Papilio agenor Linnaeus, 1758 - Great Mormon

Subspecies in India

(1) Papilio agenor agenor Linnaeus, 1758 – Continental Great Mormon
(2) Papilio agenor polymnestor – Peninsular Great Mormon (ACN: Blue Mormon)
(3) Papilio agenor nicobarensis – Nicobar Great Mormon

Taxonomic Information

This was formerly treated as a subspecies (P. memnon agenor), but is now raised to species level (Joshi and Kunte 2022; Condamine et al. 2023). Images of Papilio agenor are still available on this website under the species page of Papilio memnon but they will eventually move to this page as the website is updated.

Conservation and Special status

The peninsular Indian subspecies, Papilio agenor polymnestor – Peninsular Great Mormon (formerly as Papilio polymnestor – Blue Mormon), is a State Butterfly of Maharashtra.

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh31
Assam119
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT
Jharkhand
Karnataka1
Kerala
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya3
Mizoram1
Nagaland
Odisha
Puducherry UT
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal
Total213113

Condamine, F. L., R. Allio, E. L. Reboud, J. R. Dupuis, E. F. A. Toussaint, N. Mazet, S.-J. Hue, D. S. Lewis, K. Kunte, A. M. Cotton, F. A. H. Sperling. 2023. A comprehensive phylogeny and revised taxonomy illuminate the origin and diversification of the global radiation of Papilio (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 107758.

Joshi, J., and K. Kunte. 2022. Polytypy and systematics: diversification of Papilio swallowtail butterflies in the biogeographically complex Indo-Australian Region. bioRxiv, 2022.03.23.485569.

Page citation

Kunte, K. 2024. Papilio agenor Linnaeus, 1758 – Great Mormon. 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/papilio-agenor, accessed 2024/12/03.