Mimoides lysithous


Mimoides lysithous is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It is found in the Neotropical ecozone.

Subspecies

P. lysithous. A polychromatic species. The different individual forms with one exception were originally described as
species and have been regarded as such until recentty. The forms are connected with one another by intergradations ;
moreover, the specific identity of 3 of the varieties has been proved by
breeding. Underside of the forewing with 2 red basal spots, hindwing with 3; all the forms with a tail. Larva on Anona
, resting by day on the upperside of a leaf at the middle vein, on the lower branches and root-shoots, near Petropolis
all the year round, except in June and July ; black with yellow longitudinal stripes and
white-yellow saddle-spot. The pupa as in the allied species green with yellow lateral streak. Brazil and Eastern Paraguay.
The principal forms, which do not everywhere occur together, are the following: f. platydesma R. & J., the white band of the forewing very broad, continued over the cell to the costal margin;
f. harrisianus Swains., the white band of the forewing broad posteriorly, strongly narrowed anteriorly, not entering the cell, the part from the lower angle of the cell to the costal margin narrow or absent, as in the preceding form the posterior submarginal spots of the hindwing large; f. oedipus Fldr. , forewing -with double spot from the 1. median backwards, hindwing without white band, the
4 posterior submarginal spots large; f. lysithous Hbn., band of the forewing narrow, often abbreviated, hindwing with small submarginal spots, the band usually only extending to the 1. median, sometimes longer and more distal band of the forewing abbreviated, hindwing without white band, the 4 posterior submarginal spots rather large: f. pomponius Hopff., band of the fore wing indicated, or like that of the hindwing entirely absent: f. eupatorion Luc., both wings without discal band, forewing with yellowish marginal band and the marginal spots of the hindwing enlarged.