Palawan Batwing Butterfly

Atrophaneura semperi is a species of butterfly from the family Papilionidae that is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. It is the type species for the genus. The wingspan is 12–15 cm. The wings are black. The body has red hairs. The underside of the hind wings contain some red markings. Females are dark-brown with light pink markings on the upside of the wings. The larvae feed on Aristolochia species. The Batwing (Atrapaneura semperi melanotus) belongs to the Kingdom Animalia. Phylum Arthropoda means invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Class Insecta means class of invertebrates within the arthropod phylum that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body, three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antenna. Order Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes moths and butterflies. Family Papilionidae means remarkable family of some of the largest butterflies in the world. Genus Atraphaneura, means ed-bodied swallowtails are butterflies in the Swallowtail family, that belong to the genera Atrophaneura, Byasa, Losaria, or Pachliopta species of A. semperi, and subspecies of melanotus.

Gross Morphology

It consists the head which is red in color, they have coiling proboscis with sensors near its tip and it has a food canal to suck nectars of flowers, have spherical compound eyes, each comprising of up to 17000 ommatidia, a pair of segmented antennae from between the eyes. The thorax and hair are red in color also the abdomen. They have 3 pairs of legs. The forewings are black and both underside and upside are very identical. The hind wings are black there are red spots on the underside and the edge are little bit wavy.

Animal Description

They can be found on tropical rainforest. They have complete metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar to pupa and eventually become adult. From egg to caterpillar it takes 5-10 days, then after a month of eating and growing, it is ready to become a pupa. After 10-14 days, they morph into a butterfly. They breathe though spiracles and excrete waste through malpighian tubes. They are fed on (every stages) Larval food: Aristolochia foveolata, and Aristolochia jackii. Adult butterfly uses their proboscis to suck nectar of flowers and feet for rotting fruits.

Taxonomical Classification