Graphium adamastor, the Boisduval's white lady, is a butterfly in the family Papilionidae (swallowtails). It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Tom Jamonneau, Abubakar S Ringim, Michel Libert, Andrea C Reyes Camargo, Alain Coache, Jérémy Bouyer, Annotated checklist of the butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Burkina Faso, West Africa—synthesis and new occurrences, Journal of Insect Science, Volume 26, Issue 3, May 2026, ieag018, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieag018
Description G.adamastor is very similar to the preceding species Graphium agamedes and only differs in that the transverse spot of the cell of the forewing is larger and reaches the front margin of the cell, the discal spot in cellule 2 on the contrary is smaller and rounded or entirely wanting, so that the median hand is here interrupted. — Ashanti and Togo.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.
Biology Its habitat consists of dry forests and the transition zone between forests and the Guinea savanna.
Adult females mimic Amauris damocles. Both sexes feed from flowers, including Calodendrum splendens.
The larvae feed on various Annonaceae species.
Taxonomy Graphium adamastor belongs to a species group with 16 members. All are very similar The species group members are: Graphium abri Smith & Vane-Wright, 2001 Graphium adamastor (Boisduval, 1836) Graphium agamedes (Westwood, 1842) Graphium almansor (Honrath, 1884) Graphium auriger (Butler, 1876) Graphium aurivilliusi (Seeldrayers, 1896) Graphium fulleri (Grose-Smith, 1883) Graphium hachei (Dewitz, 1881) Graphium kigoma Carcasson, 1964 Graphium olbrechtsi Berger, 1950 Graphium poggianus (Honrath, 1884) Graphium rileyi Berger, 1950 Graphium schubotzi (Schultze, 1913) Graphium simoni (Aurivillius, 1899), Graphium ucalegon (Hewitson, 1865)[ Graphium ucalegonides (Staudinger, 1884)
Images External images from Royal Museum of Central Africa.
References