Subspecies in India
Taxonomic Information
This species was formerly treated as a subspecies of Papilio nephelus Boisduval, 1836 (as Papilio nephelus chaon Westwood, 1845). It is now raised to species level based on detailed molecular systematic studies, resulting in treating the Indian populations as Papilio chaon chaon Westwood, 1845 – Khasi Yellow Helen (Joshi & Kunte 2022, and Condamine et al. 2023). See further information here.
According to these recent studies, Papilio nephelus occurs deep in SE Asian islands, not in continental Asia.
Key references:
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.
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.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
Arunachal Pradesh | 3 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||
Assam | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||||||
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 | |||||||||||||
Manipur | |||||||||||||
Meghalaya | 6 | 7 | 1 | 6 | |||||||||
Mizoram | 1 | ||||||||||||
Nagaland | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||
Odisha | |||||||||||||
Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
Punjab | |||||||||||||
Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
Sikkim | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
Tripura | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
West Bengal | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
Total | 7 | 3 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 2 |
Page citation
Kunte, K. 2024. Papilio chaon Westwood, 1845 – Yellow Helen. 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-chaon, accessed 2024/10/14.