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The Common Mormon in love

Papilio polytes male with female romulus

Photo by VincentVanur
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

Male:
The male has one morph only. It is a dark-coloured swallow-tailed butterfly. The upper forewing has a series of white spots decreasing in size towards the apex. The upper hindwing has a complete discal band of elongated white spots. It may or may not have marginal red crescents. The males are generally smaller in size than the females but not always.

Female Romulus:
This female form mimics the Crimson Rose and is common over its range. It is not such a close mimic as the previous form being duller than its model, the Crimson Rose. It is easy to differentiate the mimics from models by the colour of their body—the models are red-bodied and the mimics are black-bodied.

Habitat:

Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, southern and western China (including Hainan (Guangdong province), Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, Andamans, Nicobars, Eastern and Peninsular Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia (except Moluccas and Irian Jaya), Philippines, and Northern Marianas (Saipan).

Notes:

Several follow a female and one succeeds

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