Graphium almansor, the Almansor white-lady swordtail or Honrath's white lady, is a butterfly in the family Papilionidae (swallowtails). It is found in Guinea, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and possibly Rwanda and Burundi.Afrotropical Butterflies: File C – Papilionidae - Tribe Leptocercini
Description Markings white; median band of the forewing also broadly interrupted in cellule 2, as the discal spot of this cellule is absent or very small; the transverse spot of the cell of the forewing reaches the front margin of the cell, but is rather broadly separated from the discal spot in cellule 3; hind¬wing without discal dots and with indistinct or partly absent submarginal dots, the apex of the cell filled in with white; the cell of the forewing with a white apical spot; the discal spot in cellule 1 b of the fore¬wing does not reach so far basad as the spot in 1 a and is therefore shorter. —- Ashanti and Angola. G. carchedonius Karsch only differs from almansor in that the discal spots in 1 a and 1 b of the forewing are both obliquely rounded off proximally and the cell of the forewing has no apical spot. — Togo and Congo region.[In subspecies] G. uganda the white markings of the fore¬ wing are much reduced, consisting only of three short streaks in the middle of the cell, small discal spots in 1 a, 1 b and 3, two streaks in cellule 6, a broken discal spot in 8 and submarginal dots in 1 b, 2, 3 and 6; the discal spot in 1 a is placed much nearer to the base than that in lb; the transverse band of the hind¬ wing is somewhat yellowish, covers the apex of the cell and is incised in cellules 2 and 6, but without discal spots.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.
Biology Adults of both sexes mimic Amauris species, including Amauris damocles and species of the Amauris echeria-group. Males are attracted to damp spots on river banks (mud-puddling) and both sexes feed from flowers.
The larvae feed on Pseudospondias microcarpa.
Subspecies Graphium almansor almansor (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Zambia) Graphium almansor birbiri (Ungemach, 1932) Ungemach, H. 1932. Contribution a l’etude des Lepidopteres d’Abyssinie. Memoires de la Societe des Sciences Naturelles (et Physiques) du Maroc 32: 1-122. (south-western Ethiopia) Graphium almansor carchedonius (Karsch, 1895) Karsch, F. 1895 Aethiopische Rhopaloceren. I. Entomologische Nachrichten. Berlin 21: 275- 286. (Guinea, Ghana, Togo) Graphium almansor escherichi (Gaede, 1915)Gaede, M. 1915a. Neue afrikanische Lepidoptera des Berliner Zoologischen Museums.Internationale Entomologische Zeitschrift 9: 38-40; 71-74. (eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, Uganda) Graphium almansor uganda (Lathy, 1906)Lathy, P.I. 1906 A contribution towards the knowledge of African Rhopalocera.Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1906: 1-10. (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, south-western Kenya, north-western Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi)
Taxonomy Graphium almansor belongs to a species group with 16 members. All are very similar The species group members are: Graphium abri Smith & Vane-Wright, 2001 Graphium adamastor (Boisduval, 1836) Graphium agamedes (Westwood, 1842) Graphium almansor (Honrath, 1884) Graphium auriger (Butler, 1876) Graphium aurivilliusi (Seeldrayers, 1896) Graphium fulleri (Grose-Smith, 1883) Graphium hachei (Dewitz, 1881) Graphium kigoma Carcasson, 1964 Graphium olbrechtsi Berger, 1950 Graphium poggianus (Honrath, 1884) Graphium rileyi Berger, 1950 Graphium schubotzi (Schultze, 1913) Graphium simoni (Aurivillius, 1899), Graphium ucalegon (Hewitson, 1865)[ Graphium ucalegonides (Staudinger, 1884)
Images External images from Royal Museum of Central Africa
References
Carcasson, R.H 1960 The Swallowtail Butterflies of East Africa (Lepidoptera,Papilionidae). Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society 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 Lewis, H. L., 1974 Butterflies of the World page 89, figure 2.