Second swallowtail butterfly species sighted in New Zealand

Abstract

The Old World Tropical swallowtail butterfly Papilio polytes Linnaeus, 1758 (Papilionidae) was sighted and photographed in a garden in Westshore, Napier, Hawkes Bay on 22 January, 2014 by Richard Karn (Figure 1). Papilio polytes, the Common Mormon, is sometimes listed as Papilio alphenor or P. polytes alphenor---the Philippines subspecies. There are 21 described subspecies of P. polytes found across its broad range, but since we do not know where this individual originated it is impossible to place it in any of those subspecies. The blue and red spots, clearly visible, below the row of white spots across the hindwing in Richard's photograph closely resemble male images in Bacscombe et al. (1999) and Hoi-Sen (1983) from Hong Kong and Malaysia respectively, but Richard's specimen has a longer hindwing tail. Both the scientific and common names allude to the three forms of the female and the polygamy formerly practised by the Mormon Sect in the United States of America.