I notice that Michael Braby in his excellent field guide prefers
the name ‘Orchard Swallowtail’ for this seasonally common and much-inquired-about
insect. He gives as another name ‘Large Citrus Butterfly’.
If that is used, the adjective seems necessary as there is also a ‘Small
Citrus Butterfly’ (Dainty Swallowtail Papilio anactus) the range
of which, according to the little map, includes Canberra.
From: Tony Lawson
[
Sent: Sunday, 22 February 2009 12:33 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Cavorting Butterflies
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.
