Subspecies in India
(1) Graphium antiphates naira (Moore, [1903]) – Sahyadri Five-bar Swordtail
(2) Graphium antiphates nebulosus (Butler, 1881) – Himalayan Five-bar Swordtail
Taxonomic Information
Various names have been applied to the Indian subspecies of Graphium antiphates (Cramer, [1775]) in the past. The Western Ghats populations have been referred to by some as Graphium antiphates alcibiades (Fabricius, 1787), and the Himalayan populations have been referred to by the name Graphium antiphates pompilius (Fabricius, 1787). Based on historical records of butterfly trade in China and India and by comparing syntypes of pompilius (Fabricius, 1787) with specimens from mainland Asia, Cotton et al. (2019) suggested that alcibiades (Fabricius, 1787) should represent populations in the Malay Peninsula, and that pompilius (Fabricius, 1787) is a synonym of antiphates (Cramer, [1775]). They also suggested that the correct and valid name of the Western Ghats subspecies is naira (Moore, [1903]) and that of the Himalayan and NE Indian subspecies is nebulosus (Butler, 1881). We have always used the name naira (Moore, [1903]) for the Western Ghats, and the change from pompilius (Fabricius, 1787) to nebulosus (Butler, 1881) has also been implemented on image text.
Conservation and Special status
This species is not legally protected in India under any schedules of WildLife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 ('WPAA').
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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This species has been recorded so far from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, within the Indian limits.
This species is common.
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Assam | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 2 | 1 | 11 | 1 | |||||||||
| Kerala | 8 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | |||||||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | 1 | 8 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Mizoram | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
| Telangana | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Total | 11 | 5 | 24 | 28 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Desmos chinensis, Miliusa spp., Uvaria concava (Annonaceae). Magnolia doltsopa (Magnoliaceae).
For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
Cotton, A. M., J. Robinson, and Y. Inayoshi. 2019. Taxonomic implications resulting from examination of the syntypes of Papilio pompilius Fabricius, 1787 (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Butterflies (Teinopalpus), 81:48–55.
Key Reference:
Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. href="https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3104.10.4.11495-11550">Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10(4): 11495–11550.
Page citation
Mazumder, S., S. Tadse, and K. Kunte 2026. Graphium antiphates (Cramer, [1775]) – Five-bar Swordtail. 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/index.php/graphium-antiphates, accessed 2026/05/24.