Papilio Machaon - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

Papilio machaon was named by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758, alongside nearly 200 other species of butterfly. Later, Pierre André Latreille designated it as the type species of the genus Papilio. The specific epithet machaon refers to Machaon, son of Asclepius in the works of Homer.

There are 37 recognized subspecies.

• Papilio machaon gorganus is strongly migratory in Europe and may be found in almost all habitats.
• In the UK, P. m. brittanicus is an endemic subspecies, but occasionally individuals of the continental subspecies gorganus breed temporarily on the south coast. Subspecies brittanicus differs from the continental subspecies in being more heavily marked in black.
• The Maltese Islands are home to another endemic subspecies, P. m. melitensis.

Recognised subspecies include:

• Papilio machaon aliaska (Chukot Peninsula, Alaska to northern British Columbia)
• Papilio machaon annae
• Papilio machaon archias (southern Sichuan)
• Papilio machaon asiaticus
• Papilio machaon baijangensis (China: Xinjiang)
• Papilio machaon bairdii (Nevada to Kansas, Arizona, Colorado)
• Papilio machaon birmanicus (southern Shan States)
• Papilio machaon britannicus (Great Britain)
• Papilio machaon brucei (Alberta, Saskatchewan to Nebraska, Utah)
• Papilio machaon centralis (Turan, western Tian-Shan, Ghissar, Darvaz, Alai, western Pamirs)
• Papilio machaon chinensis (Sichuan)
• Papilio machaon gorganus (southern Europe, Ural, Caucasus Major)
• Papilio machaon hippocrates (Japan)
• Papilio machaon hudsonianus (Alberta to Quebec)
• Papilio machaon kamtschadalus (Kamchatka)
• Papilio machaon kiyonobu (Tibet)
• Papilio machaon kunkalaschani (western Sichuan)
• Papilio machaon ladakensis (eastern Pamirs)
• Papilio machaon lapponica (northern Europe)
• Papilio machaon machaon (Central Europe)
• Papilio machaon mauretanica (North Africa)
• Papilio machaon melitensis (Malta)
• Papilio machaon montanus (western Sichuan, south-western Gansu, eastern Qinghai, north-western Yunnan)
• Papilio machaon muetingi (southern Arabia)
• Papilio machaon neochinensis (Ta-tsien-lu)
• Papilio machaon oregonius (southern British Columbia to Oregon, Idaho)
• Papilio machaon oreinus (Tian-Shan)
• Papilio machaon orientis (Altai, Sayan, Transbaikalia, northern Amur, Far East)
• Papilio machaon pikei
• Papilio machaon sachalinensis (Sakhalin)
• Papilio machaon schapiroi (southern Ussuri)
• Papilio machaon septentrionalis (Kuriles)
• Papilio machaon sikkimensis (Tibet)
• Papilio machaon suroia (Manipur, Assam, north-eastern India)
• Papilio machaon sylvina (Taiwan)
• Papilio machaon syriacus (Caucasus Minor, Armenia, Talysh Mountains)
• Papilio machaon taliensis (northern Yunnan)
• Papilio machaon ussuriensis (southern Amur, northern and central Ussuri)
• Papilio machaon verityi (northern Burma, Shan States, southern Yunnan)
• Papilio machaon weidenhofferi (Kopet-Dagh)