Bhutanitis

Bhutanitis is a genus of swallowtail butterflies that contains four species.

Distribution

The genus reaches its peak diversity in south-western China, particularly Yunnan and Sichuan (Chou, 2000), and adjacent Bhutan. Bhutanitis lidderdali is the most widespread species, occurring in China, Bhutan, India and Myanmmar (Chou, 2000); it is however locally extinct in Thailand due to habitat destruction. Larval host plants known to date are all Aristolochiaceae.

All Bhutanitis species are listed on CITES Appendix II, which restricts their international trade. Historically, they have been highly desired by butterfly collectors; three species in particular (B. mansfieldi, B. ludlowi and B. thaidina) were known from very few specimens until comparatively recently. However, large numbers of specimens of B. thaidina and B. mansfieldi pulchristriata have recently been available at very low prices, mainly from China, which indicates collector demand may be becoming satisfied.

Taxonomy

Two other taxa named as species of Bhutanitis (B. nigrilima Chou, 1992, B. yulongensis Chou, 1992) have since been synonymised with B. thaidina (Hauser et al. 2005). Another taxon, originally named as B. mansfieldi pulchristriata Saigusa and Lee, 1982, was also regarded as a separate species by Chou (1994) and Chou (2000), but has otherwise been regarded as a subspecies (Hauser et al., 2005).

Species

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Bhutanitis lidderdalii	Bhutan glory	Bhutan, parts of northeastern India and of Southeast Asia.
	Bhutanitis thaidina	Chinese three tailed swallowtail	China.
	Bhutanitis mansfieldi	Mansfield's three-tailed swallowtail	China.
File:Bhutanitis ludlowi in Arunachal Pradesh.jpg	Bhutanitis ludlowi	Ludlow's Bhutan swallowtail	Bhutan and India

References

• Collins, N. Mark; Morris, Michael G. (1985). Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book. Gland & Cambridge: IUCN. ISBN 978-2-88032-603-6 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
• Sorimachi, Y. 1994 Geographical and individual variations of Bhutanitis thaidina Apollo, 3: 77–87.(in Japanese).
• Hauser, CL., de Jong, R., Lamas, G., Robbins, R.K., Smith, C., and Vane-Wright, R.I. (2005). Papilionidae – revised GloBIS/GART species checklist (2nd draft). Available online at: [1] . Verified online 5 March 2010.

External links

• TOLweb.org: Overview, taxonomic discussion, photographs of Bhutanitis