Subspecies Cressida cressida cressida (Fabricius, 1775)
Greasy Swallowtail
- Papilio cressida Fabricius, J.C. 1775. Systema Entomologiae, sistens Insectorum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, adiectis Synonymis, Locis, Descriptionibus, Observationibus. Flensburgi et Lipsiae [= Flensburg & Leipzig] : Kortii xxxii 832 pp. [Date published 17 April] [448].
Type data:
Lectotype BMNH ♂, Endeavour River, QLD (as nova Hollandia in original description)
Comment: Fabricius in the original description did not indicate number of specimens described; Zimsen, E. 1964. The Type Material of I.C. Fabricius. Copenhagen : Munksgaard 656 pp. [511] (recorded two males in the Banks collection).Type locality references:
Watson, E.Y. 1893. A proposed classification of the Hesperiidae, with a revision of the genera. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1893(1): 3-132 [publication date: < 0107>] [205] (implied that the specimens came from Endeavour River, QLD); Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9-17 [10] (implied that the type locality must have been Endeavour River, QLD); Zimsen, E. 1964. The Type Material of I.C. Fabricius. Copenhagen : Munksgaard 656 pp. Type data:
Lectotype BMNH ♀, Endeavour River, Cooktown, QLD (as nova Hollandia)
Comment: Fabricius in original description did not indicate number of specimens described; Zimsen, E. 1964. The Type Material of I.C. Fabricius. Copenhagen : Munksgaard 656 pp. [556] (recorded two females in the Banks collection); Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9–17 [10] (stated that harmonia must have been described from the Banks collection and not Jones Icones).Type locality references:
Watkins, H.T.G. 1923. Notes on the butterflies of the Banks Collection. The Entomologist 56: 204-209 [205] (implied Endeavour River, QLD, was the type locality); Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9-17 [10] (implied that the type locality was Endeavour River, QLD); Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9-17; Zimsen, E. 1964. The Type Material of I.C. Fabricius. Copenhagen : Munksgaard 656 pp.- Papilio harmonides Godart, J.B. 1819. Zoologie. Vol. 9 Pt 1 pp. 13–328 in Latreille, P.A. & Godart, J.B. Encyclopédie Méthodique. Histoire Naturelle. Entomologie, ou Histoire Naturelle des Crustacés, des Arachnides et des Insectes. Paris. [publication date: Sherborn, C.D. & Woodward, B.B. 1906. On the dates of publication of the natural history portions of the Encyclopédie Méthodique. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 17: 577–582; Cowan, C.F. 1968. [publication dates] Enc. Méth. 9. Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 4(7): 307–311, 390 [310]; Sherborn, C.D. & Woodward, B.B. 1899. On the dates of the Encyclopédie Méthodique: additional note. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1899(3): 595] [76] [Godart based his new name on the descriptions of Fabricius and Donovan].
Type data:
Status unknown, whereabouts unknown ♀, Australia (as Nouvelle-Hollande in original description). - Cressida heliconides Swainson, W. 1832. Zoological Illustrations, or original figures and descriptions of new, rare, or interesting animals, selected chiefly from the classes of ornithology, entomology, and conchology, and arranged according to their natural affinities. Vol. 2. London : Baldwin & Craddock 2nd Series pls 86–96. [issued 1832, dated 1832–1833] [pl. 94].
Type data:
Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown 2♂, Australia (incorrectly as Van Diemens Land in original description)
Comment: originally in Swainson coll. - Eurycus cressida cassandra Waterhouse, G.A. & Lyell, G. 1914. The Butterflies of Australia: a monograph of the Australian Rhopalocera introducing a complete scheme of structural classification, and giving descriptions and illustrations of all the butterflies found in Australia, including a number now recorded for the first time. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 239 pp. 38 pls + 3 unnumbered colour pls. [Date published 25 July 1914] [171].
Type data:
Lectotype AM KL14185 ♂, Daly River, NT (Waterhouse & Lyell in original description gave Daly River and Darwin, NT).
Paralectotype(s) AM KL14186 1♀; whereabouts unknown 22♂ 13♀
Comment: Waterhouse & Lyell described 23 males and 14 females in original description.Type locality references:
Peters, J.V. 1971. A Catalogue of the Type Specimens of the Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea (Lepidoptera) in the Australian Museum. Greenwich, NSW : Australian Entomological Press 36 pp. [18] (restricted the type locality to Daly River, NT). - Eurycus cressida intermedius Rothschild, L.W. 1918. Catalogue of Zerynthiinae and allied genera in the Tring Museum, with critical notes. Novitates Zoologicae 25: 64-75 [66].
Type data:
Syntype(s) BMNH 1♂, Port Darwin, Northern Territory of South Australia and Eureka, NT (given in original description; Eureka no longer exists, but the site is on Eureka Creek, on the headwaters of the Mary River, near the current Hercules mine at 13º40‘S 132º10‘E, NT); BMNH 13♂ 7♀
Comment: Rothschild in original description mentioned a series of specimens; they were originally in the Tring Museum.
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Bryk, F. 1929. Familia Papilionidae I (Lamproptera, Cressida, Euryades, Troides). Lepidopterorum Catalogus. Pt 35 pp. 1–55. [9]
- Dunn, K.L. & Dunn, L.E. 1991. Review of Australian Butterflies: distribution, life history and taxonomy. Part 1: Introduction, Papilionidae, Pieridae and regional adult temporal data. Melbourne : K. & L. Dunn Vol. 1 196 pp. [Date published 31-Dec-91] [27] (synonymy of C. cressida cassandra (Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914))
Distribution
States
New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Hammond Island, Torres Strait (see Lane & Moulds 2015: 31). Extralimital distribution—East Timor, Indonesia (Irian Jaya, West Timor), Papua New Guinea
IBRA
NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)
Other Regions
Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater
Original AFD Distribution Data
Australian Region
- Australia
- New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
- Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
- Western Australia: N coastal
- East Timor
- Indonesia
- Irian Jaya
- West Timor
- Papua New Guinea
Distribution References
Ecological Descriptors
Larva: herbivore (associated flora: Aristolochia elegans Mast. [ARISTOLOCHIACEAE]; Aristolochia chalmersii O.C.Schmidt [ARISTOLOCHIACEAE]; Aristolochia holtzei F.Muell. [ARISTOLOCHIACEAE]; Aristolochia pubera R.Br. [ARISTOLOCHIACEAE]; Aristolochia tagala Cham. [ARISTOLOCHIACEAE]; Aristolochia thozetii F.Muell. [ARISTOLOCHIACEAE]; Aristolochia sp. [ARISTOLOCHIACEAE] (aff. pubera)).
Extra Ecological Information
A. elegans (Aristolochiaceae) is introduced.
General References
Common, I.F.B. & Waterhouse, D.F. 1981. Butterflies of Australia. Sydney : Angus & Robertson xiv 682 pp. 49 pls. [255] (biology)
Orr, A.G. 1999. The Big Greasy, Cressida cressida (Papilionidae). pp. 115-134 in Kitching, R.L., Scheermeyer, E., Jones, R.L. & Pierce, N.E. (eds). Biology of Australian Butterflies. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing xvi 395 pp. [115] (biology)
Orr, A.G. & Rutowski, R. 1991. The function of the sphragis in Cressida cressida (Fab.) (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae): a visual deterrent to copulation. Journal of Natural History 25: 703-710 [703] (biology)
Waterhouse, G.A. 1932. What Butterfly is That? A Guide to the Butterflies of Australia. Illustrated by Neville Cayley. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 291 pp. 34 pls. [Date published 15/Dec/1932] [46] (biology)
Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9-17 [10] (discussed illustrations in Jones' Icones (1783–1818) of Papilio cressida Fabricius, 1775 and Papilio harmonia Fabricius, 1793)
Waterhouse, G.A. & Lyell, G. 1914. The Butterflies of Australia: a monograph of the Australian Rhopalocera introducing a complete scheme of structural classification, and giving descriptions and illustrations of all the butterflies found in Australia, including a number now recorded for the first time. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 239 pp. 38 pls + 3 unnumbered colour pls. [Date published 25 July 1914] [170] (description, distribution)
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07-Mar-2024 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby |
| 04-Feb-2023 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 22-Dec-2023 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby (ANU) |
| 13-May-2022 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby |
| 26-Feb-2021 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby |
| 04-Jun-2020 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby |
| 04-Jun-2020 | PAPILIONIDAE Latreille, 1802 | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | |
| 06-Sep-2017 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | |
| 05-Mar-2013 | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | ||
| 30-Mar-2012 | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | ||
| 27-Apr-2011 | 27-Apr-2011 | MOVED | ||
| 28-Mar-2012 | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | ||
| 28-Mar-2012 | 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED | ||
| 07-Mar-2024 | MODIFIED |