Byasa mencius
Species of butterfly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Papilionidae |
| Genus: | Byasa |
| Species: | B. mencius |
| Binomial name | |
| Byasa mencius | |
| Synonyms | |
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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.
