Papilionidae

Papilionidae

The Papilionidae are the most conspicicuous of all butterflies of all butterflies with about 700 species distributed through out the world . It includes the largest and some of the most splendid of all butterflies . The antennal knob is usually curved and the forelegs are fully developed in both sexes . In many species , the sexes are somewhat differently coloured .

The swallowtails have tailed hindwings , resembling the Swallow (hence the common name). The true Swallowtails (Graphium ) give the appearance of an old -fashioned kite with their narrow pointed wings. The Poison eaters (Troides) are so called because their larve feed on the Aristolochia vines from which they derive poisonous substance and are thus protected from their predators . So some members of non-poisonous groups closely resemble these butterflies to escape from their enemies . The Birdwings (Ornithoptera) are enormous butterflies with a wingspan of 250 mm. The queen Alexandra's Birdwing , ornithoptera alexandrae is the world's largest butterfly . In India , southern Birdwing (Trides minos Cramer) butterfly is the largest . The Apollos (parnassius )are unlike other members of the family ,with rounded , semi-transparent wings and hairy body . They are mostly high altitude butterflies and are not covered in this volume . Almost all species visit flowers .

The larve are smooth skinned with fleshy spines or tubercles but without hairs . They generally possess on the first segment , a forked ,eversible scent gland or osmeterium . When disturbed , this gland ejects a strong , foul smelling scent , mainly containing isobutyric , isomethyl butyric and aristolochic acids , to repel the predators . Osmerterium is belived to perform 2 functions ;repel the enemies and remove the essential oils from the body . They feed mainly on plants of Rutaceae, Aristolochiaceae, Annonaceae, Crassulaceae, saxifragaceae, Lauraceae , Magnoliaceae , etc .

The pupage are angular with 2 projections at the head end . They are held upright by a silken gridle and tail hooks.