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One Spot Missing - _TNY_6465

Here is a female lime butterfly (Papilio demoleus), also known as the chequered swallowtail, citrus swallowtail and combinations of these names. Also the Christmas butterfly.

 

This is an African species, but there are several "lime butterfly" species which look *very* similar. P. demodocus is found in south and south-east Asia and the two species overlap on the Arabian peninsula. Plus P. morondavana, P. grosesmithi and P. erithonioides which are only found in Madagascar.

 

Demoleus and demodocus can be distinguished by demodocus having an extra spot on the dorsal wing which this one lacks - so it has to be a demoleus.

 

Also, the red part ot the two eye spots are large enough to out this as a female.

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Uploaded on November 26, 2023
Taken on November 22, 2023