Papilio palinurus Fabricius, 1787 - Green-banded Peacock

Subspecies in India

(1) Papilio palinurus palinurus  Fabricius, 1787– Malayan Green-banded Peacock. It is variously known as the Green-banded Peacock, Emerald Peacock, Emerald Swallowtail, Banded Peacock, and Burmese Banded Peacock.
 

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

Papilio palinurus palinurus - Malayan Green-banded Peacock

bp238

Not known in India.

This species is historically well-known from S. Myanmar and peninsular Thailand southeastward into Borneo and the Philippines (Corbet et al. 1992; d’Abrera 1982; Ek-Amnuay 2012; Evans 1932; Inayoshi 2015). Recently it has been reported from Chittagong in Bangladesh and the Rakhine (formerly Arakan) State in Myanmar (Larsen 2004). The photographic record of this species from the Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary, South 24 Parganas District, Paschimbanga (formerly West Bengal), India, taken on 6 May 2008 (BOI-bp238, published 2015/02/22), represents a significant range extension of the species north-eastward into India from its previously well-known range in SE Asia. It also represents an addition to the Indian butterfly fauna. The species has been seen by Subhankar Patra and Arjan Basu Roy in the Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary several times since 2008, although we do not know of any photographic records apart from the one mentioned above.
 

As of 22 February 2015, this butterfly has been reported with a confirmed photographic record (BOI-bp238) only once in India, although there have been other sightings in the past few years by Subhankar Patra and Arjan Basu Roy. Based on these sporadic sightings, it appears that this species occassionally disperses into Bangladesh and NE India. However, we do not yet know whether it breeds in India, and whether it may establish more stable populations.

Another Achillides species, Papilio crino, occurs in the same habitat where Papilio palinurus has been seen so far. In flight, these two species may be differentiated from a more brilliant and usually a broader green band in palinurus. Papilio palinurus has also been observed to fly closer to the tree canopies, and resting higher up in the tall trees, whereas crino flies around bushes and smaller tress.
 
StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo 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
Kerala
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Puducherry UT
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal1
Total1

Not known in India.

Corbet, A. S., H. M. Pendlebury, and J. N. Eliot. 1992. The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula. 4th revised edn. Malayan Nature Society, Kaula Lumpur.
 
d’Abrera, B. 1982. Butterflies of the Oriental Region. Part I: Papilionidae, Pieridae & Danaidae. Hill House, Victoria.

Ek-Amnuay, P. 2012. Butterflies of Thailand. 2nd edn. Baan Lae Suan (=Amarin) Printing & Publishing Co., Bangkok.

Evans, W. H. 1932. The identification of Indian butterflies. 2nd edn. Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai.

Inayoshi, Y. 2015. A Check List of Butterflies in Indo-China (chiefly from Thailand, Laos and Vietnam). Accessed 22 February 2015. URL: http://yutaka.it-n.jp/pap/10490001.html.

Larsen, T. B. 2004. Butterflies of Bangladesh – An Annotated Checklist. IUCN Bangladesh Country Office, Dhaka.
 

Page citation

Roy, A. B., and K. Kunte 2024. Papilio palinurus Fabricius, 1787 – Green-banded Peacock. 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-palinurus, accessed 2024/10/04.