>> 鑑定手冊 >>  INSECTS IN CITES >> BROWSE THE CONTENTS

Scientific name Troides aeacus formosanus (Rothschild, 1899) = Troides aeacus kaguya Nakahara & Esaki, 1930 Chinese name 黃裳鳳蝶、恆春金鳳蝶 English name Small Birdwing, Dwarf Birdwing, Heng-chun Birdwing Butterfly Classification 鳳蝶科(Papilionidae)，鳳蝶亞科(Papilioninae)，裳鳳蝶族(Troidini) Diagnosis Large-sized swallowtail species. Forewing span 13-20 cm. Head and thorax black. Lateral sides of thorax with red hairs. Abdomen brightly yellow with black dots. Terminal adbominal segment of male grayish white. Colouration similar to the former species, but lacking of pearly reflection on the hindwings. Distribution The whole species is widely ranging throughout the eastern Asia. The nominotypical T. a. aeacus Felder ranges from S. China, most parts of the Indochinese Peninsula to the N.E. India. T. a. szechwanus O. & O. is distributed to the C., S.W. and E. China. T. a. malaiianus Fruhstorfer is confined to the Malayan Peninsula, and the little known T. a. insularis Ney is restricted to Sumatra. T. a. formosanus inhabits in the coastal forests of lowland and as well in the temperate forests at around 2000 m. The records reported from some localities might be captive individuals escaped from butterfly breeders. Currently, several stray individuals were found in the Yayeyama Archipelago of Japan. Habitat and Ecology According to Chang & Tzai (1984), this species has two peaks of activity during March-April and July-August, and even during the winter. The larvae feed on most species of Aristolochia spp. found or invaded to Taiwan. The adults soar in the sky or canopy in the early moring and late afternoon and visit various families of plants as nectar sources. The females prefer to fly slowly in the forests. The eggs are laid singly under the leaves and the larvae are more common in the top layer of hosts. Either younger or mature larvae bear many protuberances along the body and have whitish red band on the third abdominal segment which extends to the fourth abdominal segment. Pupation occurs in bushes or the surroundings of host. The pupae have thoracic horn-like processes and dorsal abdominal horns. The confirmed hostplants in Taiwan are Aristolochia heterophylla (Hsu, 1999), A. zollingeriana (Tsai, 1985, 1987; Lee & Chang, 1988; Lin, 1994; Hsu, 1999) and other native Aristolochia species. According to Hsu (1999), A. elegans was also utilized by the larvae when the plant was introduced in 1980s, but currently it has been observed that this plant is refused. Threats and Conservation Status This subspecies in Taiwan was severely threatened by commercial collecting and habitat loss since 1950s. However, since certain habitats have been well preserved in the Kenting National Park and some other Nature Reserves in S. Taiwan, this subspecies seems not very rare now and has extended their geographical range to Lutao since 1970s and established some populations in C. and N.E. Taiwan. For information about conservation of this subspecies see Ho & Chang (1997). Remarks In this book, we adopt the viewpoint of Haugum & Low (1985), who revalidated the subspecific name "formosana Rothschild, 1899," and synonymized "kaguya Nakahara & Esaki, 1930," a commonly used but unnecessary replacement name. Troides aeacus formosanus (Rothschild), male, Kengting Troides aeacus formosanus (Rothschild), female, Kengting Troides aeacus formosanus (Rothschild), egg, Kengting Troides aeacus formosanus (Rothschild), 2nd instar larva, Kengting Troides aeacus formosanus (Rothschild), final instar larva, Kengting Troides aeacus formosanus (Rothschild), pupa, Kengting