| Gold-rim Swallowtail (Battus polydamas (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Battus polydamas (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: Gold-rim Swallowtail Other names: Polydamas Swallowtail, Tailless Swallowtail. French name: Papillon trèfle, Papillon trèfle caraïbe. Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Rhopalocera Family: Papilionidae Subfamily: Papilioninae Wingspan: 90 to 120 mm. Biotope: Open woodlands, waste lands. Geographic area: South-eastern North America, Central America, South America, West Indies. Flight time: April to November in 3 generations in the north of the range with wintering in the form of a chrysalis, all year round in tropical and equatorial regions. Number of generations : 3 and more. Caterpillar: Brown or yellowish grey with two thin yellowish tubercles on each segment. Host plant: Aristolochia spp. |
The Gold-rim Swallowtail has a black upperside of the wings with a broad pale yellow submarginal band formed by an alignment of large chevron-shaped spots. The underside of the wings is dark brown. The underside of the fore wings shows the same spots as on the upper side. The underside of the hind wings shows a submarginal band of red spots. The forewings have a slightly scalloped margin. The hindwing margin is more strongly scalloped. There is no tail. The body is black with red markings. There are many subspecies, especially in the West Indies where there is almost one subspecies per island. Let's mention Battus polydamas neodamas for Guadeloupe and Battus polydamas xenodamas for Martinique. |
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I observed this Gold-rim Swallowtail foraging on Bougainvillea flowers. This gives a very colourful background to the photo. |
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I have no information on the differences between the various subspecies. I listed this butterfly as Battus polydamas xenodamas according to the location of the sighting, i.e. Martinique. |
André Bon June 2023