Subspecies in India
No subspecies are listed under this species.
Taxonomic Information
This species has historically been reported as either Amathusia phidippus (Linnaeus, 1763), Amathusia friderici Fruhstorfer, 1904, or Amathusia phidippus friderici Fruhstorfer, 1904 (e.g., Bhakare & Ogale 2018; Evans 1932; Mathew & Pulikkal 2009; Nitin et al. 2018; Susanth, Premkrishnan & Murukesh 2007; Wynter-Blyth 1957).
It was recently shown to be a distinct species (Kunte & Basu 2024).
Conservation and Special status
This species is not yet protected under the schedules of the WildLife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022, or any other national and international legislation.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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This species is endemic to the Travancore region of south-western India. Until the species was described in December 2024, it had been reported in literature or museum specimens only from four localities: Kottayam, Thenmala Forest Rest House (near Shendurney WLS, the type locality), Kattilapara (Shendurney WLS), and Palode, all in Kerala (Kunte & Basu 2024). Since then, several new localities have been recorded, e.g., Mukkuzhi (Idukki District, Kerala; by Arun Lal). The distribution is now extended into Tamil Nadu based on a record from Konam (Nagercoil, Kanyakumari District), by Muthukrishnan V. (see the image gallery for details).
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | |||||||||||||
| Kerala | 4 | 5 | |||||||||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | |||||||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Calamus thwaitesii, Cocos nucifera, Licuala sp., (Arecaceae). Leaves of the exotic, ornamental palm Dypsis lutescens are also acceptable in captivity.
Key Reference:
Kunte. K., and D. N. Basu. 2024. Two new taxa of brush-footed butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, southern India. Zootaxa, 5543:343–367.
Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10:11495–11550.
For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
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Bhakare, M., and H. Ogale. 2018. A Guide to Butterflies of Western Ghats (India). Published privately by Milind Bhakare and Hemant Ogale, Satara, 496 pp.
Evans, W.H. 1932. The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd edn.). Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, 454 pp.
Kunte. K., and D. N. Basu. 2024. Two new taxa of brush-footed butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, southern India. Zootaxa, 5543:343–367.
Mathew, G., and U. K. Pulikkal. 2009. Biology of the Palm King Amathusia phidippus, an extremely rare and endangered butterfly of Peninsular India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 106:118–120.
Nitin, R., V.C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10:11495–11550.
Susanth, C., B. V. Premkrishnan, and R. Murukesh. 2007. Occurrence of Amathusia phidippus phidippus (Linnaeus) confirmed in southern India. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20080213063439/http://susanthsbirdsandbutterflies.blog.com/1770510.
Wynter-Blyth, M.A. 1957. Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, 523 pp.
Page citation
Kunte. K. 2025. Amathusia travancorica Kunte, 2024 – Travancore Palmking. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/amathusia-travancorica, accessed 2025/01/18.