Losaria coon

Taxobox
name = Common Clubtail

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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
familia = Papilionidae
genus = "Atrophaneura"
subgenus = "Losaria"
species = "L. coon"
binomial = "Losaria coon"
binomial_authority = Fabricius 1793

The Common Clubtail, "Losaria coon", a rare and beautiful member of the Swallowtail (Papilionidae) family, is native to India. The butterfly belongs to the Clubtail subgenus, "Losaria", of the genus "Atrophaneura" or the Red Bodied Swallowtails.

Description

Male upperside dull black, paler on the fore than on the hind wing. Fore wing with very conspicuous pale streaks, two in each interspace that extend well into the cell, but do not reach the termen, where the dull black ground-colour forms a broadish transverse band. Hind wing black, with in fresh specimens in certain lights a beautiful blue gloss; a central large white area composed of a white patch in the apical two-thirds of the cell and more or less elongate spots of varying breadth at base of interspaces 1-7, all these very distinctly divided by the broadly black-bordered veins, the spot in interspace 4 more or less obsolescent; lastly, a subterminal row of more or less crescentic white spots, the lower two shaded with crimson followed by a crimson tornal and a terminal similar but brighter spot at apex of vein 3, the spatulate tail black. Underside similar; the ground-colour duller. Hind wing: a white discal spot often in interspace below vein 1, the lower two spots of the terminal series entirely crimson. Antennae, thorax and abdomen above up to the preanal segment black; head, palpi, sides of the thorax and rest of the abdomen crimson, the abdomen with black lateral spots.

Female similar; fore wing paler. Hind wing: the central white markings larger, the subterminal spot in interspace 2 white, coalescent with the crimson tornal spot. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male

Race "cacharensis", Butler. (found in Cachar)— Males and females smaller, with the ground-colour duller and the discal white spots on the hind wing conspicuously-reduced in size. According to Rothschild the subterminal and terminal markings are also paler, often yellowish red. "Head, sides of breast and abdomen of a yellowish-red instead of vermilion-red." Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2]

Distribution

The butterfly is found North East India, in Southern Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Kampuchea, Hainan (Guangdong province of China), Peninsular Malaysia, Nicobar Islands, Indonesia (Sumatra, western Java and Bawean Islands). Absent in Borneo.

In India, it is found in Cachar Hills of Assam and Manipur and in the Nicobar Islands.

tatus

It has been rarely recorded from Assam and is a possible vagrant. The subspecies "A. (L.) c. sambilanga" found in the Nicobar Islands is very rare and protected under Indian Law. [Collins, N.M. & Morris, M.G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. IUCN. ISBN 2-88032-603-6]

Taxonomy

It has eight subspecies excluding "palu". Indian subspecies are :-
* "A. (L.) coon cacharensis" Butler. Assam. Rare.
* "A. (L.) coon sambilanga" Wallace. Myanmar. Common.
* "A. (L.) coon sambilanga" Doherty. Nicobars. Very rare.

Description

* Wingspan - 100 to 120mm.
* Both sexes generally alike. and have a spatulate tail with long and narrow wings.
* However the females have broader wings and shorter hindwing tails.
* The forewing is black with pale markings between the veins.
* Two-thirds of the cell of the hindwing is white with a row of white spots around it. It has crimson or dusky white lunules along the margin and disc.

Habitat

The Common Clubtail is a woodland species which may be found both in the plains and the hills.

Habits

It has been recorded in Manipur during February and April and from July to October. The distinctive black and yellow/orange/red (depending on subspecies) markings and slow flight indicate that it is a 'protected' butterfly being inedible due to sequestration of certain chemicals from the plants that the caterpillar feeds on.

Lifecycle

The caterpillar is variable in colour and ranges from reddish-grey to black and has many black spots and stripes.

Foodplant

* "Apama tomentosa"

Cited references

References

* Carter, David. (1992, 2000) Dorling Kindersley Handbook of Butterflies and Moths. London. ISBN 0-7513-2707-7
* Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
* Haribal, Meena (1994) Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and their Natural History.
* Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.

ee also

*Lepidoptera
*Butterflies
*Papilionidae
*List of butterflies of India
*List of butterflies of India (Papilionidae)