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Butterflies of
the Amazon and Andes
Torquatus
Swallowtail
Heraclides torquatus
CRAMER, 1777
Family - PAPILIONIDAE
subfamily -
PAPILIONINAE
Tribe - PAPILIONINI
introduction
|
habitats |
lifecycle |
adult behaviour
Heraclides
torquatus ( or possibly H. garleppi
), male, Madre de Dios, Peru
Introduction
The
genus
Heraclides
includes 28 species, all occurring exclusively in the neotropical region. Many
of the species are sooty brown, marked with pink on the hindwings, and lack
tails, while others such as
thoas,
garleppi
and
torquatus
are marked with prominent cream or yellow bands, and have long spatulate tails
in both sexes.
The adults of
Heraclides torquatus
and H. garleppi
are virtually identical in appearance. In both species there is considerable
geographic variation regarding the size and shape of the apical cream markings,
and of the pink, cream and blue-grey spots in the outer area of the underside
hindwings. Both species occur throughout the Upper Amazonian region and the
Guianas, but the range of
torquatus extends
north as far as Mexico and southward to northern Argentina.
Females
of torquatus
( and also garleppi
? ) are very different in appearance, being dark chocolate brown on the
upperside, with a white or creamy patch below the discal cell in the forewing,
and a bright pink median band on the hindwing. On the underside the female is
dark brown, with a double row of pink spots on the hindwings.
Habitats
This species occurs primarily in wet lowland rainforest areas, but is strongly
migratory and can thus be found in a wide variety of forested and open habitats
at altitudes up to about 700m.
Lifecycle
The eggs are globular,
greenish-yellow, and laid singly on the leaves of Citrus
bushes.
The
caterpillar when fully grown is mottled in dull tones of brown, greenish-yellow
and whitish, with a double row of tubercles along the back. It rests on the
upper surface of leaves, with the body curved, and resembles a bird dropping.
The
chrysalis is dark brown, marbled with green so as to resemble a piece of
lichen-encrusted twig.
Adult behaviour
The butterflies are highly
seasonal, the main flight period coinciding with the mid-late dry
season.
Males migrate along river
courses, and are frequently seen in groups of up to about twenty,
congregating to imbibe dissolved minerals from urine-soaked sand.
Lesser numbers can be seen within the forest, usually when they
aggregate with other species at peccary wallows or seepages. They
also mud-puddle at swampy ground around the edges of small
lagoons, where mineral salts become concentrated as the pools dry
out towards the end of the dry season.
In common with most other
Heraclides and
Papilio species, the butterflies
usually flutter their wings constantly when mud-puddling. They are
of nervous disposition, the whole group taking flight at the least
disturbance, although one or two individuals are usually so
intoxicated by their liquid sustenance that they remain on the
ground.
The females are
seen much less frequently, usually when flying in light gaps
within the forest. They can be confused in flight with females of Parides sesostris, but when
settled the tails and twin row of pink spots on the underside
hindwings of torquatus can
easily be seen.
I have found males, sometimes
in groups of 3 or 4, at rest on foliage, early on cool
mornings, always with their wings outspread. This suggests to me
that they may roost communally in the middle canopy, and drop down
at dawn to bask in preparation for their first flight of the day.
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