One of Many Wives - _TNY_6035
The Low's swallowtail (Papilio lowii), like this female, is also known as the Asian swallowtail - but also as the great yellow mormon.
The reason behind the latter name is that it is a variable species and the female can look quite differently between species.
When observing these, people thought that males were courting different species which made them think it had many different "wives" - so the Mormon moniker is a reference to Mormon polygamy.
One of Many Wives - _TNY_6035
The Low's swallowtail (Papilio lowii), like this female, is also known as the Asian swallowtail - but also as the great yellow mormon.
The reason behind the latter name is that it is a variable species and the female can look quite differently between species.
When observing these, people thought that males were courting different species which made them think it had many different "wives" - so the Mormon moniker is a reference to Mormon polygamy.