Trogonoptera brookiana
| Raja Brooke's Birdwing | |
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| male | |
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| Species: | T. brookiana
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| Binomial name | |
| Trogonoptera brookiana Wallace, 1855
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Rajah Brooke's Birdwing (Trogonoptera brookiana) is a distinctive black and electric-green birdwing butterfly from the rainforests in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Natuna and various small islands west of Sumatra (Banyak, Simeulue, Batu and Mentawai). The butterfly was named by the naturalist Alfred R. Wallace in 1855, after James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak.
The wings of the male butterflies are black and each forewing has seven teeth-shaped electric-green markings (the smaller hindwings are also black with green markings). The head is bright red and the body is black with red markings. The wings of the female butterflies are browner with prominent white flashes at the tips of the forewings and at the base of the hindwings. Both genders resemble the more restricted relative, the Palawan Birdwing, but (among others) males of the Rajah Brooke's Birdwing have more green to the rearwings. The larval host plant is Aristolochia foveolata. Adults sip fruit juices and flower nectar.
Rajah Brooke's Birdwing is a protected species, listed under Appendix II of CITES, meaning that international trade is restricted.
The butterfly is the national butterfly of Malaysia.[citation needed]
References
- www.butterflycorner.net (English/German)
- www.cites.org CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) - Appendices
- ARKive Photos, Videos and more information.
- Subspecies at The World of Birdwing Butterflies
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