Blue Mormon

Red Helen

Papilio helenus daksha Moore PAPILIONIDAE

(=Papilio helenus ( Linnaeus))

Adult

upperside blackish brown. FW with indistinct golden yellow scales between the vins. HW with a large, prominent creamy white discal patch and a series of indistinct, crimson coloured crescent markings in the margin, more distinct in female. Underside as above but with complete row of marginal red crescents. Wingspan 110-130mm.

A large black bodied butterfly with a prominent tail, occurring in the evergreen jungles of heavy rainfall areas in India, especially in the western ghats, the nilgiris, the palanis, shevroys, coorg, mussoorie and assam.

Larva

Bright grass green body mottled with black white and smoky grey markings. Osmeterium deep crimson, lateral black and white dotted ocelli joined by a double band of black rings on 3rd segment, pinkish or flesh-coloured lateral band along the segments and an oblique band on segments 8,9 and 10 more irregular and extending across the back.

Feeds on orange,lime, pomelo, glycosmis pentaphylla, Zanthoxylum rhetsa, etc.

Distribution

South India