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| No data. (presumed Corsica or Sardinia) Photo from Japanese web site no English text. female |
Endangered and known only from the islands of Corsica
and Sardinia in the Mediterranean; It prefers mountain pastures over 600
meters elevation, and is under threat as farming destroys its hostplant
(which is apparently poisonous to sheep). Extremely local. Phylogenetically
it may be more closely related to the N American P
polyxenes then to P machaon (based
on RFLP DNA studies). Its closest relative is actually the North African
Papilio saharae. It is listed as Appendix I
of CITES, but some illegal trade undoubtedly still occurs (though this
alone is unlikely to pose any threat).