Beauty on Boring Background - _TNY_1765
Sometimes, the interesting butterflies at the butterfly house aren't posing perfectly on a leaf in awesome light or perched atop some cool flower - but they are still interesting and beutiful butterflies so I feel I have to photograph them anyway.
This one was resting on the metal grating beneath the chrysalis/coccoon cabinet which made for a very boring background - but those blue bands are to die for - plus this is the first time I come across this particular species.
The species is called the African blue-banded swallowtail (Papilio nireus), also known as the green-banded swallowtail or narrow-banded blue swallowtail. Given the smallish size, I'd say it is a male, but it never showed the ventral side of the wings so I couldn't verify properly.
Beauty on Boring Background - _TNY_1765
Sometimes, the interesting butterflies at the butterfly house aren't posing perfectly on a leaf in awesome light or perched atop some cool flower - but they are still interesting and beutiful butterflies so I feel I have to photograph them anyway.
This one was resting on the metal grating beneath the chrysalis/coccoon cabinet which made for a very boring background - but those blue bands are to die for - plus this is the first time I come across this particular species.
The species is called the African blue-banded swallowtail (Papilio nireus), also known as the green-banded swallowtail or narrow-banded blue swallowtail. Given the smallish size, I'd say it is a male, but it never showed the ventral side of the wings so I couldn't verify properly.