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The Swallowtails (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae, Papilioninae) of Papua Indonesia

by Jan Moonen

Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 - Lime butterfly

novoguineensis Rothschild, 1908

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Distribution

 

 

STATUS: The Lime Butterfly is an introduced species in West New Guinea. It is very likely transported with plant material by ship to the harbours of Jayapura and Manokwari. In the eastern part of New Guinea demoleus was for a long time already present, probably originating from the Australian subspecies sthenelus Macleay, 1826. By some this New Guinea population is regarded as a separate subspecies novoguineensis Rothschild, 1908, however, since the origin of the Papua population is unclear and because of the very small differences in the many so called subspecies, we consider it to be synonymous and leave it up to a molecular analysis to unravel its origin.

PAPUA LOCALITIES: Yapen Island: Wapoga, Waropen; Moor Island; New Guinea: Abepura, Jayapura, Kepi, Mimika, Mokwam, Nabire, Sarmi, Sentani, Tandia. Details in gazetteer.

EXTERNAL DISTRIBUTION: Indo-Australian region, Australia

DATA SOURCES: KSP, RMNH.

 

 

 

 

 

last updated on 27 April 2025