Graphium latreillianus, the coppery swordtail, is a butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Uganda and Tanzania.Afrotropical Butterflies: File C – Papilionidae - Tribe Leptocercini
Description For terms see External morphology of Lepidoptera
Hindwing tailless, with rounded margin, which is angled at the ends of the veins or merely undulate. Wings above black-brown with green spots. Hindwing beneath at the base with one or several separated black dots or spots and distinct black dots or spots in the apex of the cell and in the basal part of cellules 1 c—7. Margin of the hindwing slightly waved; palpi yellow; dots on frons and breast white, the spots of the under surface faint and yellowish, with a brassy sheen, never green. — latreillianus Godt. is smaller; forewing above with distinct green submarginal dots. Sierra Leone. — theorini Auriv. (3 d). Larger; the forewing entirely without submarginal dots. Cameroons to AngolaAurivillius, [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.
Subspecies Graphium latreillianus latreillianus (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana) Graphium latreillianus theorini (Aurivillius, 1881)Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1881. Om en Samling Fjärilar frän Gaboon. Entomologisk Tidskrift 2: 38-47. (Nigeria, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, western Uganda, Tanzania)
Taxonomy It is a member of the tynderaeus -clade (Graphium tynderaeus, Graphium philonoe, Graphium latreillianus).
Images External images from Royal Museum of Central Africa.
References
Carcasson, R.H. 1960 "The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society pdf Key to East Africa members of the species group, diagnostic and other notes and figures. (Permission to host granted by The East Africa Natural History Society