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Tuesday 31 July 2012

Common Mormon Swallowtail Butterfly


The Common Mormon is one of the common swallowtail butterflies in Southeast Asia.  






The appearances of the male and female are similar.




But the female also has several subforms while the male Mormon butterfly has only one morph. Their name “Mormon” reflects this fact and  is based on the Polygamy practice within the Mormon religious sect.



Although I haven’t managed to photograph the other female subforms, I saw this male Common Mormon mistook a female Great Mormon as one of its own.



Unlike the Mormons, the multiple Common Mormon butterfly subtypes are purely for protection. Their appearances usually mimic certain inedible poisonous swallowtails such as the Common Rose (described in my previous blog) to repel predators.
The scientific name, Papilio Polytes, also indicates this fact that while papilio is a Latin word for butterfly, poly is a Greek word for many.

This sun basking Common Mormon gave me a chance to get a close look.







The development of its caterpillars is very interesting too. At early stage, the Common Mormon caterpillars look like bird droppings to confuse predators. 



At later stage, they change to a well camouflaged green colour with big eyespots,


then moult to a pupa.



The Common Mormon butterfly is a symbol of loyal love in China based on a legendary tragic love story (“The Butterfly Lovers” or “Liang Zhu”) which is often regarded as the Chinese equivalent to Romeo and Juliet in the West.



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17 comments:

Lindsjö taxar said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by and leave a comment. What beautiful pictures of the butterflies, we dont have so beautiful butterflies in Sweden. Only very common types. Very nice close ups too....what a great job you did.
Interesting reading.

Giga said...

Te motyle są piękne. Nie tylko popatrzyłam na nie, ale dzięki Twoim informacjom mam już wiedzę na ich temat. Zdjęcie zbliżeń motyla są fantastyczne. Pozdrawiam.
These butterflies are beautiful. Not only looked at them, but thanks to your information I already know about them. Photo of a butterfly close-ups are fantastic. Yours.

Marco Luijken said...

Hello,
These shots are so beautiful!! Really amazing to see with al the fantastic colors. Shot 4 I like very much with a great composition, colors and a beautiful background.
This could be framed and hang up.

Greetings, Marco

eileeninmd said...

Gorgeous butterfly and beautiful photos.

Irma said...

Beautiful butterfly pictures, great colors and good composition.
Greetings Irma

Millhouse Photography said...

Superb flight image against the red flower and the close ups are excellent.

Bob Bushell said...

Beautiful, especially the ones done in macro, superb.

Sylwia Grabinska said...

Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving comment.
I love your blog, very nice, perfect pictures of a lot of life, colours and amazing light.
I will follow you with pleasure.

regards from Sweden

Polaris said...

很高興知道這樣一個有趣的博客。我祝賀創建,因為它是。問候

Eko said...

Mahtava 'Perhos-Sarja'....
Katselin ja ihastelin.
Ovat uusia tuttavuuksia. Tarkkaa ja taitavaa kuvausta.
Tervehtien Eko
Suomi/Lapland/Kuusamo
Kiitos vierailusta blogissani.

TexWisGirl said...

oh my goodness. these are wonderful!

Pablo R.Albalá said...

Excelente. Gran belleza estas mariposas. Saludos

Danielle v/d Horst said...

Heel mooie foto's heb je gemaakt ik heb genoten groetjes Danielle

Anonymous said...

Wonderful images. Thank you for such peacefulness.

Please have a good new month.

daily athens photo

Graham Edwards said...

Just been catching up. For some reason your posts were not showing in my Dashboard. Every time that I think I have taken an really good butterfly or insect photograph I come back to your images and resolve to lift my game.

Icy BC said...

My goodness, your photos of these butterflies are just amazing and gorgeous.

Thanks for visiting..I'm now following you to see your fantastic photos..

Helma said...

What a beautiful series of this beautiful butterfly Friendster or JK. Beautiful colors and beautiful compositions. Really enjoy these beautiful photos.

Greetings, Helma