Butterflies of
Africa
Common White-banded
Swallowtail
Papilio cyproeofila
BUTLER, 1868
Family - PAPILIONIDAE
subfamily -
PAPILIONINAE
Tribe - PAPILIONINI
Papilio cyproeofila
male, roosting at dusk, Bunso, Ghana
Introduction
There
are about 90 recorded species of Papilionidae in the continent of Africa,
including several untailed, white-banded species that have underside patterns
similar to cyproeofila.
Papilio
cyproeofila is distributed from Sierra Leone to Congo and Angola.
Habitats
This is a
rainforest butterfly, but can be found in severely degraded forests, and
penetrates riparian forest in savannah / woodland habitats.
Lifecycle
The
larval foodplant is Piper ( Piperaceae ).
Adult behaviour
Males can sometimes be found at
damp patches on logging roads or forest paths, but both sexes are
more commonly seen in flight, hovering around the flowers of tall
plants including Eupatorium and
Lantana.
At dusk the butterflies go to roost
in trees, settling on the upperside of leaves,
as depicted in the photograph at the top of this page.
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