Abstract
The swallowtail butterfly Luehdorfia chinensis (Leech, 1893) is endangered in China. Although its biological characteristics and habitat were reported more than twenty years ago, its conservation biology remained insufficiently known. In 2009, we discovered a population of the butterfly in Wuyunjie National Nature Reserve, Hunan, and preliminary data on the biology of this population was accumulated from March 2009 to July 2010, based on laboratory rearing and surveys in the field. Its life history was similar to those of the Zhejiang and Suzhou populations, and its habitat was on a slope around the mountaintop with its main host plant Asarum sieboldii. In Wuyunjie National Nature Reserve, human activities, such as cultivating and mowing are permitted to local residents to support the relationship between people and nature. Ruderal environments with sunlight and open spaces produced by moderate burning and mowing in the habitat may play important roles in maintenance of the population. Because suitable habitat of L. chinensis requires a comparatively open environment, logging high trees in the lowland may be necessary to sustain the Hunan population.
