Papilio memnon Linnaeus, 1758 - Island Mormon

Subspecies in India

(1) Papilio memnon mayo Atkinson, 1873 – Andaman Mormon

Taxonomic Information

This species earlier included another Indian taxon as its subspecies, as Papilio memnon agenor Linnaeus, 1758 – Continental Great Mormon. agenor is now raised to a species level, as Papilio agenor Linnaeus, 1758 – Great Mormon, with three subspecies under it (see further notes on the Papilio agenor page).

Papilio mayo Atkinson, 1873 was formerly treated as a distinct species endemic to the Andaman Islands. It was recently shown to be a subspecies of Papilio memnon (Joshi and Kunte 2022; Condamine et al. 2023).

Images of Papilio agenor are still available on this website under the P. memnon page, and images of Papilio mayo are still found on its own page. The images will eventually move to their respective species pages as the website is updated.

Conservation and Special status

This species is not legally protected in India under any schedules of WildLife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT1
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh611
Assam1357222213
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur111
Meghalaya1153
Mizoram1111
Nagaland11
Odisha
Puducherry UT
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim11227211
Tamil Nadu
Tripura1
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal21121
Total15139232596881

Condamine, F. L., R. Allio, E. L. Reboud, J. R. Dupuis, E. F. A. Toussaint, N. Mazet, S.-J. Hue, D. S. Lewis, K. Kunte, A. M. Cotton, F. A. H. Sperling. 2023. A comprehensive phylogeny and revised taxonomy illuminate the origin and diversification of the global radiation of Papilio (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 107758.

Joshi, J., and K. Kunte. 2022. Polytypy and systematics: diversification of Papilio swallowtail butterflies in the biogeographically complex Indo-Australian Region. bioRxiv, 2022.03.23.485569.

Page citation

Kunte, K. 2024. Papilio memnon Linnaeus, 1758 – Island Mormon. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/papilio-memnon, accessed 2024/11/03.