Cavorting Butterflies

[Ian Fraser <>]

I think your impressions were spot on Tony. They are Orchard/Citrus Butterflies, Papilio aegeus, like the recent pic on this line. The whitish one is the female, checking out suitable food plants to lay her eggs on. The dark one is the male, wanting some input into those eggs. Females are typically a bit larger than the males.

cheers

IF

Tony Lawson wrote:

The attached photos were taken in our backyard by my wife.

 

To me it looks like 2 different species - size, colour and shape are different.  But the black & white one seemed fascinated by the bigger whitish one (which looks very like one that was recently discussed on this chatline).

 

Are the species the same?  If not why were they'cavorting together'?  And what species are they?

 

One benefit of their behaviour was that they were in the same spot for quite some time rather than fluttering all over the place like most of the butterflies that we see in our garden.

 

Tony

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Ian Fraser, m("pcug.org.au","ianf");">
Environment Tours; Vertego Environmental Wordsmithing
GPO Box 3268, Canberra, ACT 2601
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