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Genus Battus

blue butterflies - Battus philenor Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) - Battus philenor - female Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) - Battus philenor - female Pipevine Swallowtail - Battus philenor - male Red Arizona caterpillar - Battus philenor pipevine swallowtail caterpillar - Battus philenor Pipevine Swallowtail - Battus philenor caterpillar - Battus philenor
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Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)
Family Papilionidae (Swallowtails, Parnassians)
Subfamily Papilioninae
Tribe Troidini (Birdwings, Cattlehearts and Aristolochia Swallowtails)
Genus Battus
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
First described in 1777 by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli
Explanation of Names
Battus is probably from Greek battos (βαττος), which literally means "one who stammers", but is also the name of several figures in ancient Greek mythology and history, see, for instance, Wikipedia.
Numbers
Two North American species: philenor and polydamas. (There are 12 species throughout neotropics--EDIS.)
Internet References
EDIS
Introductio ad historiam naturalem, p.433    Scopoli's original description of the genus (in Latin)
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Chuck Entz
Last updated 13 June, 2010 - 9:51pm

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