Papilio machaon

Papilio machaon, the Old World swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. The butterfly is also known as the common yellow swallowtail or simply the swallowtail (a common name applied to all members of the family, but this species was the first to be given the name). It is the type species of the genus Papilio. This widespread species is found in much of the Palearctic and in North America.

Etymology

This species is named after Machaon () a figure in Greek mythology. He was a son of Asclepius in the works of Homer.

Taxonomy

Papilio machaon was named by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758, alongside nearly 200 other species of butterfly. Later, Pierre André Latreille designated it as the type species of the genus Papilio.

Subspecies

There are 41 recognized subspecies, that include:

thumb|180px|right|Trailing edges of the hindwings resemble the tails of [[swallows]]

P. m. aliaska Scudder, 1869 (Chukot Peninsula, Alaska to northern British Columbia)
P. m. annae Gistel, 1857
P. m. archias Fruhstorfer, 1907 (southern Sichuan)
P. m. asiaticus Ménétriés, 1855
P. m. baijangensis Huang & Murayama, 1992 (China: Xinjiang)
P. m. bairdii Edwards, 1866 (California east to Colorado, New Mexico & Wyoming, perhaps into northern Mexico)
P. m. birmanicus Rothschild, 1908 (southern Shan States)
P. m. britannicus (Seitz, 1907) (Great Britain)
P. m. brucei Edwards, 1893 (Alberta, Saskatchewan to Nebraska, Utah)
P. m. centralis Staudinger, 1886 (Turan, western Tian-Shan, Ghissar, Darvaz, Alai, western Pamirs)
P. m. chinensis Verity, 1905 (Sichuan)
P. m. gorganus Fruhstorfer, 1922 (southern Europe, Ural, Caucasus Major)
P. m. hippocrates C. & R. Felder, 1864 (Japan)
P. m. hudsonianus Clark, 1932 (Alberta to Quebec)
P. m. kamtschadalus Alphéraky, 1897 (Kamchatka)
P. m. kiyonobu Morita, 1997 (Tibet)
P. m. kunkalaschani Eller, 1939 (western Sichuan)
P. m. ladakensis Moore, 1884 (eastern Pamirs)
P. m. lapponica Verity, 1911 (northern Europe)
P. m. machaon (Central Europe)
P. m. mauretanica Verity, 1905 (North Africa)
P. m. maxima gen.aest. angulata Verity, 1911
P. m. melitensis Eller, 1936 (Malta)
P. m. montanus Alphéraky, 1897 (western Sichuan, south-western Gansu, eastern Qinghai, north-western Yunnan)
P. m. muetingi Seyer, 1976 (southern Arabia, United Arab Emirates)
P. m. neochinensis Sheljuzhko, 1913 (Ta-tsien-lu)
P. m. oregonius Edwards, 1876 (southern British Columbia to Oregon, Idaho)
P. m. oreinus Sheljuzhko, 1919 (Tian-Shan)
P. m. orientis Verity, 1911 (Altai, Sayan, Transbaikalia, northern Amur, Far East)
P. m. pikei Sperling, 1987 (Quebec, British Columbia)
P. m. sachalinensis Matsumura, 1911 (Sakhalin)
P. m. schapiroi Seyer, 1976 (southern Ussuri)
P. m. septentrionalis Verity, 1911 (Kurils)
P. m. sikkimensis Moore, 1884 (Tibet)
P. m. suroia Tytler, 1939 (Manipur, Assam, northeastern India)
P. m. sylvina Hemming, 1933 (Taiwan)
P. m. syriacus Verity, 1908 (Caucasus Minor, Armenia, Talysh Mountains)
P. m. taliensis Eller, 1939 (northern Yunnan)
P. m. ussuriensis Sheljuzhko, 1910 (southern Amur, northern and central Ussuri)
P. m. verityi Fruhstorfer, 1907 (northern Burma, Shan States, southern Yunnan)
P. m. weidenhofferi Seyer, 1976 (Kopet-Dagh)

Papilio machaon gorganus is strongly migratory in Europe and may be found in almost all habitats. In the UK, P. m. britannicus is an endemic subspecies, but occasionally individuals of the continental subspecies P. m. gorganus breed temporarily on the south coast. Subspecies P. m. britannicus differs from the continental subspecies in being more heavily marked in black. The Maltese Islands are home to another endemic subspecies, P. m. melitensis.

File:RSPB Strumpshaw Fen Norfolk Swallowtail.jpg|P. m. britannicus

File:Swallow-tail. Papilio machaon gorganus - Flickr - gailhampshire.jpg|P. m. gorganus

File:Papilio machaon hippocrate2.jpg|P. m. hippocrates

File:חיות בישראל (9).JPG|P. m. syriacus

File:Papilio machaon - Swallowtail 1.jpg|In Turkey

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Distribution and status

thumb|200px|right|Illustration from The butterflies of the British Isles

This butterfly is present throughout the entire Palearctic region, ranging from Russia to China and Japan, (including the Himalayas and Taiwan), and across into Alaska, Canada, and the United States, and thus, is not restricted to the Old World, despite the common name. In Asia, it is reported as far south as Saudi Arabia, Oman, the high mountains of Yemen, Lebanon, Iran and Israel. In southern Asia, it occurs in Pakistan and Kashmir, northern India (Sikkim, to Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh), Nepal, Bhutan, and northern Myanmar. It is the UK's largest resident butterfly. The monarch (Danaus plexippus) is slightly larger, but is only a rare vagrant.

As P. machaon is widespread throughout Eurasia and often common, it is not threatened as a species.

In some countries, P. machaon and its subspecies are protected by law. Papilio machaon machaon is protected by law in six provinces of Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova. The species is protected in the United Kingdom, and subspecies verityi is protected in India.

Description

The imago typically has yellow wings with black vein markings, and a wingspan of . The hindwings of both sexes have a pair of protruding tails which give the butterfly its common name from the resemblance to the birds of the same name. Just below each tail is one red and six blue eye spots.

In the caterpillar stage, P. machaon has a length of . When young, the caterpillar resembles a bird dropping, giving it camouflage. The caterpillar also protects itself using a large orange fork which protrudes behind its head. At lower elevations, it can be seen visiting gardens.thumb|left|A female P. machaon on a young dill sprout in a garden. In continental Europe, cultivated dill is a frequent host plant for the spring generation.

In Central Europe, the species frequently colonizes cultural landscapes and domestic gardens where host plants are available. Female butterflies are often observed ovipositing on young sprouts of cultivated umbellifers such as dill (Anethum graveolens) or parsley (Petroselinum crispum), even in early spring (April). These plants provide a high-quality nutritional source for the first generation of caterpillars.

Unlike other swallowtails which specialise on Rutaceae, this species mostly feeds on plants of family Umbelliferae, females laying eggs singly. Milk parsley (also known as marsh hog's fennel) is normally the only food plant used by the caterpillars of the British subspecies.