Papilio chikae
Species of butterfly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Papilio chikae, the Luzon peacock swallowtail, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It was first described in 1965 and is endemic to the island of Luzon in the Philippines.[4][5]
| Papilio chikae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Male | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Papilionidae |
| Genus: | Papilio |
| Species: | P. chikae |
| Binomial name | |
| Papilio chikae Igarashi, 1965 [3] | |
It is listed as endangered by the IUCN and ESA,[1][6] and is included on Appendix I of CITES,[7] thereby making commercial international trade illegal.
Description
Habitat and distribution
Papilio chikae are found at elevations of 1500 meters and above in the northern region of the island of Luzon.[5] They can be found around Mt. Santo Tomas but not the nearby Sierra Madre mountain range, which is presumably at too low of an altitude.[5] They can be found from February through October.[8] Their high altitude habitat is disrupted by meadows, shrub land, and ravines.[8]
Taxonomy
Until recently, Papilio chikae was described as having two subspecies: P. c. chikae, endemic to the island of Luzon and P. c. hermeli, endemic to the island of Mindoro, however new information about the genetic makeup of the subspecies lead to the reclassification of P. c. hermeli as its own species: P. hermeli.[9][10]
Species group
It is a member of the species group paris
