Papilio demoleus

Papilio demoleus(Papilio demoleus)

Phylum —arthropoda
Class —insecta
Order — lepidoptera
Family —papilionidae

Genus –papilio

Appearance

Newborn caterpillars are black. The younger caterpillars are dark brown with white spots. The older caterpillars are smooth, dark green with two thin transverse brown stripes and a narrow white stripe on the side.

The butterfly is tailless and has a wingspan 80–100 mm. Above, the background color is black. A broad, irregular yellow band is found on the wings above, which is broken in the case of the forewing. Besides this, the butterfly has a large number of irregular spots on the wing. The upper hindwing has a red tornal spot with blue edging around it.

Habitat

This species is found throughout tropical and subtropical regions of southern Asia, ranging from Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Middle East to India, Nepal, southern China, Taiwan, and Japan. It is also found in Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Australia.

Behavior

It demonstrates daily activity. Butterflies like to bask in the sun with their wings wide open. Males often visit drying puddles in search of water with minerals. It harms citrus plantations of their native country.

Like other caterpillars of this family, the caterpillars of this butterfly have an osmetrium – a gland behind the head that extends in danger and looks like two long orange-red "horns".

There are 5-9 generations per year. In cold climates, it winters in the pupal stage.

Diet

The larval food plants of Papilio demoleusin Asia are from the family Rutaceae, while in Australia and Papua New Guinea, the butterfly also feeds on host plants of family Fabaceae.

Butterflies feed on nectar, preferring blue and purple flowers.

Reproduction

For their reproduction you need a terrarium with a size of 50 x 50 x 70 cm.The females lay their eggs one at a time on the top of the leaves of the forage plant. Eggs are light yellow, spherical, 1.5 mm in diameter.The incubation period is 3-6 days.It is better to keep the caterpillars in containers with a mesh lid of 6-8 pieces. In the container, you need to place a forage plant.The caterpillar develops for 18-25 days.The temperature is 23-25 ^oC at the humidity of60-70%. Pupae are green or brown. The pupal stage lasts 8-24 days. The lifecycle duration is 26-59 days. The butterfly lives 4-6 days.

In captivity

The mesh terrarium with a size of 50 × 50 × 70 mm is suitable for keeping butterflies. Room temperature is necessary. Daylight time is 12 hours. You can feed the butterflies with honey syrup diluted with boiled water in a ratio of 1: 10.