The Flickr Papilionidae Image Generatr

The female of the scarlet mormon (Papilio rumanzovia) can vary a bit in apparance, but they are all very pretty butterflies with the red accents on a black base. This one is also a female of the same species: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/51966869231/

And the underside is also very attractive - like so: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53653353393/

The male has red on the underside of the wings, but the dorsal side is significantly more subdued, like here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52698707189/

Part 1 (from the other side) here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54445227760/

One of my favourites at the Haga Ocean butterfly house is the gold rim swallowtail (Battus polydamas), also known as the tailless swallowtail and Polydamas swallowtail.

These seemto have a predilection for sitting on the floor where people walk (while looking up at butterflies) and this one was no exception. I put my finger in front of it and it climbed on so I could move it to a twig - which eneded up becoming a nice photo.

Today, I was visiting the Haga Ocean butterfly house (again) and had a really good time chatting with visitors about all the cool butterflies there.

When I discovered this one climbing out of the undergrowth, I got really excited though. I got it out of there and it took off and began flying back and forth - with me and the camera on its tripod running (ok, walking) after it.

Eventually it landed in a somewhat awkward spot, but I managed to cram the camera into a position where I was able to get a couple of shots I liked.

This is one of the swordtails, a species called the cream-striped swordtail (Graphium porthaon), but also called the coastal swordtail and dark swordtail, which in the wild is found in tropical western Africa.

I'm finishing this A-Z project with a butterfly, Zerynthia rumina, the Spanish festoon. For some reason (maybe it had recently emerged) this one allowed me to get very close, so I could admire those beautiful wings.

And that's it! I really enjoyed this challenge, it was quite demanding at times but also a lot of fun and it did me a lot of good. Thanks to everyone who followed it, your comments and faves are appreciated and they helped to keep me motivated throughout the challenge. I already have some ideas for future projects, but for now I just want to catch up with my backlog of photos that I took over these past weeks and which didn't fit the challenge.

... ou Graphium vert

Graphium agamemnon
Tailed Jay

Merci pour vos commentaires - Thank you for your comments

papilio rumanzovia

green caterpillar

papilio rumanzovia on flower

Gewöhnlicher Mormone

caterpillar on leaf

caterpillar common mormon

The scarlet mormon (Papilio rumanzovia), also known as the red mormon or the Rumanziova swallowtail was named after count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev, chancellor of the Russian empire until Napoleon's invasion of Russia in the early 1800s.

The wingspan is somewhere between 120 and 140 mm (4.7-5.5") and the male and female have different markings. This one is a male.

In the wild you find these in southeast Asia and Australia, but this specimen was shot in the Haga Ocean butterfly house in Solna, Sweden back in early 2020. Back then I hadn't figured out that I could use a tripod to compensate for not being allowed to use a flash so this is handheld in natural light.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53267447508/

Part 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53330000440/

Photos of the female here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/51966869231/

and here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52570483647/

Plus two of them mating here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52515148961/

Natural closeup on a bright colorful European Common Yellow Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio machaon, with spread wings drinking nectar from a purple thistle flower

The female of the scarlet mormon (Papilio rumanzovia) can vary a bit in apparance, but they are all very pretty butterflies with the red accents on a black base. This one is also a female of the same species: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/51966869231/

And the underside is also very attractive - like so: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53653353393/

The male has red on the underside of the wings, but the dorsal side is significantly more subdued, like here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52698707189/

As the butterfly caterpillar eats it obviously grows, but the skin doesn't - it can just stretch. This leads to the need to change into a larger suit which you can continue to fill out until it's time for the next costume change. Typically, there are five instar stages of this before it is time to pupate and begin the transformation into the adult butterfly.

This common yellow swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio machaon) has reached it's fourth instar stage so just this and one more to go befor e finding a good place to pupate through the long Swedish winter.

Palamedes Swallowtail (a.k.a. Laurel Swallowtail, Florida Swallowtail; Papilio palamedes) feeding on a Bull Thistle (a.k.a. Purple Thistle, Yellow Thistle, Bristly Thistle, Horrid Thistle, Bull Thistle; Cirsium horridulum) - Duke Island Road, Tiger Bay WMA (Wildlife Management Area), Daytona Beach, Florida (29.09926, -81.17139)