Fivebar Swordtail Butterfly
- Tejaswini J
- Oct 27, 2020
- 1 min read
Digital Illustration by Jayanthi Kalyanaraman
Reference Image source: Google
Five-bar swordtail or Graphium antiphates is a widespread and common species, found from India to south China; and south through peninsular Malaysia to Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali. In India, it is found in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats regions.
It is a gorgeous butterfly with a plethora of serene colours on its wings. A long needle-like pointed tail and five bars on the upper wing, is the reason the butterfly has been named Five-bar swordtail. It is often found active in high tree canopy and has a fast flight. The males congregate in damp places to mud puddle.
There is not much known about this butterfly owing to the minimal work done on this species. There is a brief mention about these butterflies in the books listed below
Recently it was in news, vying for the position of 'National butterfly' of India among seven finalists but it did not land the top 3 spots after the peoples poll was concluded.
References
Book of Indian butterflies - Isaac Kehimkar
A Guide to Butterflies of Western Ghats (India) - Milind Bhakare, Hemant Ogale
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