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| Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea, 10/99 male (specimen from Miguel Serrano) |
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| Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea, 10/99 female (specimen from Miguel Serrano) |
For years one of the rarest and most sought after butterflies
in the world, it is known only from a few isolated locations in New
Guinea, oddly enough from both the extreme east and west ends of the island.
No records exist for the interior but it may well be present just exceedingly
rare. One can spend years collecting in its habitat and never even see
a specimen (Straatman). Males are poor flyers due to the atrophied hind
wings, and spend most of their brief lives perched high in the forest canopy
awaiting a female. The larval food plant (a species of Aristolochia)
is also rather scarce and the larva has a habit of killing its host prior
to pupating by chewing through the stem, thereby killing any other larvae
trying to feed off the same vine. Females fly long distances in search
of a mate and a new host plant to deposit their few precious eggs. Breeding
has only recently begun in Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea and is reportedly
extremely difficult. Pairs commonly sell for $1200 US and up; Listed in
appendix II of CITES, legally bred specimens are only recently (this decade)
being seen. Probably not threatened as a species, but it requires large
areas of primary rain forest and precise environmental conditions to breed
succesfully. It is a spectacular and fascinating species, and hopefully
money raised from its commercial breeding and export will help to greatly
expand areas of protected forests in Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea .