In early spring on the south bank of the Yangtze River in the motherland, you can see a medium-sized, brightly colored swallowtail butterfly with yellow and black stripes on its wings and tiger-like spots flying about. This is the famous domestic rare butterfly - the Chinese tiger. Swallowtail. Because it appears before and after the Jingzhe, some people call it the Jingzhe butterfly.
The male Chinese tiger swallowtail butterfly has a body length of 15-17mm, with an average of 16.2mm, and a wingspan of 58-64mm, with an average of 60.8mm; the female butterfly has a body length of 17-20mm, with an average of 18.6mm, and a wingspan of 59-65mm, with an average of 62.2mm. The wings are yellow with black horizontal stripes (black bands) in between, resembling tiger spots, and are also known as striped butterflies. Except for the wings, the whole body is black and densely covered with black scales and slender scales. There is an elongated white stripe on the side of the posterior edge of each abdominal segment.
The base of the Chinese tiger swallowtail butterfly's forewings and the inner edge of the hind wings are densely covered with light yellow scales. The base of the front of the forewing, the outer edge and the three horizontal bands running diagonally between them are black, with two short black bands alternating between them, ending at the trailing edge of the middle chamber. The outer edge of the forewing is curved, with a row of yellow spots on the outer edge. The first yellow spot near the wing tip and the seven yellow spots on the rear are arranged neatly without misalignment. The outer edge of the hind wings is wavy and black, with 4 small bluish spots in the middle with a metallic luster. There is also a hip eye spot of the same color at the hip corner. There are also 4 yellow half-moon spots outside the cyan-blue spots. There are 5 developed red spots on the sub-outer edge connected into a band, starting from the inner edge and ending at the M1 vein. The black spots on the sub-outer edge are small. The black belt in the middle chamber is separated into two sections. The tail process is short, about 15% of the length of the hind wings. There is a notch at the hip corner. The hairs on the hind wings are all yellow except for the tail process.
The markings on the back of the fore and hind wings are basically similar to those on the front, but the yellow spots 1-5 on the outer edge of the forewing are darker and orange. There is an orange band on the outside, terminating in the Cu1 vein, and a light yellow band on the inside. The half-moon spots on the outer edge of the hind wings are slightly larger and orange. Before the sub-outer red spot, there is an orange spot near the front edge. The sub-outer edge red spots and the outer edge cyan-blue spots are yellow and black mixed.
The male and female butterflies have the same markings, but the female butterfly tends to be slightly darker in yellow.
The egg is an upright egg with a rounded top and a flat bottom, in the shape of a steamed bun. The egg diameter is 0.969-1.00 mm and the height is 0.721-0.803 mm. When first born, they are light green with pearly luster, and turn to dark brown before hatching. The eggs are laid in concentrated sheets on the underside of the host plant leaves.
The head of the larvae is hard, dark brown, and shiny when it is 1 to 3 years old. The mature larvae are dull and densely covered with black bristles. There are 6 single eyes, dark black and bright, arranged in a semi-circle. Seam of skull is light brown. The chest and abdomen are dark purple and black, and there are 6 rows of setae on the body surface, namely: 2 rows of subdorsal-superspiral line plexuses; 2 rows of subdorsal line plexus; 2 rows of baseline plexus. Among them, the lower line of the valve is clustered on a large wart that is slightly hemispherical. The setae on each section are dark and shiny, with 1 to 2 long white setae often sandwiched between them. The valve is oblong and dark black.
The pupa is short, rough, and has a metallic luster. The body length is 15~16.5 mm and the width is 7.5~8.3 mm. The appearance of the cephalothorax of the newly hatched pupa is moist. Except for the light green wing buds, the rest is light yellow. Later, as the pupa body dries, the color gradually becomes darker and reddish brown. Finally, the whole body is dark brown and has a hard texture. Back side of pupa: There are 4 neatly arranged protrusions at the head end and 2 protrusions at the rear. The chest is much narrower than the abdomen, and there is an inverted Y-shaped ridge on the pronotum; the middle chest is wide and bulging; the posterior chest is narrower, with a thin wire surrounding the back of the posterior chest; there is a slough line in the center of the chest. There are 10 abdominal segments visible, with the 1st to 3rd abdominal segments ranging from narrow to wide, and the 4th and 5th abdominal segments can move up and down. There are 5 rectangular brown concave patches on each abdominal segment, with the central one being the widest. There are a pair of milky white spots on both sides of the central concave patch on the first abdominal segment. Ventral surface of pupa: The head is rectangular; the compound eyes are semicircular, located on both sides of the front, near the base of the antennae; the upper lip is arc-shaped, with a convex center. The ventral end is strongly curved ventrally, at right angles to the central axis of the body.
Host: The larvae feed on Asarum forbesii, Asaru sidboldi and other plants of the Aristolochiaceae family.
Biology: One generation occurs a year, and the pupae survive the summer and winter. They are mostly found on branches or bark, under dead branches and leaves, and in gaps between rocks. Adults appear in March and April and fly in moist forests. Eggs are first seen in mid-March and peak in late March and early April. The larvae are active from early April to mid-May, and they begin to pupate in early May. The average number of eggs each female butterfly carries is 122, and the average number of eggs she lays is 23.5. This species has been successfully bred in captivity.
Distribution: Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces. It is endemic to China.
Reasons for endangerment: The distribution of this species is limited to the plains and hilly areas of eastern my country. Densification of population, urbanization and large-scale agriculture in the area have greatly destroyed the habitat and living conditions of this species. In addition, years of greedy collection and capture have brought a great crisis to the survival of this species.
The Chinese tiger swallowtail butterfly is a specialty of my country and a famous rare butterfly. Among them, the Huashan subspecies is very rare and has been listed as a national second-level protected wild animal. The IUCN Red Book "Threatened Papilio Butterflies of the World" lists them as Class K ("Dangerous" Unknown Category).
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