Papilio agenor polymnestor
species of insect
Papilio agenor polymnestor, the Indian blue mormon, is a large swallowtail butterfly found in south India. It is the "state butterfly" of the Indian state of Maharashtra. With a wingspan of 120–150 mm, it is the fourth largest butterfly of India.
Description
Males have the upper wings rich velvety black. The forewing has a postdiscal band composed of internervular broad blue streaks gradually shortened and obsolescent anteriorly, not extended beyond interspace 6.
The hindwing has the terminal three-fourths beyond a line crossing the apical third of the cell pale blue, or greyish blue, with superposed postdiscal, subterminal and terminal series of black spots—the postdiscal spots elongate, inwardly conical; the subterminal oval, placed in the interspaces, the terminal irregular, placed along the apices of the veins and anteriorly coalescing more or less with the subterminal spots.
The underside is black with and on the base of the cell in the forewing is an elongate spot of dark red; the postdiscal transverse series of streaks as on the upperside but grey tinged with ochraceous and extended right up to the costa; in some specimens similar but narrow streaks also in the cell. Hindwing with five irregular small patches of red at base, the outer three-fourths of the wing grey touched with ochraceous, but generally narrower than the blue on the upperside; the inner margin of the grey area crosses the wing beyond the cell; the postdiscal and subterminal black spots as on the upperside. In some specimens this grey area is greatly restricted, its inner margin crossing the wing well beyond the apex of the cell; the subterminal spots merged completely with the terminal spots and form a comparatively broad terminal black band. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen blackish brown.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Papilio agenor polymnestor” is species of insect. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Papilio, agenor and polymnestor, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1317905. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Papilio agenor polymnestor” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.