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Natural history · Entomological Atlas
Butterflies | Entomological Atlas
Species accounts of butterfly identification, distribution and natural history, with supporting references.
The Atlas combines specimen illustrations with documented natural history.
Butterflies · Pieridae
White albatross butterfly
Appias albina
Appias albina is a pierid butterfly with geographically variable colour forms. In northern Australia, its breeding cycle follows the summer monsoon and fresh growth of the larval host, Drypetes deplanchei.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Lemon emigrant butterfly
Catopsilia pomona
Catopsilia pomona, the lemon emigrant, has pale cream and yellow wings. Indian studies document larval hosts, seasonal survival and pre-monsoon dispersal associated with reproductive investment.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Common gull butterfly
Cepora nerissa
Cepora nerissa, the common gull, has cream wings with dark veins and margins and a yellow-toned underside. Indian accounts document seasonal variation, open-country habitats, larval hosts and adult nectar visits.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Red lacewing
Cethosia biblis
Cethosia biblis combines warm wing colours with intricate light-and-dark margins. A Xishuangbanna study documents clustered eggs, gregarious larvae, named Adenia hosts and adult feeding at flowers and rotting fruit.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Common map butterfly
Cyrestis thyodamas
Cyrestis thyodamas has pale wings crossed by fine, dark, map-like markings. Hong Kong accounts describe year-round adult occurrence near the ground, while a Taiwanese museum records Ficus ampelas as a larval host of the formosana subspecies.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias acalis
Delias acalis
Delias acalis is an Asian jezebel distinguished in the specialist comparison by a large red area at the base of the upper hindwing. Its regional forms occur from the Himalayas and southern India through mainland Southeast Asia to the Malay Peninsula and southern China.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Hill Jezebel
Delias belladonna
Delias belladonna, the Hill Jezebel, has dark wings marked with white and yellow. Its yellow underside hindwing cell patch is a key character in the specialist diagnosis; Indian records describe Dendrophthoe-feeding larvae, adult flower visits and male puddling.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias benasu
Delias benasu
A Sulawesi jezebel whose sexes differ markedly: the male is grey-black with a bluish cast, while the female bears broad whitish bands crossed by dark veins.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias berinda
Delias berinda
A Himalayan and mainland Asian jezebel with geographically variable markings, closely resembling Delias sanaca.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias blanca
Delias blanca
A Philippine and northern Bornean jezebel with pale forewing streaks and vein-divided lemon-yellow markings on the hindwings.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias crithoe
Delias crithoe
An Indonesian jezebel with a yellow hindwing underside and broad red basal band, represented by geographically named island and mountain populations.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias henningia
Delias henningia
A Philippine and Bornean jezebel whose larvae use Glochidion zeylanicum, a documented departure from mistletoe feeding within Delias.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias hidecoae
Delias hidecoae
A Philippine jezebel recorded from Mount Halcon on Mindoro, described by Nakano in 1993.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Broadwing Jezebel
Delias lativitta
An Asian jezebel with a white patch in the central cell of the upper hindwing; Taiwan’s formosana has communal, mistletoe-feeding larvae.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias ninus
Delias ninus
A Southeast Asian jezebel whose male hindwings combine a red basal mark, a bluish-grey band and an ochre-yellow inner corner.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias ottonia
Delias ottonia
A Philippine jezebel with contrasting forewing bands and yellow hindwing patches; named populations occur on Mindanao and Basilan.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Red-base Jezebel
Delias pasithoe
The Red-base Jezebel has a red patch at the base of the hindwing underside. Taiwan’s curasena lays clustered eggs and has communal, mistletoe-feeding caterpillars.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias patrua
Delias patrua
An Asian jezebel with a dark ground and pale or yellow markings. The eastern Lao subspecies laotiana has smaller, more restricted markings than other named populations.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias sanaca
Delias sanaca
A Himalayan and mainland Southeast Asian jezebel with pale and yellow wing markings. The Vietnamese subspecies bidoupa was described from females collected near Mount Bi Doup.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias subnubila
Delias subnubila
A western Chinese jezebel distinguished from Delias wilemani by the absence of its large yellow dorsal hindwing patch between the central and outer markings.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias surprisa
Delias surprisa
A Sulawesi jezebel with greenish-grey upper-wing colouring and large central and outer spots on the hindwing underside.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Dark Jezebel
Delias wilemani
A Taiwanese jezebel with a prominent yellow dorsal hindwing patch. Its communal larvae feed on mistletoes, and its pupa has paired curved dorsal projections.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Delias woodi
Delias woodi
A Mindanao jezebel with compact wing proportions and clearly defined forewing markings. Named populations occur around Mount Apo, Mount Kitanglad and Mount Parker.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Striped blue crow butterfly
Euploea mulciber
The Striped Blue Crow combines conspicuous blue male forewings with fine white hindwing streaks in the female. Singapore accounts document its development and several larval food plants.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Common Grass Yellow
Eurema hecabe
The Common Grass Yellow is a yellow pierid with dark wing borders, found across the Old World tropics. Its caterpillars feed on plants in Fabaceae.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Tailed Jay
Graphium agamemnon
The Tailed Jay is a swift swallowtail with green-spotted dark wings and short hindwing tails. Regional accounts document larval feeding on Annonaceae.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Striped jay butterfly
Graphium bathycles
The striped jay has dark wings crossed by segmented pale markings. A 2024 taxonomic study confirmed its distinction from the similar veined jay, Graphium chironides, using adult morphology, male genitalia and mitochondrial DNA.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Veined jay butterfly
Graphium chironides
The veined jay has dark, tailless wings with segmented pale markings. In the 2024 male comparison, the Malay Peninsula subspecies malayanum has broader discal patches and a less curved forewing than Graphium bathycles bathycloides.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Common jay butterfly
Graphium doson
The common jay has dark wings crossed by pale blue spots. Regional accounts document distinctive underside markings, larval associations with several tree groups and a Vulnerable national assessment for the Singapore subspecies.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Coppery lady
Graphium latreillianus
Graphium latreillianus is a tailless African swallowtail with pale markings above and a metallic copper underside. African accounts associate it with primary forest and document males feeding on damp sand and other moist substrates.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Spot swordtail
Graphium nomius
The spot swordtail has pale wings with dark bands, red hindwing markings and long narrow tails. Regional studies document Annonaceae larval hosts, mud-puddling and photographed occurrences in India and Sri Lanka.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Small striped swordtail
Graphium policenes
The small striped swordtail has dark wings crossed by fine green or blue-green bars, narrow hindwing tails and small red accents. African accounts associate it with coastal and riverine forests, Annonaceae larval hosts and male gatherings on wet ground.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Common Bluebottle
Graphium sarpedon
The common bluebottle has dark wings crossed by a blue-green band. Studies of the Japanese subspecies examine both its wing pigments and a visual system containing fifteen measured photoreceptor spectral sensitivity types.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Purple-spotted Swallowtail
Graphium weiskei
The purple-spotted swallowtail inhabits New Guinea’s highlands. Its black wings carry green, blue, pink and purple patches; experimental research attributes much of this palette to subtractive mixing of wing pigments.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Red Cracker
Hamadryas amphinome
The red cracker has blue-black upper wings and a reddish underside. Adults rest head-down on tree trunks and feed at fruit; field research has examined their high perches and the wing movements associated with cracker-butterfly clicks.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Great Orange-tip
Hebomoia glaucippe
The great orange-tip has bright orange upper forewing tips and a finely mottled underside. Regional accounts document caper-family larval hosts, while chemical research detected a wing peptide previously identified in the cone snail Conus marmoreus.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Tree nymph butterfly
Idea leuconoe
The tree nymph has broad pale wings patterned with black veins and spots. Experiments link egg laying to pyrrolizidine alkaloids in its host plant, and chemical analyses have isolated related compounds from adult bodies.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Schrenck’s emperor butterfly
Mimathyma schrenckii
Schrenck’s emperor has a broad pale hindwing band and separate white forewing marks. Korean records document one annual brood, overwintering larvae, woodland host trees and sex differences in adult feeding behaviour.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Deidamia Morpho
Morpho deidamia
Morpho deidamia has blue-banded upper wings and a complex brown underside. Amazonian research compares it with similarly patterned Morpho species through field experiments and genomic analyses.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Didius blue morpho
Morpho menelaus didius
This morpho has blue upper wings and a brown, eyespotted reverse. Microscopic scale architecture produces the blue reflection; the Atlas follows the museum name Morpho menelaus didius, also treated as Morpho didius in optical research.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Narrow-banded swallowtail
Papilio gallienus
Papilio gallienus has dark wings crossed by a narrow pale-yellow band. African accounts distinguish its band geometry from similar swallowtails and associate it with wet rain forest.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Red Helen
Papilio helenus
The red Helen has dark wings with a creamy-white hindwing patch and red markings near the inner corner. Taiwanese research documents Rutaceae larval hosts, multiple generations and overwintering in pupal diapause.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Alpine black swallowtail
Papilio maackii
The alpine black swallowtail has dark wings with green-blue reflective regions. Their reflected colour shifts with illumination angle, while chemical experiments show how Amur cork tree compounds stimulate female egg laying.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Old World swallowtail
Papilio machaon
The Old World swallowtail has yellow wings, dark veins, blue hindwing markings and a red spot near the inner corner. Its regional populations differ in host use, and a 2026 whole-genome study found the British britannicus lineage genetically distinct within the European sample.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Common Mormon
Papilio polytes
The common Mormon has several female wing patterns, including male-like and mimetic forms. Experiments link this female-limited variation to doublesex regulation and show how mimetic patterns can reduce attacks on butterfly replicas in field trials.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Scarlet Mormon
Papilio rumanzovia
The scarlet Mormon is a large Philippine swallowtail with tailless wings and strongly differing male and female patterns. Experimental reduction of doublesex expression produced more male-like patterns in the tested females.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
King Swallowtail
Papilio thoas
The king swallowtail has dark wings with a diagonal band of yellow spots and tailed hindwings. Its bird-dropping-like larva possesses an extensible defensive osmeterium whose anatomy and chemistry have been studied experimentally.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Asian Swallowtail
Papilio xuthus
Papilio xuthus is an East Asian swallowtail with cream-yellow wings, black markings and blue and orange hindwing accents. Its colour vision and the optical structures of its scales have made it a prominent species in butterfly sensory research.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Clipper
Parthenos sylvia
Parthenos sylvia, the Clipper, has broad wings crossed by pale bands and contrasting forewing patches. Regional studies describe its gliding flight, fruit and sap feeding, and larval use of climbing plants.
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Common Nawab — the athamas group
Polyura athamas
Polyura athamas is a Southeast Asian nawab butterfly in the brush-footed family. Its dark wings carry a pale green band, while molecular studies distinguish several species formerly included within the broader athamas group.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Prioneris autothisbe
Prioneris autothisbe
Prioneris autothisbe is a Javan sawtooth butterfly with strongly contrasting wing surfaces. Historical descriptions record white dorsal fields, a black forewing apex and yellow ventral hindwings divided by black veins.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Prioneris clemanthe
Prioneris clemanthe
Prioneris clemanthe is an Asian sawtooth with pale dorsal fields and a yellow, black-veined hindwing underside. Historical descriptions and Cambodian photographs document marked differences between male and female wing patterns.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Bornean Sawtooth
Prioneris cornelia
Prioneris cornelia is a Bornean sawtooth with white dorsal forewings crossed by dark veins. The Sabah Forestry Department account describes a relatively large, pointed-winged butterfly, with heavier black markings in females.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Prioneris hypsipyle
Prioneris hypsipyle
Prioneris hypsipyle is a West Sumatran sawtooth described by Gustav Weymer in 1887. Its dark ventral forewings and gold-yellow hindwings with small marginal dots distinguish the males in the original account.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Prioneris philonome
Prioneris philonome
Prioneris philonome is a Javan sawtooth described from a male in 1836. Its original diagnosis records pale linear marks within the dark forewing apex and a red, brush-like patch at the base of the ventral hindwing.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Painted Sawtooth
Prioneris sita
Prioneris sita, the Painted Sawtooth, occurs in southern India and Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan rearing observations document its immature stages and confirm Capparis moonii as a larval host.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Spotted sawtooth butterfly
Prioneris thestylis
Prioneris thestylis, the Spotted Sawtooth, has pale upper wings with dark venation and a more strongly patterned underside. Taiwanese accounts document sexual differences, host plants and regional habitat.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Prioneris vollenhovii
Prioneris vollenhovii
Prioneris vollenhovii is a Bornean sawtooth described by Alfred Russel Wallace from Sarawak material. The male’s yellow ventral hindwing has thick black veins, a dark anal area and a red patch near the base.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Little Yellow
Pyrisitia lisa
Pyrisitia lisa is a small American pierid with yellow wings and legume-feeding larvae. Regional accounts distinguish southern overwintering from warm-season recolonization farther north.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Great Purple Emperor
Sasakia charonda
Sasakia charonda is an East Asian woodland butterfly with iridescent purple-blue males and brown females. Japanese studies document its Celtis hosts, larval overwintering and structurally produced wing colours.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Malachite
Siproeta stelenes
Siproeta stelenes, the Malachite, has pale green patches in dark wings and an orange-brown underside. Research on living wings identifies a liquid-containing internal structure associated with their green colour.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Blue Tiger
Tirumala hamata
Tirumala hamata is an Australasian and Pacific butterfly with pale blue markings on dark wings. Australian records distinguish wet-season breeding, dry-season aggregations and long-distance movement.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Vagrant butterfly
Vagrans egista
Vagrans egista is an orange-and-brown nymphalid with a finely patterned underside. Australian observations document spiny larvae, silver-marked pupae and eggs laid near host plants.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Large cruiser
Vindula erota
Vindula erota, the Large Cruiser, is a South and Southeast Asian butterfly with conspicuous differences between the sexes. Males are ochre-yellow; females have grey-brown wings crossed by pale fields. Regional studies record larvae on particular Passifloraceae.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Common Owl
Caligo telamonius
Caligo telamonius is a large Neotropical owl butterfly with prominent eye-like markings on its hindwing underside. Its regional forms include memnon and menus; adults feed on fermenting fruit and are active around dawn and dusk.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Two-tailed Pasha
Charaxes jasius
Charaxes jasius is a large Mediterranean butterfly with dark brown upperwings, warm yellow-orange borders and paired hindwing tails. Its burgundy and white underside contrasts with the upper surface, while its larval life is closely associated with strawberry trees.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Monarch
Danaus plexippus
Danaus plexippus combines orange wings, black venation and white-spotted borders with a life history closely tied to milkweeds. Its eastern North American population migrates to the central Mexican highlands; other populations have different seasonal movements or remain resident.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Cramer’s 88
Diaethria clymena
Diaethria clymena has black upperwings crossed by iridescent blue and a red, white and black underside whose hindwing pattern resembles the numeral 88. Brazilian studies of the form janeira document solitary eggs and caterpillars that rest on slender shelters built from the leaf midrib, silk and frass.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Glasswing
Greta morgane
Greta morgane includes the glasswing subspecies oto, whose clear wing panels are enclosed by brown and black borders. Its transparency combines sparse, narrow scales with microscopic surface structures that reduce reflected light.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Postman
Heliconius melpomene
Heliconius melpomene is a Neotropical passion-vine butterfly with black wings and geographically variable red or yellow markings. Adults collect pollen as well as nectar, and laboratory analyses have detected protein-digesting enzymes in their saliva.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Common Buckeye
Junonia coenia
Junonia coenia is an eastern North American buckeye with conspicuous eyespots, white forewing bands and orange bars. Its hindwing underside changes seasonally, from tan-brown to a richer reddish-brown.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Orange Oakleaf
Kallima inachus
Kallima inachus resembles a dry leaf when its wings close. Lines across the forewing and hindwing form a leaf-like network, and controlled predator trials show that prior experience with real leaves delays attacks on the butterfly.
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Butterflies · Lycaenidae
Small Copper
Lycaena phlaeas
The Small Copper has reddish-gold forewings with dark spots and a dark border, paired with brown hindwings carrying a red marginal band. Its larvae feed on docks and sorrels; seasonal schedules vary strongly between temperate and Arctic populations.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Mourning Cloak
Nymphalis antiopa
Nymphalis antiopa has maroon upperwings edged in pale yellow, with blue spots set in a dark border. Adults overwinter and may emerge on mild winter days, long before the spring generation develops.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Priam’s Birdwing
Ornithoptera priamus
Ornithoptera priamus is a birdwing with strong sexual dimorphism: males have green or blue fields on black wings, while larger females carry pale markings on a dark ground. Its island populations extend from the Moluccas through New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to Cape York.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Common Rose
Pachliopta aristolochiae
The Common Rose combines a bright red body with red hindwing spots, a warning pattern associated with its distastefulness. In Singapore, its distribution is closely associated with cultivated Aristolochia vines used by the caterpillars.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Spicebush Swallowtail
Papilio troilus
Papilio troilus is a dark eastern North American swallowtail with blue or blue-green hindwing scaling and pale marginal spots. Its caterpillars fold leaves into shelters and feed on trees and shrubs in the laurel family.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Ulysses Swallowtail
Papilio ulysses
Papilio ulysses has broad iridescent blue fields enclosed by black wing margins and prominent black hindwing tails. Its caterpillars feed on rainforest trees in the citrus family, especially Melicope elleryana in tropical Queensland.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Apollo
Parnassius apollo
Parnassius apollo has white wings marked with black forewing spots and red hindwing eyespots. It inhabits open, stony terrain where its caterpillars feed on stonecrops and related succulents.
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Butterflies · Pieridae
Orange-barred Sulphur
Phoebis philea
Phoebis philea is a large yellow sulphur whose males carry an orange forewing bar and orange hindwing edging. Females vary from golden yellow to creamy white, while caterpillar coloration changes with the part of the host plant eaten.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Claudina Prepona
Prepona claudina
Prepona claudina is a Neotropical charaxine with red to magenta forewing fields and variable blue or red hindwing patches. Formerly placed in Agrias, it includes geographically and individually variable populations whose colors can overlap within a single locality.
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Butterflies · Riodinidae
Periander Metalmark
Rhetus periander
Rhetus periander is a long-tailed metalmark with blue fields on black upperwings and red hindwing markings. Its brown underside carries pale longitudinal stripes, giving the folded specimen a markedly different pattern.
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Butterflies · Hesperiidae
Long-tailed Skipper
Urbanus proteus
Urbanus proteus is a brown skipper with long hindwing tails, pale forewing spots and green iridescent scales on both wings and body. Its caterpillar, the bean leafroller, makes silk-lined shelters in legume foliage.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Red Admiral
Vanessa atalanta
The Red Admiral has black upperwings crossed by vivid orange bands and white forewing spots. Its caterpillars construct leaf shelters on nettles, while the adult uses both nectar and fermenting food sources.
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Paradise Skipper
Abantis paradisea
The paradise skipper combines translucent pale wing panels with a strongly marked orange, black and white body.
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Butterflies · Riodinidae
Anteros formosus
Anteros formosus
Anteros formosus is a small metalmark with contrasting wing surfaces and a caterpillar clothed in elaborate plume-like hairs.
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Butterflies · Lycaenidae
Centaur Oakblue
Arhopala centaurus
A pointed wing outline and white-tipped hindwing tails frame the Centaur Oakblue's blue upper surfaces and intricate brown underside.
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Butterflies · Riodinidae
Little Metalmark
Calephelis virginiensis
Fine silver lines cross the Little Metalmark's rust-orange wings, a minute pattern carried close to the ground in southeastern American grasslands.
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Butterflies · Lycaenidae
Green Hairstreak
Callophrys rubi
The Green Hairstreak's brown upperwings close over a matte-green underside, whose colour is produced by microscopic structures within the scales.
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Butterflies · Lycaenidae
Malayan Sunbeam
Curetis santana
Copper-orange upperwings and a silvery underside give the Malayan Sunbeam sharply different appearances in flight and at rest.
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Butterflies · Hesperiidae
Silver-spotted Skipper
Epargyreus clarus
The Silver-spotted Skipper has an irregular white hindwing patch. Its larvae build silk-bound leaf shelters and eject faecal pellets far beyond them.
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Butterflies · Lycaenidae
Atala
Eumaeus atala
The atala combines rounded black wings, blue iridescent spots and a scarlet abdomen with a larval diet of chemically defended cycads.
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Butterflies · Hesperiidae
Regent Skipper
Euschemon rafflesia
The Regent Skipper is an Australian rainforest butterfly with yellow-spotted dark wings, scarlet body accents and a wing-coupling structure exceptional among butterflies.
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Butterflies · Lycaenidae
Purple Hairstreak
Favonius quercus
The Purple Hairstreak spends much of its adult life in oak crowns, where violet upperwings flash above a silvery-grey underside.
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Butterflies · Riodinidae
Duke of Burgundy
Hamearis lucina
The Duke of Burgundy is a small European metalmark whose colonies depend on sheltered vegetation and suitable primrose or cowslip plants.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Eastern Snout
Libytheana bachmanii
The eastern snout is named for its elongated mouthpart palps, which project conspicuously ahead of the head.
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Moth Butterfly
Liphyra brassolis
The moth butterfly has an armoured caterpillar that lives inside weaver-ant nests and feeds on their brood.
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Butterflies · Hedylidae
Macrosoma heliconiaria
Macrosoma heliconiaria
Macrosoma heliconiaria is a nocturnal butterfly with mottled brown wings and ultrasound-sensitive ears at the forewing bases.
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Butterflies · Nymphalidae
Marbled White
Melanargia galathea
The marbled white is a grass-feeding satyrine with a black-and-white chequered wing pattern and a single summer generation.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Poseidon Birdwing
Ornithoptera priamus poseidon
The poseidon birdwing is the widespread New Guinea subspecies of Ornithoptera priamus, with green males and highly variable brown-and-cream females.
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Butterflies · Papilionidae
Blue Birdwing
Ornithoptera priamus urvillianus
The blue birdwing is an island subspecies of Ornithoptera priamus, with iridescent blue males and brown-patterned females.
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Butterflies · Hesperiidae
Red-headed Firetip
Pyrrhopyge zenodorus
The red-headed firetip is a robust, blue-winged skipper whose caterpillars build leaf shelters on Vismia.
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