This is another very rare Graphium. It is thought to live only on the heights of Mount Apo on Mindanao island; hence its English name.
Photo from Swallowtails.com.
A subspecies, Graphium sandawanum joreli, is said to live on Mount Katanglad on the same island. Their preferred altitude is over a mile above sea level, but they have been seen as far down as 1000m above sea level.
Not everyone thinks it's different enough to be counted as a subspecies. The museum specimen shown is somewhat faded; in real life joreli can iridesce pale green or blue, too.
With a typical wingspread under 3 inches and a look that, although unique, does resemble some other butterflies, this species has had some difficulty getting the respect it deserves. It has been known to science only since 1977. In its very limited habitat, it appears to be common; on one side of the mountain or another, some think, an Apo Swallowtail may be flying on any day of the year. People want to cut down trees in the forests where it lives. People who don't want this species to go extinct have demanded the most severe restrictions on anything that might further endanger these butterflies. Some people have argued that the species is already extinct.
Photo by Z_Lesonge.
Historically, people lived on Mount Apo. The Filipino government tried in the mid-twentieth century to take over the mountain and declare it a park. The people protested, and the government conceded limited rights to live and farm there. The people, of course, wanted to resume using the forest in the way they always had, while improved survival rates meant that more humans wanted to live on the mountain. People persist in cutting wood in protected forest territory. Indigenous people who want to go on doing things in their old traditional way tend to be skeptical about any need to change things for the benefit of an insect.
Dead bodies of this species are sometimes sold. On the Internet a few sites claim to offer them. Claim to is the operative word; actually selling Apo Swallowtail carcasses is illegal and some carcass traffickers apply this name to completely different butterflies. Even if the picture on the web page looks like Graphium sandawanum there is no guarantee that what the purchaser receives will resemble the picture. Sandawanum carcasses sell for prices close to $100 and, when sellers are quite sure buyers can't find them, there must be considerable temptation to accept payment for Graphium sandawanum and mail out carcasses of Graphium sarpedon, which looks similar enough that, even if caught, the seller could plead ignorance. The best recourse against such practices is not to pay for butterfly carcasses at all. If foreign visitors came to the mountain and respectfully studied these butterflies, that might impress on the local people that animals they probably consider a minor nuisance are unique and interest people around the world.
Nobody has reported any information about the life cycle of this butterfly, what it eats, how long individuals fly, what any of its pre-adult stages look like...there are opportunities for scientists from Mindanao to become famous!
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