Constantine's swallowtail
Mounted
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Papilio
Species:	P. constantinus
Binomial name
Papilio constantinus Ward, 1871 [1][2][3]
Synonyms
Princeps constantinus Papilio constantinus f. chrysothemis Stoneham, 1931 Papilio constantinus alticola Le Cerf, 1924 Papilio constantinus monticolus Le Cerf, 1924 Papilio constantinus f. mathieui Dufrane, 1946 Papilio constantinus mweruana f. wittei Berger, 1981

Papilio constantinus, the Constantine's swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The wingspan is 70–90 mm in males and 80–95 mm in females. The ground colour is black with pale yellow or white markings including a large yellow spot in the cell. Its flight period is during the warmer months peaking from November to February.^[4]

The larvae feed on Vepris Reflexi, Vepris lanceolata, Vepris undulata, Clausena species, Citrus species, Teclea trifoliatum, Teclea nobilis, and Teclea gerrardii.^[2][4]

Taxonomy

Papilio constantinus is a member of the dardanus species group. The members of the clade are:

• Papilio dardanus Brown, 1776
• Papilio constantinus Ward, 1871
• Papilio delalandei Godart, [1824]
• Papilio phorcas Cramer, [1775]
• Papilio rex Oberthür, 1886

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:^[2]

• Papilio constantinus constantinus Ward, 1871 (south-eastern Ethiopia, southern Somalia, coast of Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, southern and north-eastern Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, eastern Botswana, South Africa, Eswatini)
• Papilio constantinus lecerfi Koçak, 1996^[5] (Kenya: central highlands and the Mau Escarpment)
• Papilio constantinus mweruanus Joicey & Talbot, 1927 ^[6] (Democratic Republic of the Congo, western Tanzania, Zambia)

Biogeographic realm

Afrotropical realm.