Graphium morania isn't white, nor is it particularly small--well, small for a Graphium, with a wingspan usually a little over two inches--and of course only some of the butterflies in the species are "ladies." It's like Grape-Nuts cereal, which contains neither grapes nor nuts. It's called the Small White Lady because that is what the first English people who talked about it called it. They were also familiar with Graphium angolanus, which has similar coloring but is larger, and they called that species the White Lady. From these names a whole group of Graphiums came to be called "Ladies."
Photo from Lepiforum.
The Latin name may be slightly more logical. It was named in 1849, after naturalists were running low on names of literary characters and choosing names that reflected something about a species, even a Swallowtail species. Morania is a kind of bacteria that erode stone. The effect of these bacteria on a rock face may have reminded someone of the seemingly random spots on the butterfly.
Effect of Morania confluence on a piece of shale from the Royal Ontario Museum.
The name may be associated with moraine, a layer of loose rocks and debris carried along or left behind by a glacier.
The underside is more colorful than the upper side:
Photo by Steve Woodhall at Biodiversity.org. His report on the sort of extended nature walk on which he took this picture, including photos of a giraffe and many butterflies, is at
https://greenwings.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Butterflies-of-South-Africa-Holiday-Report-2016.pdf .
Photos of museum specimens arranged in rows, read left to right, male upper wings, male under wings, female upper wings, female under wings, with Graphium morania on page 1:
Graphium morania fly from September to May through the southern point of Africa. In some places they can be seen all through the year. They are found in Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Republic of South Africa, and the contiguous tribal homelands. They've been reported from Namibia, but not found there again, and the report from Namibia is now believed to have been an error. They are not uncommon, and only local populations have ever been considered in any danger.
Their host plants are Annona senegalensis, Artabotrys monteiroae, Hexalobus monopetalus, and Uvaria caffra. In some times and places they have been seen as pests on Annona, Hexalobus, or Uvaria fruit, which some local humans eat. However, they are not serious pests, nor is it likely that they'll ever become serious pests.
Photo by Drraath, South Africa, December.
As in many Swallowtail species, both sexes pollinate flowers, but males also do some composting in order to be able to mate. They are found on mud or shallow water, usually in small groups but sometimes in groups of hundreds. Their drinking buddies may belong to their own species or others. Males are also known to play-fight in a sort of "king of the hill" game, challenging one another for the claim to "own" a branch. .
Photo by Ryanmtippett, South Africa, January. There's that attraction to colors that would be printed with cyan ink, again...
Photo by Keesboele, South Africa, November. Females average a little bigger than males, not a lot. Female Swallowtails are usually ready to mate as soon as they can fly, and spend their days looking for a suitable host plant for each of their eggs. One caterpillar is not going to kill a tree, though they may strip a branch just before they stop eating and pupate.
On average these butterflies fly for about two weeks.
Graphium angolanus, G. endocus, G. morania, G. ridleyanus, G. schaffgotschi, and G. taboranus all look very similar to one another, even under a microscope. There's a reason for this. There's a more toxic butterfly, in the Danaid family--wing structure more like a Monarch's--that these members of the Swallowtail family get some survival benefit from resembling. We'll meet Amauris hecate, the Dusky Danaid or Black Friar, in a few years if this web site lives so long; a page of photos of it is at
Eggs are laid on tender young leaves; the leaves grow with the caterpillars and the caterpillars seldom, if ever, damage the host plant. The eggs are little round beads. The caterpillars eat their way through five skins in about fifteen days.
Photo by Timojaeg, taken in November in Botswana.
Photo from Holocene-Views.blogspot.com. (For a beautiful nature photo essay that may overload some browsers, but celebrates landscapes and cold-blooded animals at a nature preserve, click:
Pupae resemble other Graphium pupae, though differences are observed. See page 53 of this PDF:
According to the authors cited, pupation may last two weeks or two years, probably depending on weather conditions.
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