Pachliopta polydorus (Red-bodied Swallowtail)

Synonyms

Atrophaneura polydorus

Notes

I saw a number of these butterflies around Cairns in October 2005, in just about every type of environment I visited. Most of the time they were gliding very slowly at around head height, but occasionally I would see one fluttering around a couple of inches from the ground – I suspect these were females looking for the larval foodplant.

I only saw one of them land – it was early in the morning and it stopped to bask in the sunlight for a minute and I was able to get a photo. I wasn’t very close to it, so the photo was taken at the highest zoom setting and is therefore a bit grainy.

Since then I’ve usually seen the odd one or two in the rainforest around Cairns, with the exception being my visit in February 2018 when I saw a lot of them in Goomboora Park.

Sightings

Cairns – October 2005, September 2012, November 2013, February 2018
Iron Range – November 2013

Links