Diet

• Caterpillars feed on plants in the citrus family (Rutaceae).

• The young caterpillars resemble bird droppings, providing effective camouflage on their host plants.

• Adults visit a variety of flowers for nectar.

Range

• Heraclides androgeus has a broad Neotropical distribution extending from Mexico through Central America and the Caribbean to South America, reaching Argentina.

• In Mexico it occurs along both the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the country, including Guerrero.

• The Pacific Mexican population is generally species occurs in tropical deciduous forest, gallery forest and other warm woodland habitats in Guerrero, including the Zihua area.

Habitat

• The Androgeus Swallowtail inhabits tropical and subtropical woodland, particularly tropical deciduous and semi-deciduous forest, gallery forest, forest edges and clearings.

• In Guerrero, it occurs from low elevations into foothill environments, with the subspecies associated with tropical deciduous forest from sea level to roughly 800 m and gallery forest at somewhat higher elevations.

Description

• This is a very large swallowtail with a wingspan of approximately 134–143 mm.

• There is pronounced sexual dimorphism. Males are predominantly blackish-brown with exceptionally broad yellow bands crossing both the forewings and hindwings. The hindwings have short, narrow tails and a row of subdued bluish or yellowish marginal markings.

• Females are generally much darker. The upper surface is predominantly black or dark brown, with variable pale markings on the forewings and conspicuous blue to blue-green iridescence on the hindwings. Several narrow tails extend from the hindwings.

• The underside of the hindwings has a distinctive series of reddish, yellowish and bluish crescent-shaped markings along the outer portion.