Papua Insects Foundation (Lepidoptera/Papilionidae/Graphium sarpedon)

references and synonymy:

Papilio sarpedon Linnaeus, 1758: (Asia: Canton fide Toxopeus,1951)
Papilio sarpedon: Guérin, 1832 (nec Linné, 1758); Boisduval, 1836; Doubl., Westw. & Hew., 1846; Montrouzier, 1857: (Woodlark Isl.); Wallace, 1865; Koch, 1865
Papilio choredon C.& R. Felder, 1864: (Australia (TL); New Guinea, Waigeu, Woodlark)
Papilio choredon: Butler, 1876 (N.Guinea, Cape York); Oberthür, 1880 (Waigeu, Somerset, Cape York)
Papilio sarpedon var. choredon: Semper, 1878 (Aru Isl.)
Papilio sarpedon choredon: Rothschild, 1895 (Queensland, New South Wales; N. Guinea, Aru Isl., Waigeu; Woodlark Isl.); Jordan, 1909 (New South Wales, Queensland); Rothschild, 1916 (Wollaston exp.: Base Camp, Canoe Camp, Utakwa River)
Graphium sarpedon choredon: D’Abrera, 1971 (Aru Isl., Kai Isl., Misool, Salawati, Waigeu, W. Irian to Papua (= PNG), D’Entrecasteaux, Torres Strait isl., E. Australia down to southern NSW);
Igarashi, 1979 (Kai, Aru, New Guinea, Australia); Tsukada & Nishiyama, 1982 (N.S.Wales, Queensland); Parsons, 1998 (PNG (holotype Australia (Dep.?))
Papilio sarpedon messogis Fruhstorfer, 1907: (Kai Isl. & Aru Isl.(TL)); Jordan, 1909 (Kai Isl., Aru Isl., New Guinea and islands around (Waigeu, d’Entrecasteaux Is., Luisiades, etc.)
Graphium sarpedon messogis: Igarashi, 1979 (Bismarck (sic!) ); Tsukada & Nishiyama, 1982 (Kai, Aru, New Guinea, Waigeu)
Papilio sarpedon temnus Fruhstorfer, 1907: (Deutsch Neu Guinea)
Papilio sarpedon corycus Fruhstorfer, 1907: (Waigeu)

Graphium sarpedon is a widespread species with several subspecies, but some of these are very difficult to distinguish. Most authors consider all of the sarpedon from N. India, Indochina, Philippines and the Great Sunda islands as ssp. sarpedon. Toxopeus (1951) showed that Linnaeus specimens, Papilio sarpedon, origin from Kanton (Guangdong) in China instead from Java as thought by most authors. The Chinese subspecies is ssp. sarpedon s.s. and is well recognizable. The subspecies corbeti Toxopeus, luctatius Fruhstorfer, colus Fruhstorfer and pagus Fruhstorfer are difficult to distinguish. It is strange that the well recognizable subspecies from Java, and also from Bali, is not described earlier: lycianus Toxopeus, 1951. Based on material in ZMAN and RMNH and on Toxopeus,1951, and other type descriptions a review of the subspecies of sarpedon has been made.
Concerning Papua some authors consider the subspecies messogis Fruhstorfer and choredon C.& R. Felder as synonymous. Fruhstorfer (1907) stated that compared with choredon from Australia, messogis is clearly bigger, the green band on the hindwings is narrower and the submarginal lunular patches are more graceful (i.e. thinner) and therefore messogis is easy to distinguish from choredon. Jordan (1909): messogis Fruhstorfer is “not sharply distinguished from choredon: band of forewing mostly somewhat narrower and the submarginal patches of the hindwing smaller.” Three Australian specimens in ZMAN and a pair from Australia figured by Igarashi (1979) (Plate 206, fig.19, 20) confirm that there are differences. I do not know where the one subspecies passes into the other. Specimens from Papua New Guinea correspond best to messogis. Until now, I prefer messogis Fruhstorfer, 1907 as the subspecies inhabiting New Guinea.

The name sarpedon is derived from the mythical Sarpedon, a son of Zeus and king of Lycia. He was killed by Patroclos in front of the walls of Troia.
I was unable to find anything about messogis and choredon. These words seems to be neither Greek nor Latin.

Sirsak, soursack or zuurzak (Annona muricata, Annonaceae) is a common foodplant of several Graphium species, including Graphium sarpedon

PAPUA LOCALITIES: Biak: Sansundi (Warsa); Waigeo; Salawati; Misool; New Guinea: Aramsolki, Dafonsoro, East Tami, Fakfak, Jayapura, Kloofbivak, Kobakma, Manokwari, Miei (Wandammen), Mokwam, Nabire, Pim, Sabang, Senopi, Sinimburu, Sorong, Van Weelskamp. Details in gazetteer.

EXTERNAL DISTRIBUTION: Sri Lanka, India, China, Korea, Japan, Bangladesh to Indochina, Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Queensland, N.S.Wales, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Isl.
On Sulawesi and the Moluccas the species has developed two distinct species: Graphium monticolus Fruhstorfer (mountains of Sulawesi) and Graphium anthedon Felder (Graphium milon, Tsukada & Nishiyama,1982) (Sulawesi, Sula Is., N. & S. Moluccas) [Saigusa, e.a.,1982, Moonen, 1998]

from: Fruhstorfer, H. 1907a. Neue Papilio-Rassen aus dem indo-australischen Gebiet. Ent.Z. 21(30):182-184 (9.XI.1907)