings, and the hindwings each bearing a long sword-like tail. They are butterflies of hilly forests from the Himalayas to the Northeast, except for the fivebar swordtail which also flies in the Western Ghats and the spot swordtail which is also found in peninsular India and the Indo-Gangetic plains.

Graphium (Pathysa) – swordtails
Spot swordtail
Graphium (Pazala) – swordtails
  • Sixbar swordtail
    Graphium eurous
  • Spectacle swordtail
    Graphium mandarinus

Lamproptera Gray, 1832 – dragontails

Lamproptera or dragontails, are small swallowtail butterflies with large tails found in the tropical and subtropical forests of Northeast India, and further East.

Tribe Teinopalpini

Teinopalpus Hope, 1843 – Kaiser-e-Hind
Kaiser-e-Hind

The Kaiser-i-Hind is a rare species of swallowtail butterfly found from Nepal and north India eastwards to north Vietnam. The common name literally means "Emperor of India", and it is much sought after by butterfly collectors for its beauty and rarity.

Meandrusa Moore, 1888 – hooked swallowtails

Large sombre-coloured swallowtails with triangular forewings with concave outer margins, sinuously margined hindwing and long outwardly-curved spatulate tail. Found in low elevation forests along the central and eastern Himalayas and the Northeast.

Subfamily Parnassiinae
Bhutan glory
Common blue Apollo
Common red Apollo

The Parnassiinae include about 50 medium-sized, white or yellow high-altitude butterflies that are distributed across Asia, Europe and North America, of which 19 species fly in India.

Bhutanitis Atkinson, 1873 – Bhutan glory

The genus Bhutanitis contains large butterflies that are black with thin white stripes above, have red and yellow tornal patches on the hindwing, and a number of tails, which are found in the region of Bhutan, Northeast India, Myanmar, Thailand and South China.

Parnassius Latreille, 1804 – Apollos

The Apollos, genus Parnassius are high altutude palearctic butterflies that are different in appearance from other swallowtails, being of moderate size, with white ground colour, and spotted with red, black and blue.

Subgenus Parnassius Latreille, 1804
Subgenus Kailasius Moore, 1902
Subgenus Koramius Moore, 1902
Subgenus Tadumia Moore, 1902
Subgenus Lingamius Bryk, 1935
Subgenus Kreizbergia Korshunov, 1990

See also

Cited references
  1. Evans (1932) states, in a table on pg 23, the number of papilionids in the Indian subcontinent as 90; 15 species being found in Ceylon, 19 in South India, 6 in Baluchistan, 11 in Chitral, 31 in the western Himalayas, 69 in Northeast India, 50 in southern Myanmar and 13 in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Wynter-Blyth (1957) gives a modified version of the same table on p. 12, where the overall number of species is 94; with differences being in total number of species for Northeast Himalayas (62) and Myanmar (66). The present list is based on the IUCN red data book, with corrections made by subsequent editors especially in the Parnassiinae. Kunte (2000) on p. 55 mentions a total of 107 species with 19 in peninsular India. Varshney & Smetacek (2015), which this article follows, lists 89 species.
  2. Udvardy, M.D.F. (1975). A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world (PDF) (Report). IUCN Occasional Paper. IUCN, Morges, Switzerland. pp. 20–24, 28–30. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  3. Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. India, A Lifescape. Hyderabad, India: Universities Press. pp. 55–58, chapter 5.1. ISBN 978-8173713545.
  4. Clarke, C. A.; Sheppard, P. M. & Thornton, I. W. B. "The Genetics of the Mimetic Butterfly Papilio memnon L." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London. (B - Biological Sciences) 22 August 1968 vol. 254 no. 791 37-89. Abstract. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  5. Clarke, C. A. & Sheppard, P. M. "The Genetics of the Mimetic Butterfly Papilio polytes L." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London. (Series B, Biological Sciences) Vol. 263, No. 855 (16 March 1972), pp. 431-458. Abstract. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  6. Kehimkar, Isaac (2009). The Book of Indian Butterflies. Mumbai: Bombay Natural History Society. p. 38; 497. ISBN 978-0-19-569620-2. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  7. Varshney, R.K.; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  8. Fernando, E.; Jangid, A.K.; Kehimkar, I.; Lo, P.; Moonen, J. (2019). Byasa crassipes (Report). The IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species 2019. IUCN. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T121971897A122602141.en.
  9. Beccaloni, G. W.; Scoble, Malcolm; Kitching, Ian; Simonsen, Thomas; Robinson, Gaden; Pitkin, Brian; Hine, Adrian; Lyal, Chris, eds. (January 2018). "LepIndex : The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex)" (World Wide Web electronic publication). Natural History Museum, London. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  10. Häuser, Christoph L.; de Jong, Rienk; Lamas, Gerardo; Robbins, Robert K.; Smith, Campbell; Vane-Wright, Richard I. (28 July 2005). "Papilionidae – revised GloBIS/GART species checklist (2nd draft)". Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  11. Racheli, T.; Cotton, A.M. (2010). Guide to the Butterflies of the Palearctic Region: Papilionidae part II,Subfamily Papilioninae, Tribe Troidini. Milano: Omnes Artes.
  12. White, A. (1842): Notice of two New Species of Papilio from Penang, presented to the British Museum by Sir Wm. Norris. The Entomologist 1 (17), pp. 280. Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. Gabriel, A.G. (1942). "A new species of Bhutanitis (Lep. Papilionidae)". The Entomologist. 75: 189.

Further reading
Woodcut of red Helen (Papilio helenus) from C. T. Bingham's The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma volume on butterflies
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