Has Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) succeeded in becoming established in Cyprus? Evidence from citizen science reports in 2022

Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 159: 87–95

doi: 10.31184/M00138908.1592.4178

© Pemberley Books

 

Has Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 (Lepidoptera:

Papilionidae) succeeded in becoming established in Cyprus?

Evidence from citizen science reports in 2022

BY EDDIE JOHN, HASAN BAĞLAR & GEORGE KONSTANTINOU

EJ: Coach House, Church Street, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan CF71 7BB, U.K.;

email: eddiejohn100@gmail.com

HB: P.O. Box 22365, 1520 Nicosia, Cyprus; email:baglar@hotmail.com

GK: Society for the Protection of Natural Heritage and the Biodiversity of Cyprus, Keryneias 6,

Geri 2200, Cyprus; email: fanigeorge@hotmail.com

                    Article history: Received: 30 January 2023; Accepted: 27 March 2023; Published: 26 May 2023

ABSTRACT

Overwintering success of Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758, a recently arrived Swallowtail to

the Mediterranean basin, has been such that we are able to report on dispersal of the species into

50×5km2 -UTM squares in Cyprus. Citizen science reports, appropriately verifified, have been

invaluable in assessing the spread of a papilionid that was fifirst reported from Cyprus in August

2021. These observations, supplemented by others from members of the Cyprus Butterflfly Study

Group, point to a known area of occupation representing ca. 11% of the island in just one year.

However, the distances separating observations from the main concentration in central/eastern

areas of the island with those reported from coasts around the island, strongly support a belief that

the species has a far greater distribution in Cyprus. In turn, as the species has survived throughout

an unusually cold winter during 2021/2022, this leads us to hypothesize that a successful,

potentially permanent, range expansion has been achieved. Until more is known about the

adaptation of P. demoleus to pertaining environmental conditions in Cyprus, where fifive annual

generations appear achievable, we urge caution before the tag of ‘pest species’, as applied in other

parts of the world, is attached to P. demoleus in Mediterranean regions.

Keywords: Lepidoptera, Papilionidae, Papilio demoleus, Lime Swallowtail, Phenology,

Mediterranean Turkey, Syria, Cyprus

 

INTRODUCTION

Readers of the erstwhile sister journal Entomologist’s Gazette have perhaps become familiar with reports of the arrival in 2021 of Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 (Lime or Chequered Swallowtail) (Figs 1 & 2) in areas of the eastern Mediterranean. In Başbay, Salimeh & John (2020a & b) we commented on the recent discovery of the species at Mediterranean coastal regions of Turkey and Syria, and in John et al. (2021b), confirmed the presence (in Syria) to be that of nominotypical P. demoleus demoleus. The last-mentioned paper also confirmed the species’ dispersal into Lebanon and predicted further territory expansion by this vigorous swallowtail into Israel and Cyprus. Hecht (2021) reported arrival in northern Israel in the autumn of 2021, prior to which the anticipated arrival in Cyprus had been realised, with the discovery of P. demoleus on 11 August 2021 (John et al. 2021a). The species was first seen on the outskirts of Lysi (WD68SW), ca. 28km south-east of Nicosia, in a garden owned by the parents of the second author. Molecular analysis showed this to be P. demoleus demoleus (GenBank accession number OL742425), identical to the haplotype of the specimen from Syria (GenBank accession number MW390816), thus indicating a