Papilio bianor, the Chines peacock, is a middle to large size, beautiful swallowtail butterfly .

Size

• It has a wingspan of 45 to 80 mm.
• Summer type is usually larger than spring type.

Color

• Black with structual color.
• The male has black velvet hair in the fore-wing, however the femail does not have.
• The female has red spot in the hind-wing.

Range

Entire Japan (from Hokkaidō to Okinawa, izu), Taiwan, Korea, China

Sub species

• P. b. dehaanii (Mainland Japan)
• P. b. okinawensis (Yaeyama islands, Okinawa, Japan)
• P. b. ryukyuensis (Okinawa islands, Japan)
• P. b. amamiensis (Amami islands, Kagoshima, Japan)
• P. b. tokaraensis (Tokara islands, Kagoshima, Japan)
• P. b. hachijonis (Hachijo island, Izu islands, Japan)
• P. b. kotoensis Sonan, 1927 (Taiwan)
• P. b. thrasymedes Fruhstorfer 1909 (Taiwan)

Similar species

Papilio maackii

Status

Taxonomy

Habitat

Papilio bianor is common in the forest, is not so common in suburban and urban, because of their host plant habitation. However if there are some host plats such as Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, it can be seen even in the urban district.

Habits

Life cycle

Eggs

Caterpillar

Caterpillar of Papilio bianor on Zanthoxylum ailanthoides

Pupa

Host plants

The larvae of the species feed on plants such as :

• The Japanese Prickly-ash Zanthoxylum ailanthoides.

See also

• Papilionidae
• List of butterflies in Taiwan

External links

References

• , The Handbook of Insects and their Host Plants, Bun-ichi Sougou Shuppan, 1/Apr/2007, ISBN978-4-8299-0026-0
• . 1997. The life histories of Asian butterflies vol. 1. Tokai University Press, Tokyo.