China butterflies (1 Viewer)

Hi, I saw these two in Shanghai and Tongli. Any ideas?

A FEW MORE (all seen last week):

* I saw one very similar to the bottom butterfly but with blue markings rather than white, again in Tongli, and feeding with the white ones

* big orange fritillary-like butterflies at The Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou

* a big bright blue butterfly, same size as above

* a large swallowtail butterfly, common along Mutianyu Great Wall

*a large black buttefly, seen at Ouyuan Garden in Suzhou, with a fabulous forked tail with red and white markings.

any ideas?

Paul Collins said:

any ideas?

Click to expand...

Hi Paul,

First image looks like a Cicada sp.

Second image could be Common Mormon Papilio polytes, its pretty widespread in the Asian tropics. It may be worth searching the net for similar species, as I dont have much of a clue when it comes to Chinese butterflies.

re Common Mormon, the female comes in three forms, two of which mimic more accurately the markings of the equally common Rose Swallowtails, and its pretty variable across its range. The third form and the male have comparatively few red markings, like your image.

Agree with Gareth. Common Mormon for me too! :t: