Pterourus garamas abderus

[Dawn, Douglas]

Dear Lep-L fans,

Just a quick note to record that I had the wonderful opportunity to
observe several Pterourus garamas abderus in Monterrey (Garza-Garcia),
Nuevo Leon, Mexico on Saturday, 23 August, 1997, nectaring on lantana.
This is the second small bunch I have observed this year, the first in
the spring of 97, with Elizabeth Munger.

Monterrey, a 2hr 45min drive from Laredo, TX, is probably the most
northern observation of this species, please correct me if you know
better.  (In the US, Monterrey's latitude crosses between that of Miami
and Homestead, Florida).

This swallowtail ("Gold-Ringed", "Halo" Swallowtail) has a very thick
black abdomen, charcoal black wings above and below, with strikingly
bright yellow arcs above and equally visable below, which give the
appearance of a well defined circular ring around the insect's body.  In
addition the FWs have concentric arcs closer to the wing verticies.  If
you ever have the pleasure of lying on your back and seeing it eclipse
the sun during an a-typical lazy flight, the golden halo you see is
truly remarkable against the charcoal black.

Other classification for this swallowtail I have seen:

Typical genus classification variants
abderus species (garamas considered a separate species with more rounded
HW gold rings,etc.)
abderus subspecies (to distinguish from a Central American "ssp." e)