Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
The following all originally described at genus ranking:
*Papilio Linnaeus 1758. Type species:
Papilio machaon Linnaeus
Princeps Hübner, 1807. Type-species: Papilio demodocus Esper (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Achillides Hübner, 1819. Type species: Papilio paris Linnaeus (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Iliades Hübner, 1819. Type species: Papilio memnon Linnaeus (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Menelaides Hübner, 1819. Type species: Papilio polytes Linnaeus (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Orpheides Hübner, 1819. Type species: Papilio demodocus Esper
Nestorides Hübner, 1819. Type species: Papilio gambrisius Cramer (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Druryia Aurivillius, 1881. Type species: Papilio antimachus Drury (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Harimala Moore, 1881. Type species: Papilio crino Fabricius
Charus Moore, 1881. Type species: Papilio helenus Linnaeus
Sarbaria Moore, 1882. Type species: Papilio polyctor Boisduval
Sainia Moore, 1882. Type species: Papilio protenor Cramer
Araminta Moore, 1886. Type species: Papilio demolion Cramer (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Pangeranopsis Wood-Mason & de Nicéville, 1887. Type species: Papilio elephenor Doubleday
Panosmiopsis Wood-Mason & de Nicéville, 1887. Type species: Papilio rhetenor Westwood
Tamera Moore, 1888. Type species: Papilio castor Westwood
Eques Kirby, 1896. Type species: Papilio nireus Linnaeus [invalid name as a later homonym of Eques Bloch 1793, a worm]
Icarus Röber, 1898. Type species: Papilio zalmoxis Hewitson [invalid name as a later homonym of Icarus Forbes 1844, a gastropod]
Melindopsis Aurivillius, 1898. Type species: Papilio rex Oberthür (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Iterus Donitz, 1899. Type species: Papilio zalmoxis Hewitson (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Sadengia Moore, 1902. Type species: Papilio nephelus Boisduval
Heterocreon Kirby, 1904. Type species: TS: Papilio polytes Linnaeus
Mimbyasa Evans, 1912. Type species: TS: Papilio janaka Moore (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Eleppone Hancock, 1979. Type species: Papilio anactus MacLeay (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
Euchenor Igarashi, 1979. Type species: Papilio euchenor Guérin-Méneville (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; no included species in North America.)
subgenus Papilio [an "autonym", automatically established when any other subgenus under The following all originally described at genus ranking:
*Papilio Linnaeus 1758. Type species:
Papilio machaon Linnaeus
Papilio is named. Type species as in genus
Papilio. The following synonyms apply only to the
P. machaon group of species.
*Princeps Hübner, 1806. Type-species: Papilio machaon Linnaeus [invalid name; original publication rejected for nomenclatorial purposes by the Commission by the Ruling given in its Opinion 97]
*Amaryssus Dalman, 1816. Type species: Papilio machaon Linnaeus
*Aernauta Berge, 1842. Type species: Papilio machaon Linnaeus
*Achivus W. F. Kirby, 1896. Type species: Papilio machaon Linnaeus
*Sinoprinceps Hancock, 1983. Type species: Papilio xuthus Linnaeus (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio, but a distinction from "typical" genus and subgenus Papilio is insignificant and poorly supported.)
subgenus Heraclides
The following all originally described at genus ranking:
*Heraclides Hübner, 1819. Type species: Papilio thoas Linnaeus
*Calaides Hübner, 1819. Type species: Papilio androgeus Cramer
*Priamides Hübner, 1819. Type species: Priamides hipponous Hübner (= Papilio anchisiades Esper)
Troilides Hübner, 1825. Type species: Troilides tros Hübner (= Papilio polybius Swainson)
*Thoas Swainson, 1833. Type species: Papilio thoas Linnaeus [invalid name; a junior objective synonym of Heraclides Hübner, 1819.]
subgenus Pterourus
The following all originally described at genus ranking:
*Pterourus Scopoli, 1777. Type species: Papilio troilus Linnaeus
*Jasoniades Hübner, 1819. Type species: Papilio turnus Linnaeus (= Papilio glaucus Linnaeus)
*Euphoeades Hübner, 1819. Type species: Papilio glaucus Linnaeus
Clytia Swainson, 1833 (non Lamouroux, 1812). Type species: Papilio clytia Linnaeus [invalid name as a later homonym of Clytia Lamouroux, 1812 (a Hydrozoan)]. Chilasa is the proper name for this group of species when segregated.
*Caudati Koch, 1860. Type species: Papilio turnus Linnaeus (= Papilio glaucus Linnaeus) [This name as proposed is not a noun in the nominative singular, and is thus invalid (Code Article 11.8).]
Pyrrhosticta Butler, 1872. Type species: Papilio laetitia Butler (= Papilio menatius Hübner)
Chilasa Moore, 1881. Type species: Papilio dissimilis Linnaeus (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio; when so separated no included species are American.)
Cadugoides Moore, 1882. Type species: Papilio (Chilasa) agestor Gray
Euploeopsis de Nicéville, 1887. Type species: Papilio telearchus Hewitson (= Papilio (Chilasa) paradoxa)
Menamopsis de Nicéville, 1887. Type species: Papilio tavoyanus Butler (= Papilio (Chilasa) slateri Hewitson)
Isamiopsis Moore, 1888. Type species: Papilio telearchus Hewitson (= Papilio (Chilasa) paradoxa)
Agehana Matsumura, 1936. Type species: Papilio maraho Shiraki & Sonan (sometimes treated as a distinct genus or as a subgenus under Papilio or Chilasa; when so separated no included species are American. However, immature stages are nearly identical to immatures of the tropical American "Pyrrhosticta" group of species, and they are clearly very closely related.)
Motasiona Niculescu, 1979. Type species: Papilio zagreus E. Doubleday
Alexanoria Koçak & Kemal, 2002. Type species: Papilio alexanor Esper
Explanation of Names
From Latin
papilio/papilionis, a butterfly
(1) or moth (Internet searches).
The number of segregate genera proposed is quite impressive, but it is also interesting to note that two authors (Hübner and Moore) are responsible for the bulk of these names. A number of these names can be used to represent relatively distinct groups of species and are treated by some authors as distinct genera, or more often as subgenera or species groups within Papilio. Names listed above that involve species occurring in North America north of Mexico and in Hawaii are marked by an asterisk "*".
Some North American Swallowtails have been treated by some (but not all) authors as belonging to separate genera as well, the Tiger Swallowtails and close relatives being placed in
Pterourus(2), and the Giant Swallowtail and relatives in genus
Heraclides. When American species alone are considered, this seems a moderately logical treatment, but when put into a world-wide perspective, it becomes less convincing. A somewhat more conservative view is to treat the most distinctive groups of species as subgenera within genus
Paplilio.
The following quote is from
Butterflies of Canada:
"There has been a tendency to subdivide swallowtails into smaller genera to reflect groupings based on wing pattern, larval appearance, and so on, so that the Tiger Swallowtail group was placed in the genus Pterourus, the Giant Swallowtail group in the genus Heraclides, and the Black Swallowtail group in the genus Papilio. Miller reviewed this situation in his comprehensive revision of the higher classification of the Swallowtails of the world and concluded: "Recent attempts to subdivide Papilio into genera... are unconvincing" (Miller, 1987). We follow Miller in accepting a more inclusive concept for the genus Papilio and treat these smaller groupings as species groups within Papilio."
Butterflies of America,
Opler and Warren, and
All-Leps also do not currently treat
Pterourus and
Heraclides as full genera. Authors from regions outside of North America rarely divide
Papilio into separate genera, so far.
update note - David J. Ferguson: as of 2023, the 'Butterflies of America' web site is listing
Heraclides and
Pterourus as separate genera; however, the situation involving these names still remains contentious, and somewhat unsettled, so no changes are made here - yet. Other web sites, such as
'Butterflies and Moths of America' still follow a single
Papilio genus classification - for now, as do many other recent publications.
In the species listing under the "
Taxonomy" heading above, the species
P. indra thru
P. zelicaon would be "typical"
Papilio; the species
P. eurymedon thru
P. palamedes would be
Pterourus; and
P. aristodemus thru
P. anchisiades would be
Heraclides. Also,
P. xuthus, which occurs in Hawaii, is a "typical"
Papilio.
Identification
Caterpillars:
xuthus - Asian Swallowtail
machaon - Old World Swallowtail
brevicauda - Short-tailed Swallowtail
joanae - Ozark Swallowtail
polyxenes - Black Swallowtail
zelicaon - Anise Swallowtail
indra - Indra Swallowtail
eurymedon - Pale Tiger Swallowtail
rutulus - Western Tiger Swallowtail
canadensis - Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
appalachiensis - Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail
glaucus - Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
multicaudatus - Two-tailed Swallowtail
pilumnus - Three-tailed Swallowtail
troilus - Spicebush Swallowtail
palamedes - Palamedes Swallowtail
aristodemus - Schaus' Swallowtail
cresphontes - Giant Swallowtail
thoas - Papilio thoas
ornythion - Ornythion Swallowtail
astyalus - Broad-banded Swallowtail
rogeri - Pink-spotted Swallowtail
anchisiades - Ruby-spotted Swallowtail