Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. vreuricki Dufrane, 1929
Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. pupillata Dufrane, 1929
Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. obsoleta Dufrane, 1929
Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. lagai Dufrane, 1929
Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. virgularia Dufrane, 1929
Papilio antimachus coffea Talbot, 1936
Papilio antimachus congolanus ab. burgeoni Dufrane, 1946
Papilio antimachus, the African giant swallowtail, is a butterfly in the family Papilionidae. With a wingspan between 18 and 23 centimetres (7.1 and 9.1 in), it is the largest butterfly in Africa and among the largest butterflies in the world. The wings are long and narrow and the ground colour is orange brown with black markings. P. antimachus live in the tropical rainforests of west and central Africa. The distribution area (range) stretches from Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. It is much rarer in the west of its range (Guinea to Cameroon) than in the eastern parts of its range. It probably stays in forest canopy but males come down to mud-puddle. The male is larger than the female and can be seen in groups at nectar. The females show themselves less, continually flying high above the treetops. It has been seen hill-topping in Liberia.[3] The butterfly may have no natural enemies because it is very toxic. The larval foodplant is unknown and nothing is published on the early stages (egg, larva, pupa). Cardiac glycosides found in the Imago by Miriam Rothschild [4] indicate that the so-far unidentified larva, most probably, sequesters foodplant toxins which persist through pupation into the imago as an aposematic protection against predation, and therefore that the larval foodplant is probably an asclepiad vine.
^Drury, D. 1782. Illustrations of Natural History 3: xxvi, 1-769 + 2pp. London.
^Papilio, Site of Markku Savela
^ Sáfián, Sz. (2013). Observation of hill-topping behaviour by the Giant African Swallowtail - Papilio antimachus Drury, 1782 and other recent records from Liberia (West Africa) (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Shilap Revista de Lepidopterología. 41(163):323-329.
^ Miriam Rothschild, T Reichstein, J Von Euw, R Aplin, RRM Harman
Toxicon 8 (4), 293-296, 1970. Toxic lepidoptera.
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