Byasa mencius

Byasa mencius[1] is a butterfly from the family Papilionidae (swallowtails). It is found in China. The species was first described by Cajetan Felder and Rudolf Felder in 1862.

Byasa mencius
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Papilionidae
Genus:
Byasa
Species:
B. mencius
Binomial name
Byasa mencius
Synonyms
  • Papilio alcinous mencius Rothschild, 1895
  • Atrophaneura mencius (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1862)

The wingspan is 10–11 cm. The wings are dark brown with chain of large red spots on the hindwings. The underside of the body is covered in red hairs.[2]

The larvae feed on Cocullus carolinus.

Taxonomy

In the original description (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1862; Wien. ent. Monats. 6 (1): 22) Papilio mencius Nob. is stated to be "geographica mutatio" [synonym of] P. alcinous Klug var. apud. [George Robert] Gray, 1852 Catal. of Lep. Ins. I Plate 4 fig. 2, 3. shown here in the taxobox illustration.

In other words, the variety of Papilio alcinous figured by Gray was raised to a "good" (one accepted) species by C. Felder and R. Felder. Their specimens were from the Chinese coastal trading city of Ningpo.

References
  1. 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)". Entomological Data Information System. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  2. ButterflyCorner.net Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien


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