Malesian Butterflies
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Malesian Butterflies
Pachliopta aristolochiae (Fabricius, 1775)

OCCURENCE

Habitat: Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland,Artificial/Terrestrial - Urban Areas
This species is mainly found in open, cultivated areas, scrub and deciduous forest and forest edges and is a common visitor of gardens where it feeds on flowers (Kunte 2000, Larsen 2004, Boy 2005). In India and Bangladesh, it has also been seen in cities (Kunte 2000, Chowdhury et al. 2017). The species is found in low-level habitats, where its host plant flourishes, in rainforest edges and clearings, as well as streams along upland forests (Barua and Slowik 2007). In the Philippines this species is found in lowland forest areas (Page and Treadaway 2003). In Nepal, this species appears in many types of ecosystem like the forest edges, gardens and open areas where different flower species are found (Khanal pers. comm. 2019). Its occurrence includes many of the areas of tropical and subtropical forest from an altitude of below 1,000 m to 1,500 m (B. Khanal pers. comm. 2019). For example, Khanal and Smith (1997) recorded this species at the base of Godavari forest (at an altitude of 1400 m), which is an open area along roadside.

Adults are often seen feeding on flowers of Lantana, Cosmos and Zinnia, and are only occasionally seen visiting wet soil for drinking (Kunte 2000). The larval host plants belong to the genus Aristolochia (Kunte 2000): A. bracteolata; A. griffithii (e.g. Wynter-Blyth 1957, Kunte 2000); A. indica; A. tagala; and Thottea siliquosa. These plants convey unpalatability to the larvae and adults; larvae and adults may however be affected by parasitoids, such as braconid wasps (Kunte 2000). Dahelmi et al. (2009) also found Apama corymbosa to be a host plant of this species. The species is capable of having 6-7 broods a year based on lifespan data, therefore making it multivoltine (Atluri et al. 2001), and it has been suggested that it breeds throughout the year (Boy 2005). However, the best times in India are thought to be during the dry season of April-May, and the very end of the wet season, in October (Atluri et al. 2001). In western Arunachal Pradesh, the species was observed in pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons (Sondhi and Kunte 2016). The species, due to its unpalatability from its host-plant Aristolochia , is mimicked by females of Papilio polytes and P. memnon (Boy 2005).
(IUCN 2020)

Population: This species was thought to be generally common in a status assessment of the world's swallowtails in 1985 (Collins and Morris 1985). It is very common throughout India (Kunte 2000, Sondhi and Kunte 2016) where it is more frequently seen during or after the rains and is less common during very cold or very hot periods of the year. It is fairly common in many parts of Nepal, especially the tropical and lower subtropical regions (B. Khanal pers. comm. 2019). Bhusal and Khanal (2008) recorded this species is eastern Siwalik where it was very common. This species was also found to be common in 2008 in inner Tarai of Dang Deukhuri at an altitude of 450 m (Khanal 2008). In addition, it was commonly observed at 1500 m in Panchpokhari lake route in the Sindhupalchok district of central Nepal (Khanal 2013). This species generally appears in March to November at different geographical regions of Nepal, with the highest population seen in April and May in different areas of the lowland and midland Nepal (B. Khanal pers. comm. 2019). Currently its population is thought to be declining as compared to a decade back study (B. Khanal pers. comm. 2019).

It is also considered common to very common in Bangladesh (Larsen 2004, Shihan 2016), where it is thought to be migratory and therefore fluctuating in numbers (Larsen 2004). The number of different localities of this species in Asia suggests that the global population is large, although its occurrence may differ between localities. For example, in an assessment of butterfly species in and around Nagpur, India, Tiple and Khurad (2009) found this species to be common, as did Gogoi et al. (2016) in Barail Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam. However, in Garbhanga Reserve Forest, Assam, India, this species was listed as rare, coinciding with the fact that the species' foodplant of the genus Aristolochia (for example Aristolochia tagala ; Boy 2005) were very limited in this area (Barua et al. 2004). Ramana (2010) listed this species as common in the Eastern Ghats. However, exact data regarding the population size of this species are not available. In any locality, population density may vary widely from year to year (e.g. Khao Yai National Park, Thailand; Boy 2005). Chan et al. (2011) considered the population in Hong Kong as rare.
Range: This species is distributed all over the Oriental region. It ranges from as far west as Afghanistan and Pakistan, through India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh (Larsen 2004, Singh and Chib 2015, Shihan 2016), to as far east as Japan (Collins and Morris 1985). As described by Collins and Morris (1985), it is restricted to south-western Okinawa in Japan, and occurs in both Peninsular and Eastern Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak). It occurs only in very small numbers in Singapore (Zengkun 2015), but is widespread in the other Asian countries where it is extant. In Indonesia, it occurs in Sumatra, Nias, Enggano, Bangka, Java, Bali, Kangean, Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, Tanahjampea and Kalimantan (Collins and Morris 1985). In the Philippines, subspecies interpositus is found on the Batanes Islands (Page and Treadaway 2003).

In terms of subspecific distribution in India, subspecies aristolochiae is found throughout India; subspecies sawi in the Nicobar Islands; subspecies goniopeltis in the Andaman Islands; subspecies camorta in the Central Nicobar Islands; subspecies kondulana in the South Nicobar Islands (Cotton et al. 2013, Varshney and Smetacek 2015). The nominate subspecies is the only subspecies found in Nepal, where its occurrence is wide, having been recorded across the country from east to west (Khanal and Smith 1997, Bhusal and Khanal 2008, Khanal 2008, B. Khanal pers. comm. 2019). The species is only found below 2,200 m (at least in China; P. Lo pers. comm. April 2019) and overall the species' estimated extent of occurrence far exceeds 20 million km2.
(IUCN 2020)

Occurrence and observation maps

Map of Life
GBIF
i-Naturalist

References

  • Atluri, J.B., Venkata Ramana, S.P. and Subba Reddi, C. 2001. Life history of Pachliopta aristolochiae from (Lepidoptera : Rhopalocera : Papilionidae) from India. Journal of the National Taiwan Museum 54(2): 9-12.
  • Barua, K.K. and Slowik, J. 2007. Study on the biology and consumption potential of Common Rose Pachliopta aristolochiae aristolochiae F (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) on Aristolochia tagala . Polish journal of entomology 76: 341-352.
  • Barua, K.K., Kakati, D. and Kalita, J. 2004. Present status of swallowtail butterflies in Garbhanga Reserve Forest, Assam, India. Zoos' print journal 19(4): 1439-1441.
  • Bhusal, D.R. and Khanal, B. 2008. Seasonal and Altitudinal Diversity of Butterflies in Eastern Siwalik of Nepal. Journal of the Natural History Museum 23: 82-87.
  • Boy, P. 2005. Beobachtungen auff?lliger Tagfalter (Lep. Papilionidae) in Khao Yai Nationalpark / Thailand. Galathea, Berichte des Kreises Nurnberger Entomologen 21(4): 155-166.
  • Chowdhury, S., Hesselberg, T., B?hm, M., Islam, M.R. and Aich, U. 2017. Butterfly diversity in a tropical urban habitat (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea). Oriental Insects 51(4): 417-430.
  • Collins, N.M. and Morris, M.G. 1985. Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. The IUCN Red Data Book. IUCN, Gland and Cambridge.
  • Cotton, A., Smith, C., Fric, Z.F. and Smetacek, P. 2013. Subspecies catalogue of the butterflies of India (Papilionidae). A synopsis. Bionotes 15(1): 5-8.
  • IUCN. 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-3. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 10 December 2020).
  • Khanal, B. 2008. Diversity and status of butterflies in lowland districts of west Nepal. J. Nat. Hist. Mus. 23: 92-97.
  • Khanal, B. and Smith, C. 1997. Butterflies of Kathmandu Valley. TecPress Books, Thailand.
  • Kunte, K. 2000. India, a lifescape: butterflies of Peninsular India. Universities Press, Hyderabad.
  • Larsen, T.B. 2004. An annotated checklist of the butterflies of Bangladesh (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera). IUCN Bangladesh, Dhaka.
  • Page, M.G.P. and Treadaway, C.G. 2003. Papilionidae of the Philippine Islands I. Descriptions of New Subspecies and Changes in Classification. Part 17, supplement 8. Butterflies of the world, Verlag Goecke & Evers.
  • Shihan, T.R. 2016. A Photographic Guide to the Butterflies of Bangladesh. Butterfly Reintroduction Farm, Chuadanga, Bangladesh.
  • Singh, I.J. and Chib, M.S. 2015. Checklist of butterflies of Bhutan. Journal of the Bhutan Ecological Society 1(2): 22-58.
  • Smetacek, P. 2015. The Papilionid Butterflies of the India Subcontinent. Concise Edition. Available at: www.researchgate.net/publication/272383021_Papilionid_Butterflies_of_the_Indian_Subcontinent. (Accessed: 13th September 2018).
  • Sondhi, S. and Kunte, K. 2016. Butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the Kameng Protected Area Complex, western Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(8): 9053?9124.
  • Varshney, R.K. and Smetacek, P. (eds). 2015. A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. pp. 261. Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal and Indinov Publishing, New Delhi.
  • Wynter-Blyth, M.A. 1957. Butterflies of the Indian Region.
  • Zengkun, F. 2015. Common Rose crowned S'pore's national butterfly. Asiaone.

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