The Life Of Common Rose Swallowtail Butterflies

I have been trying to document the full life cycle of butterflies for sometime. After weeks of searching, I have finally photographed a life cycle of Common Rose----a swallowtail butterfly, thanks to a nature education park near my home.


The Common Rose butterfly is one of my favourite swallowtails even though it is a common species in South and Southeast Asia.  

Its striking red body and the bright red marks on the wings make it stand out not only in its environment but also in the swallowtail family.

The pretty colouration may seem beautiful to us humans but to its predators, it is a warning sign which indicates “poison”.  

In fact, this butterfly is inedible because of the poisons it has obtained from its caterpillar food plant. Its predators seem to be well informed of the danger and often leave this butterfly alone. This strategy works so well that some edible swallowtail butterflies have even learned to mimic its appearance.

When the sun is hot, this butterfly prefers to rest in the shade which gives me the opportunity to get very close.

The egg of Common Rose is very colourful too.

The caterpillar inside this egg seems to be coming out any minute.

The life of the larva, with its poison at hand, is also high profile.  

The pupas, on the other hand, are usually well hidden in small trees not far from its larva plant.

More Images at Google+

Butterflies in love

The warm weather and abundant food resources put butterflies in the mood for romance. I managed to have captured some of the loving moments.

Hong Kong Fritillary 

Common Tailor 

Common Rose 

Common Grass Yellow

Banded Tree Brown 

Gram Blue

White Dragontail butterfly

The Swallowtail butterflies are a family of butterflies which are commonly found in Southeast Asia including Hong Kong.

They are usually quite big, for example, the wing span of this Common Mormon is about 10cm. 

The wings of most of the Swallowtails in Hong Kong are mainly black with stripes and/or speckles. They are given the name “swallowtail” because their tails resemble the forked tail of some swallows, like this Common Rose below.

Although the Swallowtails may be distributed cross the entire world, the White Dragontail (left and below), the smallest Swallowtail in the world, with a wing span at about 5cm, is only native to  South Asia and Southeast Asia.   

This butterfly is unique not only because it is a rare species but also because it flies like a dragonfly, which earned its name.