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Birdwing Butterfly
 
Male
Female
Photos: C & D
Frith
Australia's Wet Tropics
Rainforest Life
Birdwing
Butterfly (Ornithoptera priamus)
This butterfly is also referred to as the Cairns
Birdwing.
Identifyable Characteristics:
- The male birdwing is coloured in green gold and black.
- It is the largest species of butterfly found in Australia, where the female has a
wingspan of 20cm.
- It has a slower, more relaxed flight than the Ulysses.
Habitat:
It too is found in the rainforest clearings.
Breeding:
- The female birdwing butterfly lays her eggs on the
leaves of the Aristolochia vines.
- It sometimes sets a territory near
this vigorous large leafed vine (Aristolochia tagala).
- When the caterpillars of the birdwing butterfly are
almost ready to pupate they ringbark the vines on which they are
feeding. The leaves then droop due to water loss, but the flow of
nutrients to leaves is not affected. The large caterpillar therefore
gets a more nutritious meal with less water before pupation.
- Females are often mated as soon as they emerge from their cocoons and it is not
unusual for 2 or 3 males to be seen attempting to copulate with one female at once.
- The males do an early morning patrol of their search of emerging females.
Additional Information:
- The female is able to locate the correct plants using
chemical receptors in her forelegs to 'taste' various leaves. She also
uses sense organs at the end of her abdomen to find tender leaves that
would be suitable for caterpillar food.
- The leaves of the Aristolochia vines are
poisonous. To many other caterpillars these toxins would be deadly, but
the birdwing not only able to eat these leaves but also use them for
their own protection.
- The birdwing caterpillars are able to store the toxins
in fleshy orange-red spines one their backs and these act as protection
from birds.
- In nature bright colours such as orange, red and yellow
sometimes act as warnings to other animals letting them know they are
either dangerous or inedible. Should a bird ignore the warning colours
of the birdwing caterpillar, it is unlikely to make the same mistake
again.
 Additional Information:
Damon Ramsey
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The male is a brilliant black and green
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The female is a
duller black and white with yellow, but is bigger.
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They are occasionally seen
along Marrdja boardwalk in summer.
Script: Courtesy of Damon Ramsey BSc.(Zool) Biologist Guide
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