Mormon Because - _TNY_1278
The great yellow mormon (Papilio lowii) is a butterfly name that has confused me. The female here at least has a yellow abdomen, but that mormon part was weird.
I mentioned this when I posted a shot of a male of this species yesterday and Jan 130 suggested having another look at it to see if I could come up with an answer.
Well I did - and found it. It turns out that the answer comes from a related species, the common mormon (Papilio polytes). All mormon butterflies mimic the red-bodied swallowtails which are a number of species which use poison to deter predators, but the females of P. polytes take it one (or two, I suppose) steps further and mimic the females of three different species so there are three colour forms.
This led to an English name referencing the mormon sect in the USA as they were known for practicing polygamy and here was a butterfly which had three different females!
The particular butterfly in my shot was drinking water off the floor at the Haga Ocean butterfly house in Solna, Sweden, in mid-October.
Shots of what the (less yellow) male looks like can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52806686501/
Mormon Because - _TNY_1278
The great yellow mormon (Papilio lowii) is a butterfly name that has confused me. The female here at least has a yellow abdomen, but that mormon part was weird.
I mentioned this when I posted a shot of a male of this species yesterday and Jan 130 suggested having another look at it to see if I could come up with an answer.
Well I did - and found it. It turns out that the answer comes from a related species, the common mormon (Papilio polytes). All mormon butterflies mimic the red-bodied swallowtails which are a number of species which use poison to deter predators, but the females of P. polytes take it one (or two, I suppose) steps further and mimic the females of three different species so there are three colour forms.
This led to an English name referencing the mormon sect in the USA as they were known for practicing polygamy and here was a butterfly which had three different females!
The particular butterfly in my shot was drinking water off the floor at the Haga Ocean butterfly house in Solna, Sweden, in mid-October.
Shots of what the (less yellow) male looks like can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52806686501/