Solomons swallowtail
December 17, 2009
This is another video frame. Unfortunately the butterfly never stopped moving. This frame is the closest to “sharp” as I could grab from the video. I’m guessing it is a swallowtail sp.
Bruce, Atlanta
Solomon Islands, Tenaru River, Guadalcanal
Hi Bruce,
This appears to be a male Citrus Swallowtail, Papilio aegeus. The Lepidoptera Butterflyhouse website has nice images of the entire metamorphosis. This species exhibits sexual dimorphism, where the two sexes look radically different from one another. Additionally, there are many races and subspecies throughout Australia, Indonesia, the Solomons and New Guinea.