DESCRIPTION OF A NEW TROPICAL SUBSPECIES OF THE BLACK SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY, PAPILIO POLYXENES (LEPIDOPTERA: PAPILIONIDAE) FROM VENEZUELA*

This paper aims to describe Papilio polyxenes costarum, a new subspecies, whose populations come from the Cordillera de la Costa Central of northern Venezuela. The populations of this country have traditionally been identified as belonging to the subspecies americus Kollar, 1850, which flies in Colombia and integrates to the new subspecies in the Andes of the Cordillera de Merida in Venezuela, near Colombian territories. Illustrations of adults of this new subspecies were done in order to demonstrate their new status regarding other similar subspecies. Its final-instar larva on host plants of the Apiaceae family is shown