The Small Giant - _TNY_1767
Here is a pretty butterfly which gave me a little headache when trying to identify.
It is a giant emperor (Charaxes castor), aka giant charaxes, but this particular one had damaged the rear part of the hind wings which normally have a couple of tails and beautifyl blue metallic spots. Here those parts can barely be seen at all.
As for this being the "giant" emperor, I feel that is a bit off to be honest. This is probably a male as they are smaller with a wingspan of 75-85 mm / ~3" and also darker blacks (the females are 85-105 mm), but for tropical butterflies, that doesn't feel giant at all.
The Peleides blue morpho is also known as the "emperor" and that one can reach over 200 mm between the wingtips so this is a weak "giant".
It's still a very pretty butterfly on a boring background - it sat right next to this African blue-banded swallowtail (Papilio nireus): www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52696729128/
The Small Giant - _TNY_1767
Here is a pretty butterfly which gave me a little headache when trying to identify.
It is a giant emperor (Charaxes castor), aka giant charaxes, but this particular one had damaged the rear part of the hind wings which normally have a couple of tails and beautifyl blue metallic spots. Here those parts can barely be seen at all.
As for this being the "giant" emperor, I feel that is a bit off to be honest. This is probably a male as they are smaller with a wingspan of 75-85 mm / ~3" and also darker blacks (the females are 85-105 mm), but for tropical butterflies, that doesn't feel giant at all.
The Peleides blue morpho is also known as the "emperor" and that one can reach over 200 mm between the wingtips so this is a weak "giant".
It's still a very pretty butterfly on a boring background - it sat right next to this African blue-banded swallowtail (Papilio nireus): www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52696729128/