Saturday 18 March 2017

259. Atrophaneura aidoneus aidoneus (The Lesser Batwing)

Number: 259
Family: Papilioniidae
Sub-Family: Papilioniinae
Species: Atrophaneura aidoneus aidoneus (Doubleday, 1845)
Common name(s): The Lesser Batwing
Photography location: Huu Lien Nature Reserve (Lang Son Prov.)

"Red-bodied Swallowtails" are butterflies in the Papilionidae that belong to the genera Atrophaneura (3 species in Vietnam), Byasa (8), Losaria (1) and Pachliopta (1). Many species show aposematism (“warning coloration”) and serve as models for Batesian mimicry.

The genus Atrophaneura comprises around 50 species, of which 3 are currently known to occur in Vietnam - A. zaleucus zaleucus, A. varuna astorion & A. aidoneus aidoneus
A. varuna and A. aidoneus show very similar color pattern. A. zaleucus (previously treated as subspecies of A. varuna) is unmistakable with its white patches on HW.

Atrophaneura aidoneus, male, feeding feeding in Lantana thickets adjacent to forest (Huu Lien, October 2016)

 Same specimen than above
In both sexes of  A. aidoneus the upperside HW is uniformly coloured, where in all subspecies of A. varuna the cell is obviously darker than the rest of the hindwing (Cotton & Racheli, 2006)

Upperside of 2 specimens of A. varuna astorion for comparison (Huu Lien, October 2016)

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