Parides erithalion, the variable cattleheart, is a North and South American butterfly in the family Papilionidae. The species was first described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1836.Glassberg, Jeffrey (2007). A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America. Sunstreak Books Inc.

Description The upperside of the wings is black with a row of red postmedian spots. The underside of the wings is also black with a row of pink and whitish spots.

In males of some subspecies the uppersides of the forewings have a large olivaceous-green patch from the inner margin forward, with a creamy-white spot, while hindwings have a band of three red spots. Fringe in both sexes is dotted with white.

Subspecies P. e. erithalion (C. Colombia) Lewis, H. L., 1974 Butterflies of the World Page 26, figure 8 P. e. trichopus (Rothschild & Jordan, 1906) (Mexico) P. e. zeuxis (Lucas, 1852) (northern Venezuela) P. e. erlaces (Gray, 1853) (southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina)Lewis, H. L., 1974 Butterflies of the World Page 26, figure 9 P. e. polyzelus (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1865) (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras) Lewis, H. L., 1974 Butterflies of the World Page 26, figure 22 P. e. lacydes (Hewitson, 1869) (eastern Ecuador) P. e. sadyattes (H. Druce, 1874) (Costa Rica) P. e. cauca (Oberthür, 1879) (western Colombia) P. e. xanthias (Rothschild & Jordan, 1906) (Peru) P. e. chinchipensis (Joicey & Talbot, 1918) (northern Peru) P. e. kruegeri (Niepelt, 1927) (southern Colombia) P. e. guillerminae Pischedda & Racheli, 1986 (northeastern Ecuador) P. e. yaminahua Pischedda & Racheli, 1987 (southern Peru) P. e. keithi Racheli, 1991 (southwestern Venezuela) P. e. palmasensis Brown, 1994 (western Ecuador) P. e. smalli Brown, 1994 (Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama) P. e. callegarii Racheli & Racheli, 1996 (Peru) P. e. inini Brévignon, 1998 (French Guiana) P. e. racheliorum Lamas, 1998 (Peru) P. e. blanca Racheli & Möhn, 2001 (Peru) P. e. browni Le Crom, Constantino & Salazar, 2002 (northeastern Colombia) P. e. chocoensis Constantino, Le Crom & Salazar, 2002 (western Colombia)

Description from Seitz

P. erithalion. Male: tibiae not thickened. Hindwing without distinct red spot behind the 2. median on the upper surface. Female: the spot before the 1. median of the forewing smaller than the preceding spot; band on the hindwing broad, pale on the innerside. Costa Rica to North Venezuela. — zeuxis Luc. (= rhameses Doubl., rhesus Koll., rhamases Fldr., abilius Fldr., rhamses Boisd.) (4a). Male: the green area much narrowed anteriorly, enclosing a large white spot before the 2. median; hindwing with 2 or 3 small red spots. Female: the posterior spot of the forewing larger than the preceding one. North Venezuela and eastern side of the Cordillera of Bogota. — erithalion Boisd. (4a) from Central Colombia (Rio Magdalena) has in the male rarely a white spot on the forewing, which is placed before the 1. median or between the radials. Female: the spot before the 1. median smaller than the preceding one; generally a few small spots outside the cell. — cauca Oberth. Male: the green area of the forewing wanting or merely indicated. Female: band on the hindwing narrow, curved, separated from the cell. Cauca valle — sadyattes Druce (4a). Male: the green area very variable, generally reduced, often wanting; all specimens with at least one white spot, which is placed before or behind the 3. radial, often a green spot in the cell. Female: band of the hindwing almost unicolorous bright red. Costa Rica to Panama.Jordan, K., in Seitz, A. ( 1907) . The Macrolepidoptera of the World. 5: The Macrolepidoptera of the American faunistic region. Papilionidae 1-45.

Description from Rothschild and Jordan (1906) A full description is provided by Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan (1906).Rothschild, W. & Jordan, K. (1906). "A revision of the American Papilios". Novitates Zoologicae. 13: 411-752. (Facsimile edition ed. P. H. Arnaud, 1967) Note: Here polyzelus is treated as a full species and trichopus is P. z. trichopus.

Life cycle The eggs are a brownish color. The caterpillar is brownish black with white and reddish-brown tubercles.

Host plants The variable cattleheart feeds on Aristolochia cordiflora.

Status It is common local species and not threatened.

Taxonomy

Parides erithalion is a member of the anchises species groupEdwin Möhn, 2007 Butterflies of the World, Part 26: Papilionidae XIII. Parides Verlag Goecke & Evers Verlag Goecke & Evers

The members are Parides anchises Parides cutorina Parides erithalion Parides iphidamas Parides panares Parides phosphorus Parides vertumnus

References

External links

"Parides erithalion polyzelus (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1865) (Variable Cattleheart) Immatures" . Butterflies of America. Retrieved February 6, 2020.

"Parides erithalion (Boisduval, 1836)". Insecta.pro. Retrieved February 6, 2020.