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Blue Mormon (female)

Papilio polymnestor

Photo by pamsai
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

"Female very similar to the male, but the inter-nervular streaks on the fore wing paler, extended into the cell both on the upper and undersides. Hind wing: the pale blue area on the upperside and the corresponding grey area on the underside paler. In some specimens there is a diffuse short crimson streak at the base of the cell of the fore wing on the upperside."
Wikipedia

Habitat:

A beautiful visitor to my garden today. Tamil Nadu, India

'Endemic to India and Sri Lanka. In India it is restricted to the Western Ghats, Southern India and the East coast. It has been recorded as far north as Gujarat. It is often seen even in the gardens and sometimes in the middle of busy traffic in large cities such as Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.'
Wikipedia

Notes:

The butterfly was quite big, maybe 5 inches from wing-tip to tip. it didn't seem to be too bothered with me getting really close, so I was able to get some good shots.

Hmm, maybe a female as it has the red streaks on the shoulder...

Reference Links:

Papilio polymnestor

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (9)
kadavoor
Awesome! I think only females have those red streaks on their wings.
pamsai
Argybee, C Sydes, Not 'putting out anything' special, but a lot of patience and stalking. I have a lot of trees and plants, so I stand in one spot and watch them till they land somewhere, then creep up on them and often take the photo with a zoom, anyway. Spend chunks of time in the garden doing that. A great meditation. I only catch one in fifty for a photo, though! But there are a lot of butterflies at the moment. This one was so tame and unafraid of me. I could get the camera within 2 feet of it when it landed low down. It sat on this palm frond right outside my door on and off all afternoon. Nice. I kept just going to the door and gazing at it...
C.Sydes
You must have an enchanting garden. All your butterflies seem so tame or are you superquick with your camera. My local butterflies are gone before I get to within 2 metres of them
NuwanChathuranga
i think the earlier one was female because it's whiter than this one
pamsai
thanks NuwanChathuranga. Do you think the one I spotted before was a male also? One of the earlier ones I entered.
Mark Ridgway
Amazing pamsai - whatever you are putting out for them must be working.
NuwanChathuranga
i think it's male here is my spotting of blue mormon http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8235378
SarahWhitt
It looks like the Blue Mormon you spotted earlier.... Beautiful!! :)

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Butterflies & Moths of the World
Mission
Tamil Nadu Biodiversity
Mission
Butterflies of Western Ghats
Mission
Butterflies of Tamil Nadu
Photographed
PublishedJanuary 28, 2012

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