Graphium illyris, the cream-banded swordtail, is a forest butterfly of the swallowtail family (Papilionidae). It is native to the Afrotropical realm.
Description The markings of the upper surface yellow; the median band curved slightly basad at the costal margin of the forewing and without spot in cellule 7; the tail of the hindwing only white at the extreme tip; the hindwing with red-yellow marginal lunules. Ashanti to the Congo. — ab. (var. ?) flavisparsus Fruhst. has the submarginal spots of the hindwing and the red spots on the under surface larger than in the normal form. Island of Fernando Po.Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart. External images from Royal Museum of Central Africa.
Habitat Tropical and subtropical ecoregions.
Status and biology It is an uncommon to rare species and is seasonal in West Africa (with adults on wing mainly in February and March). Males mud-puddle, and are attracted to rotten fish as well as perspiration on humans.Afrotropical Butterflies: File C – Papilionidae - Tribe Leptocercini
Subspecies G. i. illyris (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, C.Ghana) G. i. flavisparsus (Fruhstorfer, 1903)Fruhstorfer, 1903 Neue afrikanische Lepidopteren. Stettiner Entomologische Zeitschrift 64: 359-361. (Equatorial Guinea) G. i. girardeaui (Guilbot & Plantrou, 1978)Guilbot, R., & Plantrou, J. 1978. Note sur Graphium illyris (Hewitson) et revision systematique de l’espece (Lep. Papilionidae). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 83 (3-4): 68-73 (Central African Republic) G. i. hamatus (Joicey & Talbot, 1918)Joicey, J.J., & Talbot, G. 1918. New butterflies from Africa and the east. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1917: 271-272 (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Congo Republic, Tanzania)
Taxonomy Graphium illyris is a member of the antheus - clade Graphium antheus, Graphium colonna, Graphium evombar, Graphium kirbyi, Graphium junodi, Graphium polistratus, Graphium illyris, Graphium gudenusi).
See also Upper Guinean forests
References
Sources Guilbot, R. and Plantrou, J. (1978). Note sur Graphium illyris (Hewitson) et revision systematique de I'espece. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France 83: 68–73. Smith, C.R. & Vane-Wright, R.I. 2001 A review of the Afrotropical species of the genus Graphium (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera: Papilionidae) Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Ent. Ser. 70 (2): 503-719