Papilio garamas, commonly known as the magnificent swallowtail, is a species of Neotropical swallowtail butterfly found in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Costa Rica. Description A large butterfly with a wingspan of 80 to 110 millimetres. The females are dimorphic, either resembling the male or dark forms lacking the cream median and postdiscal bands contrasting with deep black ground colour. Subspecies Papilio garamas garamas (western Mexico) Papilio garamas abderus Hopffer, 1856 (eastern Mexico) generally seen as conspecific with P. garamas but sometimes treated as a distinct species (Collins & Morris 1985:87, Hancock 1983, Llorente-Bousquets et al. 1997). Papilio garamas electryon Bates, 1864 (Guatemala to Honduras) may be placed in abderus Papilio garamas syedra Godman & Salvin, 1878 (Panama, Costa Rica) may be placed in abderus Papilio garamas baroni Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 (Mexico) may be placed in abderus Taxonomy Papilio garamas is a member of the homerus species group. The members of this clade are: Papilio cacicus Lucas, 1852 Papilio euterpinus Salvin & Godman, 1868 Papilio garamas (Geyer, [1829]) Papilio homerus Fabricius, 1793 Papilio menatius (Hübner, [1819]) Papilio warscewiczii Hopffer, 1865 Papilio garamas is in the subgenus Pterourus Scopoli, 1777 which also includes the species groups: troilus species group, glaucus species group, the zagreus species group and the scamander species group. Status Not uncommon and not regarded as threatened. If the garamas subspecies other than garamas garamas are subspecies of abderus then garamas is a Mexican endemic, but a taxonomic clarification is required. Etymology Garamas was the son of Acacallis (Greek: Ἀκακαλλίς) in Greek mythology. References Hancock, D.L. (1983). Classification of the Papilionidae (Lepidoptera): a phylogenetic approach. Smithersia 2: 1-48. Llorente-Bousquets, J.E., Onate-Ocana, L., Luis-Martinez, A. & Vargas-Fernandez, I. 1997. Papilionidae y Pieridae de México: distribución geográfica e ilustración. Comisión Nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad (CONABIO), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico; [x], 231 pp. Lewis, H. L., 1974 Butterflies of the World Page 24, figure 20 External links Swallowtails.net images Global Butterfly Information System Images of syntypes? in Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. gramas Butterflies described in 1829 Papilionidae of South America