Butterfly of the Week: Creamy Graphium

Graphium ucalegon is sometimes called either the Cream Lady or the Sepia Lady, depending on subspecies; it is sometimes called the Twin-Spotted Lady or Twin-Spotted Graphium; most sources that give it an English name call it the Creamy Graphium--and many sources don't mention it at all. Many scientists now think it is the same as Graphium auriger. It is one of the "White Lady" species that all look very much alike. 

Photo by Koenbetjes, who remains uncertain, at the time of writing, whether what person photographed was Graphium ucalegon or Graphium simoni. Some of the dead leaves clogging the puddle are Annonaceae. 

Ucalegon was a minor character in the Iliad. He was a respected citizen, a friend of the king of Troy. His house was destroyed by fire when the Greeks swarmed out of the Trojan Horse and started to burn the city of Troy. The fire alerted his neighbor, Aeneas, to the attack. The Renaissance fad for referring to Greco-Roman literature whenever possible caused some poets to write "his Ucalegon" when they meant "his neighbor, whose house was on fire." Occasions to use this name-as-word have been few and far between but the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson called it his favorite word, anyway. Thus "Ucalegon" came to be listed in some dictionaries as an English word, though it never became common enough to be written without its capital letter. The original Greek spelling might be more closely transliterated as Oukalegon, with an accent mark over the E.

More is known about this butterfly's name than about the butterfly itself. Its wingspan can be close to four inches. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, the Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, in forests. Adults usually fly just before the beginning of the rainy season, presumably to give caterpillars access to new leaves. Males gather at puddles and also seek the minerals they need in rotting fish. 

Photo from the African Butterfly Database.

Females spend most of their time in the forests, placing their eggs. These butterflies are not often seen and, when they are seen, are not easily identified. Though they are described as "particularly uncommon" in Uganda, and some local populations are known to be threatened by habitat loss, as a species they are neither believed to be threatened nor even considered all that uncommon. Specific habitats are known, and the same small numbers of individuals are observed at each habitat site when they are counted. 

Their foodplant is not known, but it is probably abundant in the "sand dune forest" along the Congo River in Angola where SzabolcsSafian photographed this puddle party:

Nevertheless, three subspecies of ucalegon are still recognized by those who recognize ucalegon as a separate species: Graphium ucalegon ucalegon, G.u. fonteinei, and G.u. schoutedeni. 

Photo by Sven Bontenbal. 

Butterfly of the Week: Electric Green Swordtail

Graphium tynderaeus has an almost logical English name. It is the Electric Green Swordtail, or Green-Spotted Swallowtail, because of the patches of bright yellow-green or green-yellow on its wings. It does not, however, have the long "sword" or "swallow tail" appendage on each hind wing. Its wings have the same shape and structure as some other species' wings that do have "sword tails." Generally the tailless African Graphium species have been called Ladies, but this one seems to have impressed some observers as giving the illusion of a masculine personality; only a few sources call it a Green-Spotted Lady, and a few others call it the Green Prince. Species names can be assigned by the scientist who first described the species, or changed by a consensus of scientists later on, without having to make sense.

Photo from the African Butterfly Database.

In Latin and Greek Tyndaraeus, or Tyndareus, was a king of Sparta. Most of the children born to his wife Leda were said to be the children of Zeus, who sneaked into her home in the form of a swan; some say he changed Leda into swan form, too, and they flew off together, and the children Leda had as a result came out in the form of eggs. According to one popular story Leda laid two big eggs, one containing fraternal twins Helen (the daughter of Zeus) and Clytemnestra (the daughter of Tyndareus), the other containing fraternal twins Castor (the son of Tyndareus) and Pollux (the son of Zeus. After that she had a few more children in the normal way. Apart from this aberration in his family life, Tyndareus was remembered for getting the kings of other Greek cities to promise to defend whomever Helen married. This led to the Trojan War. It was traditional to name Swallowtail species after characters in literature.

Graphium tyndaraeus are found in countries along the crook in the western coastline of Africa: "Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Angola, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania," according to metamorphosis.org.za. They are "uncommon" wherever they live; one of the species that like to spread out across the land. Two or three males are sometimes photographed at one puddle but when tyndareus join big puddle parties, most of their drinking buddies belong to other species.

Photo by Seanbrogan, Republic of the Congo, October.

They live in and near forests, probably where a specific kind of tree grows. There are several generations in a year. Their habitat is consistently warm, with wetter and drier rather than warmer and colder seasons, and they probably are active all year.

Males typically have the high-contrast green and blackish gray coloring, while females can look yellow and brown. Museum specimens tend to fade to yellow and brown. They are well camouflaged among leaves and grass.

Photo by Tonyking.

At night, this one reflects light in an almost fluorescent way.

Photo by Kyledenobrega, Democratic Republic of the Congo, September.

Living butterflies move fast, and have been called the fastest-flying of all Swallowtails. Not easily observed in real life, they are a popular theme for art. Most online references to this species seem to be advertising photos, paintings, sometimes actual dead bodies, collectible postage stamps, and jewelry that preserve likenesses of these butterflies.

Males spend a lot of their time sipping brackish or polluted water, for minerals. Sometimes more than one sips at the same puddle. Sometimes they join puddle parties with smaller butterflies, but they are quick to fly away if approached. One naturalist lured one of these butterflies into camera range with half a boiled egg. (Eggs are rich in minerals.) More than one observer has attracted a male to a dirty shoe or sweaty sock. 

Photo by Stefaneakame. 

Subspecies names have been proposed: confluens, fraudatus, incompleta, nausinous, and ochrea. Of these nausinous was proposed as a separate species, and does show consistent differences from the typical tyndaraeus. The others seem to have been aberrant forms rather than true subspecies. Graphium latreillianus has also sometimes been regarded as a subspecies of tynderaeus but is more often considered a separate species.

Nothing is known about the life cycle of Graphium tynderaeus. 

Butterfly of the Week: Tabora Lady

Or Miombo Lady, or Tabora or Miombo White Lady, Swordtail, Swallowtail... Graphium taboranus looks very similar to Graphium arisbe, Graphium schaffgotschi, Graphium morania, and others, so some authorities don't even list them as separate species. Some sources list Graphium arisbe taboranus or Graphium taboranus morania or some other combination as if these are only subspecies. This view may be fully accepted some day. Scientists have yet to gather enough facts about these butterflies to  debate intelligently.

There are also scientists who want to split the Graphium genus, which certainly has a lot of species in it, and use Arisbe as the genus name. I only report these things.

Anyway Graphium taboranus, which for our present purposes we shall accept as a species, is found near a mountain called Tabora, and in and near a forest called Miombo, and in several places in sub-Saharan Africa. Is the species endangered, or is it just that some local populations have declined sharply? How could you tell? Even experts who dissect dead butterflies aren't too positive about identifying the White Lady species. They're not exactly alike, but casual visitors to nature parks can't be sure which is which when the butterflies are flapping their wings.

Graphium taboranus is reported from Zambia to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has a wide range. It's not uncommon or thought to be endangered, but is believed to be less common than the look-alike species that share its range. In Angola, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia, it is probably active for most or all of the year. It is believed to live on trees in the genus Annona, small trees that typically have toxic leaves but bear edible fruit. 

As a result of this confusion, there aren't a lot of photos of living Graphium taboranus on the Internet. It's popular--it's featured on postage stamps--but all people know for sure is that it looks like other butterflies that share its range. There are no photos of this species on sites like Inaturalist. Of 189 links  Google pulled up in a search for this species, over 150 were just checklists of all the Graphium species.

At the time of writing, one of these Botswana stamps was for sale for $7 on EBay: 

https://www.ebay.com/b/Butterflies-Batswana-Stamps-1966-Now/166768/bn_27098268

Taboranus means "of or from Tabora" and doesn't sound like either of the two English words it can be broken into. When words Caesar never heard are "Latinized" there's room for legitimate differences of opinion about how they ought to sound. Not this one. In English, at least, it's ta-BOR-an-us. 

Photo by Adalbert Seitz, 1924, public domain.

Photos ofa female museum specimen, top and bottom views,are at the bottom of page 19 of

https://www.metamorphosis.org.za/articlesPDF/1470/African%20Butterfly%20News%202018-5.pdf

Graphium taboranus could and may hybridize with look-alike species arisbe, endochus, morania, ridleyanus, and schaffgotschi. Filling in the records of how these butterflies are alike and different, how they live, and whether they are especially valuable to humans or merely an important part of the ecosystem, are still wide-open opportunities for Africans to become famous.

The life cycle is currently undocumented. By now regular readers can guess what the egg, caterpillar, and chrysalis will be found to look like. It remains for Africans to confirm or disprove our guesses.

Book Review: For the Love of the Grind

Title: For the Love of the Grind

Author: Sara (Bei) Hall

Photo from Google.

Publisher: St Martin's

Date: 2026

ISBN: 9781250404299

Quote:  "I'm grateful to have found running. This is what I have been made for."

As a teenager, Sara Bei ran so much faster than the other girls that the coach made her run with the boys on the cross-country team. At Stanford, she made such an impression on the other champion runner, Ryan Hall, that they became personal friends and married after graduation. As adults, they've continued to run for more than twenty years, putting them among the longest-lived athletic couples in human history. 

This is Sara's story; she mentions Ryan Hall and the children they've adopted enough to show that she does have a home life, but avoids telling their stories. Her story is mostly about races run, injuries incurred, treatments indicated, and recoveries made. Readers learn about athletics and general health. We get to peek into the runners' world of training, racing, and squeezing in time for a little bit of a personal life. We get to share Hall's first feeling of empathy when she sees runners unused to wet track conditions hiding under every possible shelter on a wet day, followed quickly by triumph: "This will be my secret weapon." We hear the whine of envy as people tell the Halls that watching them run is a joyful experience, and others insinuate that it's a "selfish" career...as if preaching or singing were less of a mix of obsessive training, intense discipline, lapping up emotional support from a crowd, and radiating emotional support back to them.

The Halls are Christians who wanted to be missionaries and have built a house in Ethiopia with missionary intentions. This book walks the very thin line between giving Christian readers enough of a "testimony" that they don't forget to pray so that Christians won't worry about that, and not alienating readers from other faith traditions with a heavy evangelical message. Sara Hall reminisces wryly about debates over Santa Claus being a replacement for Jesus for little children, tells us that (although Little Debbie cookies are made by a bakery that's part of a church college community) she turned down a contract to endorse the brand after having had to run in lower-tech shoes that showed the right brand and deciding she didn't want to put sugary cookies in the children's lunchboxes, but she keeps these stories short and maintains a focus on what works for top runners...everything from diet and training through the magical thinking athletes tend to indulge in when competing with other people who diet and train as rigorously as they do. (Focus on the runner ahead of you, pace yourself to pass that person, imagine energy flowing out of person and into you as you pass...) 

Her commitment to faith and family, and intentions to help other Ethiopians in and beyond the athletic culture that has swept that country, always shine through. Sometimes I wonder how it's possible for the underdeveloped extrovert brain to have any spirituality. I think, despite moments of rebellion (she ate a "magic" mushroom, legally and with proper supervision, in Oakdale! And it felt "spiritual" to her!), this book shows how that works in practice. (In Hall's church the classic four personality types, often called by oldfashioned names that describe their typical weak points, are affirmed as "dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness." Hall is told that she excels in "influence," meaning that she's seen as an extrovert.) Hall doesn't do Christianity the way I do or the way most church ladies do, but she does it the way her unique brain and body are built to do. 

Butterfly of the Week: Tan Lady

Graphium simoni, the Tan Lady, is another butterfly that is very little known. It was described and listed as a species only in 1899. It is very similar to last week's species, Graphium schubotzi, and to more than a dozen other Graphium species; many sources currently list the count at sixteen species that, if they are distinct species, could probably be crossbred. It has a wide range, Cameroon, all three "Congo" nations, Nigeria, and Gabon, occasionally even Angola, but seems to be uncommon throughout its range.

Photo by Koenbetjes, October, Lompole in the Kinshasa region.

Most of the Internet pages that list this species are only lists of species. Some authorities list this one as a subspecies of Graphium ucalegon.

Photo by Koenbetjes, October, Oshwe in the Kinshasa region. All (four) digital photos of this species alive were taken by Koenbetjes at different places on what seems to have been the same tour.

As regular readers know so well by now, there is a whole family of butterflies who look very similar to the Swordtails except that they don't have sword-shaped tails on their hind wings. Because they were named by Victorian Englishmen, they are called Ladies, though most of the individuals photographed are found displaying typically male behavior.

That is to say, they are sipping water from sand. They like brackish water. All Swallowtail butterflies need some mineral salts in their all-liquid diet, but males actually drink salty or bitter water in order to accumulate surplus minerals that will be transferred to the females when they mate, thus allowing the females to live on clean water and sweet flower nectar alone. Males often gather at large puddles in large groups, but while some Swallowtails are comfortable in crowds that include dozens of their own species, others like to be the only male of their species within half a mile. This is a clue to what they eat and how abundant it is. Our Zebra Swallowtails avoid one another in most of their range, but relax and become gregarious in a few places where their host plant, the pawpaw tree, is very abundant. Similar dynamics seem to shape the behavior of their tropical "cousin" species.

Whatever Graphium simoni eat seems not to be abundant. Nobody mentions finding even small flocks of these little fellows. The one Koenbetjes found displaying his tan color was in a different park, miles away from the one showing his white band. 

Female Swallowtails may actually be far less numerous than males, in some species--in some animal species nature produces a lot of surplus males who die without reproducing. Or they may just be better at hiding in the tropical rain forest. The woods where they live are dense and not friendly to humans. The butterflies are dark-colored, like shade, and often flit through the tree canopy. Even if people see them, they're unlikely to get a clear photo. 

Nothing is known about the life cycle of Graphium simoni. Studying these likable butterflies could make some African student famous.

Butterfly of the Week: Dark Lady, or Odin's Graphium, or Narrow-Green-Banded Graphium

Graphium schubotzi is another butterfly that looks very similar to Graphium adamastor and Graphium auriger. Not all lists include it as a species; some count it as a subspecies of something else, e.g. Graphium auriger.

Photo by Tdesloges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The living, flying butterfly is said to be dark brown, as shown, with white or cream-colored bands and dapples that can iridesce pale blue or green at some angles to the light. 

Found in Cameroon and all three countries that have been formerly included in "Congo." 

This species does not appear to be in danger of anything worse than being reclassified out of existence. It has gone on and off lists of Graphium species; an older name for it was Papilio odin. Why anyone would name a butterfly after the grim, grizzled grandfather of the Norse ancstor-gods, I can't imagine, but here and there a more recent person or fictional character has been called Odin. When replaced on species lists this species was named schubotzi, possibly as a tribute to Professor Johann Schubotz, an early twentieth century naturalist. The butterflies themselves have continued to flutter around central Africa, not knowing or caring whether humans were calling them Graphium auriger schubotzi or Graphium schubotzi. 

They are not apparently difficult to find but. due to uncertainty about classification, very few photos of this butterfly have been published online. Pictures that have been taken were taken in museums.

When schubotzi is listed as a distinct species, a subspecies maculata is usually recognized. Maculata is sometimes called the Cameroon Dark Lady.

The video below has been posted, not confirmed, as showing Graphium schubotzi.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRH6b3TDGy3/

Butterfly of the Week: Schaffgotsch's White Lady

Why would a butterfly be called Schaffgotsch's White Lady? A subgroup of African Graphium butterflies are called Swordtails if they have long "swallow tails" on their hind wings, or Ladies if they don't. None of the Ladies is pure white. The ones that show more white than black or brown, above, are White Ladies. Then again, sometimes people call this species Schaffgotsch's Swordtails. It's tradition; it doesn't have to make much sense. In view of its actual coloration, some have called this butterfly the Pinto Lady.

Photo from Wikipedia.

Some have proposed calling it the Angolan White Lady, a name that more logically fits Graphium angolanus, which these people call the White Lady.

https://www.metamorphosis.org.za/articlesPDF/1548/African%20Butterfly%20News%202020-6.pdf

Unfortunately a lot more is known about the Schaffgotsch family than about the butterflies. They are one of the obscure Graphium species that still offer opportunities for African students to become famous.

So what about Schaffgotsch? This was a wealthy family based in Silesia, a border area in present-day Poland that has also been claimed as part of Germany. The family name was originally Schaff, the sheep farmers; as the original family expanded some of them distinguished themselves as the descendants of the noble knight Gotsch Schaff. The butterfly might have been named in honor of General Hans Ulrich Schaffgotsch, a seventeenth century war hero who was later executed over a difference of opinion with his feudal overlord, or of Johanna Gryczik von Schaffgotsch, a miner's daughter who married into the rich family, received a title, put her money into business, and invested the wealth she gained in educational and humanitarian work. 

Portrait of Johanna as a wealthy patron of universities. Wikipedia has an older portrait suggesting that she looked less off-putting in youth. Anyway she was the first successful business woman in Silesia and was seen as a heroine by Victorian and Edwardian women.

Schaffgotsch's White Lady is a butterfly of what Africans call the Albertine Rift. It is found in Angola, the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia--not often. It was also reported in Namibia, once, but has not been found there since. At this latitude seasons are defined more as "wet" and "dry" rather than "hot" or "cold." Weather permitting, these butterflies seem to fly at any time of year. 

Before 1927 Graphium schaffgotschi was classified as belonging to a similar species, Graphium taboranus. These species are alike enough that they could probably be crossbred with each other or with the other White Ladies, Graphium angolanus, G. endochus, G. morania, and G. ridleyanus. 

Photo by Rogerioferreira. Of a pair of Swallowtails, the larger one is usually the female; the more colorful one is usually the male. What about this pair?

What this butterfly eats, how long it lives,  what it looks like at any time before it gets its wings, nobody knows yet. Africa needs more biologists. 

Butterfly of the Week: Riley's Graphium

Graphium rileyi is a rare and obscure species about which very little is known. Named in 1950, it's not on every list of butterfly species. It is least uncommon in Guinea, also found in Cote d'Ivoire, recorded as very rare in Ghana and Liberia. If scientists continue to count rileyi as a species, African students have a golden opportunity to become famous by learning about it. It may be reclassified as a subspecies or variation, or found to be a hybrid between other Graphiums, probably ucalegonides or fulleri.

As a result this butterfly is so rare that I couldn't even find a free photo of it.

It is in the group of tailless, or "swordless," Graphiums that are sometimes called Ladies, and it is sometimes called the Blotched Lady. Like "White" and "Red," "Blotched" describes the wings--in a relative way. Actually all the Ladies have a resemblance to one another.

Most search results for this species consist of lists on which the name is mentioned. Carcasses are not advertised for sale. Although several scientific papers mention this species, most merely confirm that it was found in a certain place. 

It is regarded as somewhat endangered simply because it's rare, though the IUCN Red List of endangered swallowtails doesn't even acknowledge this species' existence.

A scant entry for Graphium rileyi is found on pages 101-102 of 

https://metamorphosis.org.za/articlesPDF/1040/009%20Genus%20Graphium%20Scopoli.pdf

It contains the only photos of this species a Google search yielded. The wings of the museum piece shown were brown and white, darker above than below.

Butterfly of the Week: Acraea Swordtail

Graphium ridleyanus should logically be called Ridley's Graphium in English, but its standard English name is Acraea Swordtail. It does not belong to the genus Acraea. It does not have sword-shaped tails on its wings, either. The tailless African Graphiums are sometimes called Ladies, and this species is sometimes called the Red Lady.

Photo by Jakob, May 2014.

Acraea was the name of a minor character in Greek mythology, a water spirit who worked as a servant to Hera. It also meant "from the heights" and was used as a name for shrines and temples built on hilltops, and for the goddesses worshipped there; there were Hera Acraea, Aphrodite Acraea, Artemis Acraea, and Athena Acraea, and probably more. The Acraea Swordtail is, however, so called because it mimics some butterflies in the genus Acraea, and they mimic it, in Mullerian or reciprocal mimicry, where each species is somewhat toxic to predators in a different way, and each gets some additional protection from resembling the other.

Acraea egina and A. perenna are the Brush-Footed Butterfly species Graphium ridleyanus most resembles. In this series I try to show only one butterfly species per post, but you might want to visit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acraea_egina

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acraea_perenna

Ridley was the name of an entomologist who collected several African butterflies for study by Europeans, before succumbing to a tropical disease. Colleagues who named this species in his honor said that he "fell victim to the climate of western Africa." 

Photo by Rogerio Ferreira, February 2019, Angola.

Graphium ridleyanus lives in central Africa. Countries where it's been found include Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome e Principe, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. It has been reported in Benin and Sierra Leone, but these reports are now considered to have been erroneous--either the butterflies were misidentified or they were not where they were supposed to be. Graphium ridleyanus is found in the borders between forests and savannas. 

It looks very similar to, and as if it might be able to crossbreed with, Graphium angolanus, G. endochus, G. morania, G. schaffgotschi, and G. taboranus.

A popular species, Graphium ridleyanus has inspired many arts and crafts designs, including postage stamps.

At the time of writing this stamp was for sale on Etsy. By the time this post goes live it won't be there any more.

Sites for carcass traffic are abundant. This web site runs over and drips with scorn for the sort of butterfly "collectors" who would rather buy carcasses of big showy exotic butterflies than learn anything useful about their own local species. We collect butterflies in a more tidy and sustainable way now, with cameras--and photos of Graphium ridleyanus for sale are also abundant on the Internet.

Spots and colors are variable. In some individuals the base color of the wings can be described as black, in some as brown, in some as pale sepia. Some have pink, red, or orange patches on the wings and some have yellow or off-white. Both sexes can be darker or more pinkish. Wings can be scantly scaled and translucent. Males and females have slightly different patterns of spots, and some variations have been given subspecies names: infuscatus, fumatus, fumosus, rosa, semivitreus, describing wing coloration, and njami and hecqueti, referring to places. A gallery of color patterns is available for viewing at 

https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/gallery?taxon_key=5141245

Photo by Sudheer Kommana for https://www.tanzaniabirds.net/butterfly/Graphium_ridleyanus/gr.htm#gsc.tab=0

Both males and females have been found but males are much more easily found. They like to hang out at puddles, alone or in groups, often with other Graphiums. Males slurp up brackish or polluted water, storing mineral salts in their bodies and returning filtered liquid to the soil. Though not common they can seem excessively "friendly" to humans, willing to perch on our skin and slurp up sweat. 

Photo from the African Butterfly Database at https://abdb-africa.org/species/Graphium_ridleyanus

Its host plant is thought to be Monanthotaxis laurentii

There is still room for African students to become famous by learning the basic facts about this species' life history.

Butterfly of the Week: Coastal Swordtail

Graphium porthaon has several English names. "Coastal Swordtail" may be the most commonly used. In some places it's the Dark Swordtail, in some the Cream-Striped Swordtail. Along with the Graphium species policenoides, liponesco, and biokoensis, it's in a group of African butterflies that look very similar to Graphium policenes but show some consistent differences.

Photos above and below by Ryan G. Fessenden.

Why are these butterflies called Graphium, anyway? Graphium is a Latin word for a writing instrument. Originally it meant a stylus, the "pen" used for punching cuneiform designs into wax. Later the word came to be applied to pens and pencils. It's yet another way of describing the long projecting ends of their hind wings.  

Porthaon was a king of ancient Greece. Little is known about him. He was called a son of Ares, probably meaning a warlord. His family included a sister called Demonice or Demodice. (Whatever that may suggest in English, in Greek demo means "the people, group, tribe." Nice or Nike meant victory. Dice meant justice.) 

Graphium porthaon is thought to breed and fly continuously when the weather is warm enough. In some of its range there is a cool season when eggs and pupae wait for warmer temperatures. Its range extends from South Africa to Kenya. It lives in deep, damp forests. In some places it's considered rare.

The species as a whole is not believed to be endangered. It is sometimes considered challenging to photograph. Butterfly tourism is a way some parts of Africa hope to build or boost their economies, so they allow butterfly farming to produce dead bodies for those who want to collect butterflies the oldfashioned way, and positively encourage photographing the lifeforms seen on walking tours. This issue of Metamorphosis has several articles about what can be expected on a butterfly walk, one titled "Cloudy with a Chance of Swordtails." Several nice clear photos of Graphiums, including porthaon, are scattered through the journal.

https://verlorenvalei.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ABN-2022-1.pdf

This issue has a list of the Graphiums in Kenya and what they apparently eat, the authors emphasizing that these caterpillars normally live in a tangle of vines that can make it hard to tell what they are eating and what they are merely passing over.

https://metamorphosis.org.za/articlesPDF/50/Metamorphosis%20Vol%2020(2)_43-72%20June%202009.pdf

Its wingspan is about 3 inches, males usually under 3 inches and females sometimes a little over. The pale parts of the wings reflect light and can show a bluish, greenish, or pale turquoise cast, but usually look white to yellow.

It is not a shy species. It often flies near human habitation, and often sips water from puddles in large mixed groups, sometimes hanging out with the brighter blue Graphiums it resembles.

Photo by Clare Matake, Zambia, December 2024.

It has a wider range of food plants than many Graphiums, being able to eat leaves from some species of Artabotrys, Cleistrichlamys, Monodora, and Monanthotaxis as well as Annona and Uvaria.

There are at least three subspecies: G.p. porthaon, mackiei, and tanganyikae. Older sources may still list subspecies adjectus and vernayi, but most entomologists now consider those "synonyms." 

Graphium porthaon mackiei is found in Kenya and Tanzania. I found no photographs specifically identified as mackiei.

Graphium porthaon tanganyikae is found in part of Tanzania. It is described as slightly darker than G.p. porthaon with slightly different spots on the undersides of the wings. Its range seems to be more narrow than G.p. porthaon's; the nominate subspecies has been found at altitudes from sea level to 1900m, while tanganyikae has been found between 780 and 1000m. 

Photo by Butati, Tanzania, October 2021.

Graphium porthaon porthaon is found in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. INaturalist has pages devoted to each subspecies; not all are filled in, but there's quite a gallery at 

https://mexico.inaturalist.org/taxa/667581-Graphium-porthaon-porthaon/browse_photos

Photo by Tomaschiripiburuwate, Mozambique, November 2020. Male and female often look alike.

Photo by Anibotani, South Africa, October 2024. Or females may have lower-contrast colors while males have crisper, bluer, higher-contrast colors.

Adult butterflies are thought to have about two weeks to fly,. During this time they mate, and the females lay eggs, which look like little round beads, whitish yellow at first darkening to yellow-green before they hatch.

Like all butterflies they hatch out as caterpillars, eat until they burst out of their skins into new skins a few times, then enter a motionless pupal stage during which the body undergoes enormous changes, and finally emerge as butterflies. New-hatched caterpillars look black; their skins lighten to gray or taupe as they stretch out. They are camouflaged when they hide inside flowers or along chewed edges of leaves of their host plant. Later skins are gray and then green with stripes. Final-stage caterpillars are described as green, blackish, or yellow, with bands of white, black, and yellow. They don't try to be camouflaged, but rest on the upper edges of leaves where they are concealed from most predators by more leaves. 

This pupa of Graphium porthaon matured into a butterfly that flew in the Reiman Gardens but, inexplicably, the Gardens web site doesn't have photos of the adult butterflies. Graphium porthaon has also been reared and displayed at Britain's Stratford-upon-Avon butterfly gardens but their web site doesn't have a photo page. 

Butterfly of the Week: Dancing Swordtail

Graphium polistratus is also called the Dancing Swordtail. It is found in Africa, in some of the same places as Graphium policenes; it flits through warm, damp forests in Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Tanzania. This species is relatively easy to distinguish from G. policenes because the pale stripes on its wings are narrower.

Photo by Titi-Uu, Kenya, December 2024. These butterflies are seldom photographed; the individuals that have been photographed were almost all males sipping water from puddles. 

Photo by Wildnothos, Kenya, December 2015. As with other Graphiums, the pale color can appear azure blue, pale blue, greenish, white, or yellowish depending on the light. 

Photo by Liamragan, Kenya, June 2019. Upper wing surfaces seem to be most easily seen on museum specimens.

However, two splendid clear photos of a female, one with her upper wings spread out and one with her wings pulled together above her, can be found in 

https://metamorphosis.org.za/articlesPDF/50/Metamorphosis%20Vol%2020(2)_43-72%20June%202009.pdf

This issue of the magazine features life histories and photos of several African Graphium species. The photo essay also includes polistratus caterpillars and pupae.

There's also a nice clear photo of polistratus with its wings spread on page 87 of this PDF:

https://verlorenvalei.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ABN-2022-1.pdf

Polistratus, or Polystratus or Polustratos, was the name of more than one person in ancient Greek literature. One Polystratus, possibly related to or the same person as Sostratus, was an army buddy of Heracles; when he was killed in battle, Heracles cut his hair short as a show of mourning. A better documented Polystratus was an Epicurean philosopher, perhaps best known for a speech or article about the irrationality of the philosophers of a different school. The name means "many armies."

The butterfly species has also been called sisenna, after a Roman historian.

At one time some butterflies with slight consistent differences in their spots, generally similar to polistratus, were classified as Papilio richelmanni. This type of butterfly is now regarded as a subspecies of Graphiun polistratus. 

Each adult butterfly has about two weeks to fly. Eggs and young develop fast in warm weather and, since they live in places where the weather is always warm, they are believed to breed throughout the year, so that there is always a Graphium polistratus flying somewhere. 

However, the females, especially, spend most of their time in forests where they look like shadows and are seldom observed by humans. Like other Graphiums they spend a lot of time selecting tender young leaves or leaf buds on which to place each little round bead of an egg. 

As the species depend on trees for food and shelter, their presence is sometimes seen as a good sign of a healthy forest. They are also sometimes reared for sale to collectors. At the Nambiga forest preserve in Tanzania and at others, these butterflies may help local farmers reconcile themselves to their new neighbors' strange (to them) insistence on preserving the lives of animals, such as elephants, that sometimes damage crops.

Caterpillars live on small trees in the family Annonaceae, in the genera Annona and Uvaria. As with other Graphium species, people may fear that the caterpillars will kill their trees, but in fact, as true symbionts, they almost never harm their hosts. In fact, the adult butterflies pollinate these trees and help keep the species alive. 

Caterpillars have a family resemblance to other Graphiums, and the life cycle seems to be similar to Graphium policenes. Little seems to have been published online about the life cycle of this species.

Butterfly of the Week: Shaped Like a Common Swordtail

Not much information is available online about Graphium policenoides. That's because even its scientific name merely describes it as shaped like Graphium policenes. Some sources mention that it's also very similar to Graphium liponesco and to G. biokoensis. 

Photo from the Belgian Biodiversity Information Facility.

In English, some African scientists named it the Gabon Striped Swordtail, but people are not familiar enough with it to have made this a "common" name. 

Found in Cameroon, Congo, and Gabon, Graphium policenoides has two different wing patterns. One, sometimes called subspecies nigrescens or  "darkening," has much darker wings, mostly black with only a narrow band of pale spots. The other, sometimes called G.p. policenoides, looks more like Graphium policenes, which was last week's butterfly. The spots are only slightly different. To be sure that these were distinct species, at first it was necessary to kill and dissect the butterfly; internal parts are different enough that policenes and policenoides don't crossbreed, though  they live in the same places. Once the different species identities were established, however, people who had studied policenoides said that it can't be mistaken for anything else, close up. 

Torben B. Larsen explains the differences among Graphium policenes, G. policenoides, and G. liponesco: 

https://abdb-africa.org/library/bibliography/2190.pdf

Nevertheless, people seem to feel less confident about identifying photos of Graphium policenoides on the wing. The butterfly is not known to be endangered, and dead specimens are offered for sale, but pictures of it seem to be taken in museums.

It is not easily photographed while living. It lives in deep dark woods and rarely comes out. Museum specimens are usually males caught at puddles, but policenoides doesn't spend nearly as much time at puddles as policenes does. Larsen suggested that living in wet forests gave them less need to come out and seek water, fresh or brackish.

Butterfly of the Week: Common Swordtail

Graphium policenes is a very popular African butterfly called the Common Swordtail. It is also called the Small Striped Swordtail, as distinct from G. antheus, the Large Striped Swordtail. Sometimes it's also called the Marbled Swordtail, and sometimes the Turquoise-Spotted Swordtail.

At least it does have long sword-shaped tails on its hind wings, unlike some butterflies whose English names include "swordtail."

Photo by Danyparis, Cote d'Ivoire, March 2024.

Well...it always starts with long sword-shaped tails. It can survive if the tails are lost by misadventure.

Photo by Josephizang, May 2022.

Not believed to be endangered, this species is well represented at commercial sites. It can be bought (dead or alive, but usually dead) as a collection starter; its wings, preserved in clear plastic, are for sale as jewelry, and of course pictures of it can be found on just about anything. It's been featured on several postage stamps, some available for sale.

List of a dozen postage stamps featuring Graphium policenes at https://www.stampdata.com/thing.php?id=25094&offset=0 .

In Equatorial Guinea these butterflies, along with native bird and other species, have even been portrayed--in color!--on coins:

https://en.numista.com/134024

Some people who claim to be selling Graphium policenes, or images thereof, are actually selling different species.

Regular readers already know how several butterfly species originally called Papilio were split off into the genus Graphium, and how some now want to split Graphium into separate genera in which policenes would be classified in the genus Arisbe, but why policenes? Whatever the name may suggest to English-speaking readers, it's Greek. In English, as an ordinary man's name it's spelled Polyxenes, and as the name of a literary character it's found only in the feminine form, Polyxene or Polyxena, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba. Not mentioned in Homer's Iliad, she appears in other stories of the Trojan War, with some disagreement on the details--one author mentions her long black hair, another says it was blonde, and so on. She was betrothed to Achilles, apparently against her will; calling her "most pure" and saying that she "remained chaste" in spite of everything probably means she foiled attempts at rape. Euripides accuses her of complicity in Achilles' death and says Achilles' ghost demanded that she be sacrificed. Other sources say she asked to be sacrificed, or committed suicide, after her brothers killed Achilles. In any case she lived and died a virgin princess. Butterflies show no interest in the concepts of virginity or monarchy, but people have to call them something.

Next week's butterfly, Graphium policenoides, was not named after a character but after this species. Policenoides means "shaped like policenes."

Widely distributed in central Africa, often found in descriptions of other butterflies that look similar but aren't it, G. policenes has a wingspan of about 6cm, up to 2.5 inches. Females are slightly bigger than males, most females between 6 and 6.5cm and most males between 5.5 and 6cm. As with other bluish-winged Swallowtails, most if not all the blue color comes from the way light strikes the wings, so the same individual may look bright blue or green, white, or grayish depending on the light. They are said to fly very high and fast.

Two subspecies are generally recognized: Graphium policenes policenes and G.p. telloi. Some sources list Graphium policenes biokoensis. Others count biokoensis as a separate species or list it as a subspecies of some other similar-looking species. Graphium biokoensis and Graphium liponesco are sometimes described as two distinct species that happen to look alike but aren't found in the same places. They seem to be different from Graphium policenes but look the same. A few older sources also list a subspecies sudanicus, now considered just an older name for telloi. One source lists a subspecies laurentia, which looks as if it's usually classified as a different kind of butterfly.

Other names under which this species has been discussed, according to Funet.fi, include agapenor, coussementi, polixenus, pompilius, and scipio.

For butterfly collectors the rule is that antheus, which is not always all that much bigger, has S-shaped pale bars across the front edge of the fore wings, rather than relatively straight ones, and liponesco and biokoensis have narrower wings with relatively more black and less white. A fuller discussion by Torben B. Larsen is available: 

http://abdb-africa.org/library/bibliography/2190.pdf

However, specialist sites indicate that some individuals puzzle even experts. 

Graphium policenes policenes photographed by Jakob, December 2013.

Graphium policenes telloi (Tello's Swordtail) photographed by Joan Outside, June 2023. Much less information is available about telloi, possibly because the subspecies look so much alike and their ranges overlap. Telloi's range is, however, smaller. INaturalist, which has so many photos of Graphium policenes generally and of G.p. policenes that it's set up pages for photos from specific nature parks, shows only four photos positively identified as telloi. 

Maps of where to find these butterflies are available at ABDB-Africa, which counts biokoensis as a subspecies of policenes. 

https://abdb-africa.org/species/Graphium_policenes_policenes

https://abdb-africa.org/species/Graphium_policenes_telloi

This species flies and breeds continuously when weather permits, which in most of its range is continually. It can live on several host plants; Wikipedia lists

"

 Uvaria caffra, Artabotrys monteiroae, Uvaria bukobensis, Uvara chamae, Landolphia buchannani, Landolphia ugandensis, Polyalthia species, Annona reticulata, Annona senegalensis, Annona squamosa, and Monanthotaxis caffra.

"

Photo by Mortenchristensen, Tanzania, November 2024. The underwings are consistently browner than the upper wings, and usually show some yellow-green; their color, too, depends on their angle to the light. 

Photo by Cherisea, November 2021, South Africa.

Photo by Hippolytep38, 2019, Cote d'Ivoire. Some of the Graphiums seem attracted to anything of that sky-blue or turquoise color that shows on some species' upper wings. INaturalist shows a disproportionate number of photos of Graphium policenes fluttering around bright blue objects as distinct from other colors.

Of course, some of those objects are shoes. Graphium policenes are one of the Swallowtail species that are attracted to the mineral salts in human sweat...

Photo by Botalex, 2013. These "Common" Swallowtails can, like some other Swallowtail species, be a little too friendly with humans. Especially on a hot day.

The life cycle of Graphium policenes seems typical for the Graphiums. Male butterflies eclose a few days short of sexual maturity and complete their physical development by drinking mineral-rich liquids, composting brackish or polluted water. The species is most easily observed when male butterflies are drinking in groups with other male butterflies, often including several different species. 

Photo by Craigpeter, November 2022, showing a typical mixed group.

(A delightful description of some butterflies that might join one of these groups, or not, in Uganda, is at https://www.semulikibutterflies.com/family-papilionidae . Not much information is given about any species but nice clear pictures are given for most species discussed.)

Smaller white and yellow butterflies are often observed around the edges of groups of Swallowtails. Some of these butterflies seem unintimidated by Graphium policenes' greater size, but often, as in this video, they keep to themselves, out of the bigger butterflies' way:

https://www.facebook.com/Ghanabutterflytours/videos/ghana-butterfly-tours-with-ashanti-african-tours/194412184426686/

Females eclose full of eggs they are eager to start unloading, and sometimes flutter around the edges of groups of male butterflies, checking out prospective mates. Each individual may, if lucky, have about to weeks to fly. 

After mating males have nothing to do but go back to their drinking buddies and continue sipping polluted water, though they get most of their food from flower nectar. 

Photo by Charleyhesse, 2000, Ghana. White and light-colored flowers may be preferred. An important consideration for Swallowtails is relatively shallow flowers. For their size they have smaller probosces  than most butterflies; they can't get at the nectar inside a deep flower.

Photo by Magdastlucia, February 2018.

After mating the males are biologically disposable, though they may try to mate again if they see a chance. Sometimes their preferred puddles, or leks, attract enough spent male butterflies to attract the red-headed agamid lizard, which eats them. Like the other Graphiums they eat leaves that are mildly toxic and discourage most predators...not all.

Females spend most of their lives placing their eggs on suitable host leaves. Caterpillars are relatively small and may spend most or all their caterpillar lives on one big, fast-growing tropical leaf. 

Photo by Magdastlucia, 2018, South Africa. Graphium caterpillars start out in life with harmless bristles that probably make them harder or at least less pleasant for predators to swallow. 

Photo by Wolfachim, January 2011. As the caterpillars grow and molt, the bristles are smaller in each instar. 

They typically molt through five skins in less than two weeks. Pupae hang by threads from leaves; depending on the weather the adult butterfly may emerge in a week or stay in the pupal shell for several months.