Subspecies in India
(1) Papilio daksha daksha Hampson, [1889] – Sahyadri Large-spotted Helen
Taxonomic Information
This species was formerly treated as a subspecies of Papilio helenus (as Papilio helenus daksha). It is now raised to species level based on detailed molecular systematic studies, resulting in treating the Western Ghats and nearby populations as Papilio daksha daksha, and the Sri Lankan populations as Papilio daksha mooreanus Rothschild, 1895 (Joshi & Kunte 2022, and Condamine et al. 2023). See further information here.
In India, Papilio helenus is now restricted to the E. Himalaya and NE India, it does not occur in the Western Ghats and neighbouring areas.
Images of Papilio daksha are still available on this website under the species page of Papilio helenus but they will eventually move to this page 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
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This species is endemic to the Western Ghats (ssp. daksha) and Sri Lanka (spp. mooreanus).
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ||||||||
| Kerala | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | ||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Citrus spp., Citrus limon, Clausena spp. (Hemant Ogale pers. obs. 2011), Clausena heptaphylla, Glycosmis pentaphylla, Toddalia asiatica, Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Rutaceae).
Key Reference:
Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10(4): 11495–11550.
For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
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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.
Page citation
Kunte, K. 2024. Papilio daksha Hampson, [1889] – Large-spotted 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-daksha, accessed 2024/10/14.