Rajah Brooke’s birdwing  (Trogonoptera brookiana)

Description

Creating beautiful flashes of colour when gathered in large groups, Rajah Brooke’s birdwings are dramatically patterned butterflies. The male’s elongated, jet black forewings are decorated with metallic green triangles along the edges and there is a small area of iridescent azure blue towards the butterfly’s body. The black hind wing of the male is smaller than the forewing and also has a large area of green colouration. The body and antennae of this species are black, and the head is red. Females have browner wings with white patches in place of the green found on males. The caterpillars are brown and green with paler brown spikes. There are many subspecies, and all differ slightly in their colouration (2).

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