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.