Papilio aristodemus, commonly known as Schaus

William Schaus

William Schaus was an American entomologist.-Life:William was son of William Schaus, Sr., a German-immigrant art collector and dealer, proprietor of the Schaus Galleries, and of Margaret Connover....

' Swallowtail, is a species of American butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 in the Papilionidae family. It is found in the southern Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 with subspecies in the Bahamas

The Bahamas

The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...

, Hispaniola

Hispaniola

Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...

, and Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. Historically it occurred in tropical hardwood hammock from South Miami to Lower Matecumbe Key, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. Caterpillar

Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...

 host plants are in the family Rutaceae

Rutaceae

Rutaceae, commonly known as the rue or citrus family, is a family of flowering plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales.Species of the family generally have flowers that divide into four or five parts, usually with strong scents...

 and include Hoptree

Hoptree

The Hoptree or Common hoptree, Ptelea trifoliata in the Rutaceae family, is a deciduous shrub or small tree. . Also known as Wafer Ash, it is native to North America, from southern Eastern Canada, the Great Lakes region and the Northeastern U.S.; southward through the midwestern and southeastern...

 (Ptelea trifoliata), Citrus

Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

species, Sea Torchwood (Amyris elemifera

Amyris elemifera

Amyris elemifera, commonly known as Sea Torchwood, is a coastal evergreen shrub or small tree. It is found in central and southern Florida in the United States, The Bahamas, the Caribbean, and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The resinous wood has been...

), and Lime Prickly-ash (Zanthoxylum fagara

Zanthoxylum fagara

Zanthoxylum fagara is a species of flowering plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae that is native to southern Florida and Texas in the United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America as far south as Paraguay...

).

Description

Dorsal sides of forewing are dark brown with a central yellow or white band. Tails have yellow margins and a row of yellow or white crescents. Wingspan is 9.2–11.8 cm (3.6–4.6 in).

Conservation

S. a. ponceanus was listed as endangered

Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...

 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...

 in 1984 due to dramatic declines in numbers and contraction of range. Threats include mosquito

Mosquito

Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...

 control and destruction of its tropical hardwood hammock

Tropical hardwood hammock

Tropical hardwood hammocks are closed canopy forests, dominated by a diverse assemblage of evergreen and semi-deciduous tree and shrub species, mostly of West Indian origin...

 habitat.

External links

• Schaus' Swallowtail, Butterflies and Moths of North America
• Island Swallowtail; Schaus swallowtail
• Schaus swallowtail on the UF
  University of Florida
  The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
  
   / IFAS
  Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
  The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
  
  Featured Creatures Web site
• Schaus' Swallowtail at EOL