Papilio sosia

Forewing above in cellules 1 b—8 with distinct, small, usually double submarginal dots, but beneath without large submarginal spots; the median band formed almost as in nireus, though the spot in cellule 2 covers the base of the cellule, but is more produced anally than the spot in 1 c, which does not reach the cell. — Sierra Leone to the Congo region and Uganda.Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.{{PD-notice}} The median band is straight and regular and never less than 1 cm in cell lb of the forewing, nearly always much wider.

The larva feeds on Zanthoxylum and Citrus.

Subspecies include:

• P. s. sosia (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, southern Nigeria, western Cameroon)
• P. s. pulchra Berger, 1950 Berger, Lucien A., 1950 Catalogues raisonnes de la faune entomologique du Congo Beige.Lepidopteres-Rhopaloceres. I.-Fam. Papilionida:" [in French). Ann. Mus. Congo Belge C. Zool. Serie III (II), voJ.8: pp.1-L04, 96 figs. 1950.(Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, northern Angola, Congo Republic)
• P. s. debilis Storace, 1951 Storace, L. (1951-1952). Recherches sur le groupe africain de Papilio nireus L. Lambillionea 51:44-52; 54-57; 73-76. (Uganda, northwestern Tanzania)

Papilio sosia belongs to a clade called the nireus species group with 15 members. The pattern is black with green or blue bands and spots and the butterflies, although called swallowtails, they lack tails with the exception of Papilio charopus and Papilio hornimani. The clade members are:

• Papilio aristophontes Oberthür, 1897
• Papilio nireus Linnaeus, 1758
• Papilio charopus Westwood, 1843
• Papilio chitondensis de Sousa & Fernandes, 1966
• Papilio chrapkowskii Suffert, 1904
• Papilio chrapkowskoides Storace, 1952
• Papilio desmondi van Someren, 1939
• Papilio hornimani Distant, 1879
• Papilio interjectana Vane-Wright, 1995
• Papilio manlius Fabricius, 1798
• Papilio microps Storace, 1951
• Papilio sosia Rothschild & Jordan, 1903
• Papilio thuraui Karsch, 1900
• Papilio ufipa Carcasson, 1961
• Papilio wilsoni Rothschild, 1926

• Congolian forests
• Guinean Forests of West Africa

{{Reflist}}

• Carcasson, R.H. (1960). "The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society [https://archive.org/details/cbarchive_101755_theswallowtailbutterfliesofeas1960 pdf] Key to East Africa members of the species group, diagnostic and other notes and figures. (Permission to host granted by The East Africa Natural History Society)
• {{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=N. Mark |last2=Morris |first2=Michael G. |title=Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/98674#page/7/mode/1up |year=1985 |publisher=IUCN |location=Gland & Cambridge |isbn=978-2-88032-603-6 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}
• Larsen, T.B. (2005). Butterflies of West Africa Apollo Books {{ISBN|87-88757-43-9}}
• Storace, L. (1951-1952). Recherches sur le groupe africain de Papilio nireus L. Lambillionea 51:44-52; 54-57; 73-76.

{{Commons}}

{{Wikispecies}}

• [http://en.butterflycorner.net/Papilio-sosia-Medium-Green-Banded-Swallowtail.1417.0.html Butterfly Corner] Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

{{Taxonbar|from=Q7132967}}

sosia

Category:Butterflies described in 1903

Category:Butterflies of Africa

Category:Taxa named by Karl Jordan

Category:Taxa named by Walter Rothschild

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