Subject: Butterfly name
Geographic location of the bug: South Korea, Gongju city
Date: 07/22/2018
Time: 05:59 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: I know this very big and beautiful butterfly at Yeonmi mountain, Gongju city in South Korea. I was very surprised to see this as most butterflies are far far smaller.
I’d like to know what kind this is. Does it belong to the swallowtail species?
Thanks a lot.
How you want your letter signed: Paul
Dear Paul,
This is a gorgeous Swallowtail Butterfly. At first we thought we identified it as Papilio bianor because of an image on Butterfly Planet, but other images of that species we located online look different. We believe your individual is the Alpine Black Swallowtail, Papilio maackii, based on this Darwin Sect image and postings on iNaturalist where it states: “the alpine black swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in Central Asia, Japan, China and South Korea.” There are images and more information on Butterfly Corner.
Wonderful, thanks a lot for the information. I’ll have to keep my
eyes peeled next time I go walking in that place.