After studying some of the American Kites, which some scientists believe evolved either into or out of the African and Asian genus Graphium, we now come to the Graphium genus itself.
There are a lot of Graphiums, and as several of them live in tropical rain forests where they're hard for humans to find, very little is known about some of them.
The genus Graphium is so large and diverse that it's already being written about in terms of "sub-genus" groupings, which foreign entomologists may vote to start calling by their sub-genus names before we come to the end of the list. They do this more to reward scholars than to annoy researchers, but it's a very annoying habit. So let's begin with a list of all the species currently listed as Graphiums:
abri
adamastor
agamedes
agamemnon
ageles
alebion
almansor
androcles
angolanus
anthedon
antheus
antiphates
aristeus
arycles
aunger
aurivillusi
bathycles
biokoensis
browni
chronides
cloanthus
codrus
colonna
cycnus
decolor
delessertii
deucalion
dorcus
doron
empedocles
empedovana
encelades
endochus
epaminondas
eurous
eurypylus
evembar
evvemon
fulleri
gelon
glycerion
gudenusi
hachei
hicetaon
idaeoides
illyrius
incerta
junodi
kigoma
kirbyi
kosii
laboranus
latreillianus
leechi
leonidas
levasson
liponesco
lynderaeus
macareus
macfarlanei
macleayanus
mandarinus
meeki
megaera
megarus
mendana
meyeri
monticulus
morania
mullah
nomius
olbrechtsi
phidias
philonoe
poggianus
policenes
policenoides
polistratus
porthaon
procles
protensor
ramaceus
rhesus
ridleyanus
rileyi
sandawanum
sarpedon
schaffgotschi
schubotzi
simoni
stratiotes
stratocles
stressmanni
tamerlana
thule
timur
ucalegon
ucalegonides
wallacei
weiskei
wenlingas
xenocles
This web site will try to consider each one in order, but in some cases, as in the case of Graphium abri, very little information is available.
So what is known about abri? It's found in the Central African Republic. It looks very different from the Kites we've been studying.
Photo by Robyn_Crowther. This butterfly was recognized as a distinct species in 2001 based on two poor little museum pieces, whose tail ends were cut off for microscopic inspection, as the elaborate structures at insects' tail ends are often the distinguishing features of species that otherwise look alike.
A biography of Campbell Robert Smith, one of the scientists who first recognized this species,was written by the other scientist (Richard Vane-Wright) and is online at https://nl.pensoft.net/article/37808/
In the same year that they described abri, Smith and Vane-Wright also wrote a summary of what is known about Graphium caterpillars in Africa. They are variable, and variations among caterpillars don't reflect variations among adults. They have the Swallowtail humpback look, concealing osmeteria, and somewhat widened, flattened back ends. Pupae are described as "slender" and have white stripes.
Abri is French for "opened," as in a door, or "a shelter, place of refuge," as in Francis Schaeffer's ministry, but in African English it's also short for "African Butterfly Research Institute."
David Hancock suggests that abri may be a natural hybrid between Graphium adamastor and G. agamedes. This would account for its rareness and late discovery.
Smith and Vane-Wright proposed Arisbe, a sub-genus name, as an alternative genus name for the species abri. Their very technical description of its markings is available at
They note this species having been found only at Zongo on the Ubangi (Oubangui) River. The scientists carefully examined two long dead specimens. Despite searching in the intervening years, nobody has found any more Graphium abri. It seems fitting that there's only one photo of what's been called the rarest Swallowtail on Earth.
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