Most experts now say that this week's butterfly species, Graphium milon, does not exist.
Photo by Talita9, taken in June on Sulawesi. The wingspan averages three inches.
The butterflies certainly do exist. They are found on Sulawesi island and, some say, on other islands as well. That's the trouble. Scientists are not familiar enough with Pacific Island Graphiums to be positive how many of these butterflies are the same species. Graphium milon, and also next week's Graphium monticolus, look very much like Graphium anthedon, or Graphium sarpedon, or other species. Their Wikipedia page, for example, lists them as Graphium anthedon milon.
On this forum page, entomologists discuss some of the problems in classifying this type of butterflies into species.
Page and Treadaway advocate reclassifying the whole species group, using some species names that were not on our list and dropping some that were. They prefer to keep the name milon and define it as a distinct species.
Photo by Mangge_totok, taken in May on Sulawesi. Like other Swallowtails, these butterflies are most easily photographed when groups of males gather at a puddle and drink water, preferably brackish or polluted. Their bodies filter out excess water and retain mineral salts they need for reproduction.
Some Persons Sitting in Darkness are still trying to work out which of these butterflies are the same species by looking for a theory that might explain how they could have evolved from or into one another, rather than by rearing them and seeing whether they can eat the same food, can grow into indistinguishable forms, or can crossbreed. The world needs Asian scientists to stand up and put an end to this nonsense by scientifically studying the animals, so that the religious apologists at least have some scientific facts to go by.
Photo by Zicky, in August on Sulawesi. Most photos of Graphium milon's puddle parties show groups of what look like brothers; this species tolerates some crowding. The butterflies don't seem to be particular about who join their parties, but relatively few other species do. They may be attracted to things other butterflies don't like. Nobody knows for sure. They are sometimes found sharing a puddle with other Graphiums or with bright orange tropical Pieridae, counterparts to our Sulfurs.
Well, if scientists are still debating whether or not Graphium milon is a species, you know that not a lot has been written about it.
Photo by BJSmit, February, Sulawesi. These butterflies pollinate as well as compost; they like shallow, bright or pale-colored flowers.
Photo by Currowar, February, Maluku island. Can this faded little fellow be part of the same species as the colorful ones above? Does the coloring depend on the light, on the individual butterfly's condition, on genes...or is this a new subspecies? Note the longer points on the corners of the hind wings! Early naturalists often seem to have had a policy of describing these things as new subspecies and letting entomological societies sort out whether they really were.
Nothing at all seems to have been published about the life cycle of Graphium milon (or Graphium anthedon milon). This web site humbly suggests that, when people who live on Sulawesi find the time to learn what this butterfly eats, how many generations it has in a year, and so on, they'll understand its taxonomy better than we do so long as British and American scientists sit around puzzling about how it might have evolved.
Toward that end, let's close with a lovely photo essay about a visit to Macassar on which the traveller saw butterflies, beetles, and other exotica, and posed for photos with a whole van load of soldiers, and had food poisoning...
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