Butterfly of the Week Meek's Graphium

Found on New Guinea and a few nearby islands, Graphium meeki is one of the more recently named Graphiums whose names honored living people. It sis rare and threatened; museum-quality specimens are sold for high prices because, now that we know how easily this species could be "collected" to extinction, people can't go out and "collect" more.

Photo from Wikipedia. Depending on the light, it iridesces brown and cream, black and white, or black and aquamarine. Males have fuzzy scent folds along the inside edge of each hind wing; otherwise males and females look very much alike. They are fairly large, with wingspans typically over four inches.

The species was described by Walter Rothschild and named for a naturalist called Albert Stewart Meek, who had sent Rothschild specimens of many formerly unknown lifeforms, all dead and dried. There is a subspecies, Graphium meeki inexpectatum, which makes the subspecies first described G.m. meeki. 

The early life of this butterfly remains to be discovered. Eggs are said to be yellowish and caterpillars solid black. What they eat, how many generations they have in a year, when and where and how they pupate, are unknown. This means that how endangered this butterfly may really be is unknown. Probably, like many of the Swallowtails, it's meant to be somewhat rare. It does not seem to join even mixed flocks at puddles.

Images of this butterfly are popular for wall art and on postage. 

Stamps showing this butterfly's image are more often seen than the living animal. 

Some think "farming" this appealing species might benefit both the species and the island economies, at least more than logging does. This is debatable. Everyone has some use for wood; most people have no use for butterfly carcasses. "Eco-tourism," however, can be profitable. People will pay to spend time in a natural wilderness environment. Over twenty years the profit from maintaining such an environment might be greater than the profit from logging.