PAPILIO ECHERIOIDES

PAPILIO ECHERIOIDES(Papilio echerioides)

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

Genus –papilio

Appearance

Newborn caterpillars are black with white spots. The younger caterpillars are light brown with white spots. The older caterpillars are smooth, dark green with transverse brown stripes.

The wingspan of butterflies is 65-75 mm. The color of the males is black with a broad light yellow stripe and small light dots on the edge of the hindwings. The underparts are dark brown with a light fawn stripe. Females are dark brown with small light yellow spots and a large light spot on the hindwings.

Habitat

It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Behavior

It demonstrates daily activity. Males in search of water with minerals often visit wet areas of the soil. At home, it harms citrus plantations. 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".

It has two flight periods, first from January to March and second from September to November.

Diet

The larvae feed on a variety of plants in the family Rutaceae such as Clausena, Toddalia

and Fagara.

Adults are known to nectar from a variety of 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 underside of the leaves of the forage plant. The eggs are light yellow, with a few small reddish-brown spots, spherical, 1.2 mm in diameter.The incubation period is 5 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 in an average of 35 days.The temperature is 23-25 ^oC at the humidity of60-70%. Pupae are green or brown. The pupal stage lasts about 2 weeks. The butterfly lives 5-7 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 or freshly squeezed orange juice.