Troides aeacus
Encyclopedia
Golden Birdwing is a large butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 belonging to the Swallowtail
Swallowtail butterfly
Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies that form the family Papilionidae. There are over 550 species, and though the majority are tropical, members of the family are found on all continents except Antarctica...

 (Papilionidae family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

).

Description

Troides aeacus has a wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 reaching about 15–16 cm (5.9–6.3 ). In the males the fore wings are black, with veins bordered by whitish colour, while the hind wings are bright yellow. The underside of the wings is quite similar to the upside. The females are larger than the males and have dark-brown or black wings. Head, thorax and abdomen of this butterfly are mainly black, with small red patches on the thorax and a yellow underside of the abdomen. Caterpillars are pale brown, with long protrusions resembling thorns. They mainly feed on Aristolochia
Aristolochia
Aristolochia is a large plant genus with over 500 species. Collectively known as birthworts, pipevines or Dutchman's pipes, they are the namesake of the family . They are widespread and occur in the most diverse climates. Some species, like A. utriformis and A...

and Thottea
Thottea
Thottea is a genus of flowering plants in the pipevine family, Aristolochiaceae.-Selected species:*Thottea grandiflora Rottb.*Thottea siliquosa Ding Hou-External links:...

species (Aristolochiaceae
Aristolochiaceae
The Aristolochiaceae, or the Birthwort family, are a family of flowering plants with 7 genera and about 400 species belonging to the order Piperales...

).

Troides aeacus closely resembles Troides helena cerebrus and differs as follows:—

Upper side, fore wing: the pale adnervular streaks more prominent, in some specimens extended into the cell along the outer half of the subcostal and of the median nervules.

Hind wing: the cone-shaped terminal black markings in interspaces 2, 3, and 4 more or less broadly bordered on the inner side by a dusky area that is irrorated with blackish scales; the black on the costal margin narrower, not extended below vein 8.

Underside similar to the upperside, but the dusky black borders to the cone-shaped marks in interspaces 2, 3, and 4 wanting.

Antennae, head, thorax, abdomen and abdominal fold as in Troides helena cerebrus, but the abdomen beneath with two rows of black spots.—

In the female the differences from cerebrus are

Fore wing: the pale adnervular streaks very broad, very prominent and extended well into the cell.

Hind wing: the basal third of the cell and of interspace 2 black, the middle portion of the latter yellow anteriorly, bufty-white posteriorly ; the posterior half of the discal area between the postdiscal spots themselves and between them and the terminal cone-shaped markings more or less irrorated with blackish scales; lastly, the black in interspace 7 interrupted by an inner triangular and an outer small yellow spot.

Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in cerebrus, but the abdomen beneath with two lateral and two median rows of black spots.

Range and Status

It is found in Northern India, Nepal, Burma, China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia, peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia.

It is generally common and not threatened though it is classified as Vulnerable. Uncommon in Sumatra. May require protection in peninsular Malaya.

Subspecies

  • Troides aeacus formosanus Rothschild, 1899
  • Troides aeacus insularis Ney, 1905
  • Troides aeacus malaiianus Fruhstorfer, 1902
  • Troides aeacus szechwanus Okano & Okano, 1983

See also


External links

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