Common Mime

Papilio clytia

The Common Mime is a Swallowtail butterfly found in South and South-east Asia. The butterfly belongs to the "Chilasa" group or the "Black-bodied Swallowtails". It serves an excellent example of a Batesian mimic among the Indian butterflies.
Caterpillar of Common Mime Swallowtail - Papilio clytia Buttefly,Caterpillar,Common Mime,Common Mime Swallowtail,Malaysia,Papilio clytia,Penang

Distribution

This butterfly is found in India from Kangra to Sikkim, from Assam to Burma, Nepal, Bangladesh, Peninsular India and the Andaman Islands. It is also found in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Southern China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, peninsular Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia. Several regional variants and forms are recognized.
Caterpillar of Swallowtail Butterfly, Common Mime This unusually beautiful caterpillar is from the species Chilasa clytia, known as the Common Mime, a Swallowtail Butterfly. The pink spots and yellow markings on the Caterpillar makes it stands out from the black and white coloured body. Caterpillar,Chilasa clytia,Common Mime,Geotagged,Papilio clytia,Philippines,Spring,Swallowtail Butterfly

Status

Generally common and not threatened. The nominate subspecies is protected by law in India.
Common Mime Swallowtail Butterfly - Papilio clytia Butterfly,Common Mime,Common Mime Swallowtail Butterfly,Malaysia,Papilio clytia,Penang,Swallowtail Butterfly

Habitat

This is a butterfly of hilly regions but also found at lower elevations. It is plentiful in the premonsoon and monsoon period and becomes scarce later on.

Reproduction

Spherical, shiny and orange-yellow, laid on upper surface of leaves.The larvae and pupa are stated by Mackinnon to resemble closely the larva and pupa of "P. agestor'. Messrs. Davidson and Aitken's description of them is as follows:
"Not unlike the larva of the "Ornithoptera" group in form, having similar rows of fleshy processes, but it is by far the handsomest "Papilio" larva we know, being of a dark umber-brown colour with a bright red spot at the base of each process, a dorsal row of large irregular yellow patches and a partial lateral row ending in a diagonal band which connects the two."

Velvet black or dark green. Has carmine spots. Has a dark red-brown longitudinal band and red spots. Two rows of sharp spines on segments 1 to 4 and single row on the others. The Osmeterium is light indigo-blue.The larvae feed on species of the Laurel family "Lauraceae"
⤷  "Alseodaphne semecarpifolia"
⤷  "Cinnamomum camphora"
⤷  "Cinnamonum macrocarpum"
⤷  "Cinnamomum verum"
⤷  "Litsea chinensis"
⤷  "Litsea deccansis"
⤷  "Tetranthera apetala"

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyPapilionidae
GenusPapilio
SpeciesPapilio clytia
Photographed in
Malaysia
Philippines