Charaxes sempronius (Tailed Emperor)

Synonyms

Polyura pyrrhus sempronius, Polyura sempronius

Notes

The first time I saw one of these lovely butterflies was when one landed on the Flame Tree in my front garden, before I had a camera. The first one I photographed was at Mount Annan, where he was hilltopping and disputing the area with a male Papilio anactus. I saw them have a few dogfights, and after the last of these this guy landed on a tree. It looked to all intents and purposes as if he needed to get his breath back, and while he was having his breather I was able to get some pictures.

Next I saw another one hill-topping in Cairns, but wasn’t able to get any photos. However in March 2007 at Mount Annan Botanic Garden I saw about half a dozen of these butterflies, all on hilltops. It was a very hot day, and around midday they all settled in the trees to get out of the sun. Mostly they were high up, but one was only a few feet from the ground. Even when settled high up, though, they were very wary they tended to fly off when I tried to get photos.

I don’t see this butterfly regularly, and I don’t have any site that I’d describe as being reliable for them – the closest thing to it being Mount Sugarloaf near Newcastle – but they do show up every now and them, especially on hilltops.

Sightings

Ingleburn – April 1999
Mount Annan Botanic Garden – April 2004, March 2007, April 2010
Cairns – October 2005
Blackheath – January 2007
Chapmans Hill, Wyong – April 2008, May 2009
Mt Ngungun, Glasshouse Mountains, QLD – November 2008
Spring Mountain, QLD – November 2008
Shoal Bay – October 2019
Mount Burrell, NT – April 2024

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