Better ID - _TNY_1811
I have posted shots of this species before and incorrectly identified it as a tropical milkweed butterfly (Lycorea halia cleobaea), also known as the tiger mimic-queen.
That "mimic" part is important. When digging a little deeper today it turns out that L. halia has a black thorax with white spots which this (and the other ones I've photographed) haven't.
This is in fact the species which the mimic-queen mimics - the orange-spotted tiger clearwing (Mechanitis polymnia), aka the disturbed tigerwing.
Doing an Google image search turns up plenty of other photos which misidentify these (both ways) so at least I am not alone.
As for being the disturbed tigerwing, this particular one certainly wasn't easily disturbed. It was one if the first ones I shot at a visit to the Haga Ocean butterfly house - and one of the last at closing time two hours later when it was still in the exact same position.
Better ID - _TNY_1811
I have posted shots of this species before and incorrectly identified it as a tropical milkweed butterfly (Lycorea halia cleobaea), also known as the tiger mimic-queen.
That "mimic" part is important. When digging a little deeper today it turns out that L. halia has a black thorax with white spots which this (and the other ones I've photographed) haven't.
This is in fact the species which the mimic-queen mimics - the orange-spotted tiger clearwing (Mechanitis polymnia), aka the disturbed tigerwing.
Doing an Google image search turns up plenty of other photos which misidentify these (both ways) so at least I am not alone.
As for being the disturbed tigerwing, this particular one certainly wasn't easily disturbed. It was one if the first ones I shot at a visit to the Haga Ocean butterfly house - and one of the last at closing time two hours later when it was still in the exact same position.