Common Mormon

Papilio polytes.

Finally caught up with one of the big girls. I guess the blip monster decided to be nice after teasing me yesterday. I managed a lot of shots of this guy, on the approach, just incase that was all I was going to get, and full on.

This butterfly has a four inch wingspan and hangs around the trees. It does come down low and until you get used to these large butterflies flying past your face within inches, they can be quite startling. They like to settle on a leaf and soak up the suns ways with those long, dark colored wings.

I can tell this a male because the female is dimorphic, which means that it mimics other species of butterfly, like the common rose, which is unpalatable to birds. This can make identification quite difficult, as not only are there several mormon species, but all the females are so different to the males. The common mormon has a swallow tail, some other species don't, but all have the same distinctive dark, corduroy barred forewing. The swallow tail of this specimen looks a bit stunted and asymmetrical.

I am hoping to bring you some of the other species. I do have plenty of images, but something else has always taken priority, but I am in the middle of a butterfly kick at the moment and this is a good addition to my blip collection.

Dave