Papilio garamas

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.

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 garamas Geyer, [1829] Heraclides asclepius Geyer, [1829] Papilio cincinnatus Boisduval, 1836 Papilio garamas garamas f. amisa Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 Papilio garamas ab. homeroides Draudt, 1931 Papilio garamas f. splendida Beutelspacher, 1976 Papilio garamas f. ampliata Beutelspacher, 1976 Papilio garamas ab. diazi Beutelspacher, 1976 Papilio abderus Hopffer, 1856 Papilio abderus f. amerias Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 Papilio electryon Bates, 1864 Papilio syedra Godman & Salvin, 1878 Papilio abderus baroni f. morenoi de la Maza, 1977

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 garamas Geyer, 1829 (central Mexico)
• Papilio garamas tapatio De la Maza, 2023 (western Mexico)
• Papilio garamas abderus Hopffer, 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 electryon Bates, 1864 (Guatemala to Honduras) may be placed in abderus
• Papilio garamas syedra Godman & Salvin, 1878 (Panama, Costa Rica) may be placed in abderus
• Papilio garamas baroni Rothschild & 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

• 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.